Legendary tennis player Rafael Nadal from Spain has announced his retirement from active sports. The 38-year-old, who has 22 Grand Slam titles, shared the news of his retirement on his social media account.
Nadal has won 22 Grand Slam finals in his career, including all 14 finals he played at the French Open, where he became legendary on clay courts. In 2005, at the age of 19, Nadal won his first Roland Garros final by defeating Mariano Puerta. Throughout his career, he has beaten notable players such as Roger Federer in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2011; Robin Soderling in 2010; Novak Djokovic in 2012, 2014, and 2020; David Ferrer in 2013; Stanislas Wawrinka in 2017; and Dominic Thiem in 2018 and 2019. In 2022, he defeated Casper Ruud.
The Spanish player has won 112 of the 115 matches he played at the French Open. Nadal experienced his first defeat at the tournament in 2009 in the fourth round against Sweden’s Soderling, his second loss came in the quarterfinals against Djokovic in 2015, and his third in the semifinals again against Djokovic in 2021.
Rafael Nadal is set to represent Spain in the Davis Cup Finals, which will be held in Malaga in November, before officially retiring from tennis.
He shared a farewell video on his social media account.
