World sport surrenders to Nadal after the announcement of his retirement

The announcement of the retirement of Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal gave rise to a wave of recognition from world sports figures for this Mallorcan who won 22 Grand Slam titles and two Olympic gold medals.

“What a career Rafa! It has been an immense honor,” said former Swiss tennis player Roger Federer, Nadal’s fierce rival on the courts and friend off them, in a message published on the social network Instagram.

“I always wanted this day to never come. Thank you for the unforgettable memories and for all your incredible performances in the sport we love,” said Federer, who has been retired for two years.

“Your dedication, your passion and your incredible talent inspired millions of people around the world. It was an honor for me to follow your journey and to be able to call you a friend,” wrote Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, legend of Real Madrid, the club of which Nadal He is a big fan.

“He is an incredible person. He taught us how to behave on the court, how to handle situations on the court… He also taught us to stay humble, not to change with success,” declared Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner, current world number one. , at the Shanghai Masters.

“We had our differences, but he was a great warrior. My best wishes for everything that comes,” wrote another tennis player, Australian Nick Kyrgios, in X.

At 38 years old, and after a few years complicated by injuries, Nadal announced in a video that he will retire from professional tennis at the end of the Davis Cup final that he will play with Spain in Malaga from November 19 to 24.

“Everything in life has a beginning and an end and I think it is the right time to put an end to a long and much more successful career than I could have ever imagined,” said an emotional Nadal in his message.

“Let’s go Rafaa!!”

Considered the best Spanish athlete in history, the farewell of Rafaas many call him, also provoked reactions of admiration in his country.

Spanish newspapers published the news at the top of their digital editions, such as the sports media Marca and AS, which agreed on the headline (“Nadal announces his retirement”), above large photos of the Mallorcan.

“A competitor to the extreme, Nadal projected himself as an icon above his successes: he made people believe that there is always hope,” wrote El País, while the newspaper El Mundo highlighted that “his competitive fierceness and his perseverance at work bear similarities with those of Jordan, Ali, Merckx or Phelps”.

The Spanish soccer team, whose golden era coincided with that of Nadal, showed its recognition with a message in Raúl Albiol.

“One of our own and one of the greatest athletes our country has ever produced is retiring. THANK YOU, Rafael Nadal, for your titles, for your values,” the team wrote. “Please let us shout it one more time. GO RAFAA!!,” he added.

For his part, the Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador, two-time winner of the Tour de France, wished him “luck” in his new stage, giving him “infinite thanks for what you have made us enjoy with your effort and sacrifice for so many years.”

Rafael Nadal, a race won hard against injuries

For more than two decades Rafael Nadal pushed his body to the extreme, fighting pain and injuries thanks to his extraordinary mental strength.

This Thursday he announced that he will end his career in November after listening to his body that had been demanding him to stop permanently since January 2023 when a hip injury during the Australian Open forced him to end the season.

But he continued with the desire to achieve his 15th title at Roland Garros in 2024 and a new gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games, which were also held on the legendary clay stage.

He competed well in both cases, but far from his best physical level, with a lack of match rhythm since he was barely able to play since his return to the courts in January 2024 due to new problems with injuries and temporary withdrawals.

The foot, the elbow, the shoulder, the left hand and wrist, the back, the right forearm, the abdominal muscles, the ribs, the knees, the ankles, the hip and finally the thigh just before the Games, in fact the shadow of doubt hovered over his Olympic debut… “He is an injured person who plays tennis,” summarized his uncle and former coach Toni Nadal in April 2019 to the Spanish newspaper Cinco Días.

His doctor Ángel Ruiz stated that the player has “wonderful genetics” that combines with an extraordinary mind and “exceptional resistance to pain: 9 on a scale of 10.”

“Most players would have retired, but not him,” the doctor told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo in June 2019.

In 2009, he played the US Open with an abdominal tear – which aggravated during the tournament – because it only bothered him when he served. “It was a bit stupid on my part,” admitted the Balearic player.

In 2014, Nadal beat Swiss Roger Federer in the Australian Open semifinals while suffering from a huge blister on his left hand, although he later lost the final against Stan Wawrinka due to a back injury.

Several comebacks and comebacks

At various points in his career, injuries kept him away from the circuit.

At the end of the 2008 season he had to withdraw from the Bercy tournament due to tendinitis in his knee but returned two months later to play in the Australian Open in 2009.

He inflicted one of the toughest defeats of his career on Roger Federer in the final after a 4:30 minute match. In the semifinals he was 5:14 minutes to beat the Spanish Fernando Verdasco.

Nadal’s first major break due to injuries came in 2012 after Wimbledon due to knee pain.

He returned in February 2013 and won 10 tournaments that year, including Roland Garros, the US Open and five Masters 1000s.

But his most impressive return, as well as improbable at the age of 35, was in 2022.

Eliminated by Novak Djokovic in the Roland Garros semifinals in the spring of 2021, Nadal had to face the return of one of his major injuries, osteochondritis of the scaphoid, also known as Müller-Weiss syndrome, which he has suffered since he was 18 and which is “chronic and incurable” degenerative.

He did not play again that season and after testing positive for covid-19 in December 2021, he faced 2022 with a fair preparation.

“99 percent couldn’t run”

At the 2022 Australian Open he achieved a historic victory by coming back two sets in the final against Russian Daniil Medvedev, which led to his 21st Grand Slam title.

“This injury (to the foot) would prevent 99 percent of people from moving at the speed they do,” said the president of the Spanish Society of Sports Traumatology, Dr. Rafael Arriaza, to the Spanish newspaper La Voz de Galicia.

Six months later, he won his 14th Roland Garros while having to take painkillers to put his foot to sleep.

“I think he has unimaginable pain when he gets up in the morning or when he hits the court. I think that when Rafa starts making gestures or says that something hurts, if we felt it it would be something fatal,” said former player Fabrice Santoro.

In an interview with Afp In May 2022, Gilles Simon warned: “Rafa hits the ball much better but runs much less. His physical decline will be so rapid that he will not be able to hit the ball and the decline will come soon.”

Tennis legend Rafael Nadal, the “King of Clay,” will retire from the professional tour at 38 years of age. His last tournament will be the Davis Cup Finals in November, marking the end of an exceptional career that heralded a golden era in men’s tennis. Via Graphic News