Rafael Nadal, 22-time Grand Slam champion and King of Clay, retires from tennis at Davis Cup

Having just played his final match, Rafael Nadal would surely appreciate these words from a speech made by President Theodore Roosevelt:

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

This was quintessential Nadal. No tennis player has better personified Roosevelt’s concept of “The Man in the Arena.”

As well as Nadal covered the court, as superb as he was at coming up with great shots under pressure, his genius was propelled most of all by a sheer love for the battle and the competitive intensity he brought, point after point. That was the superpower that carried Nadal to 92 ATP singles titles—including 22 Grand Slams, second-most in men’s tennis history—209 weeks ranked No. 1 in the world, a record 912 consecutive weeks inside the Top 10, five Davis Cup team victories, two Olympic gold medals.

In the pleasing kind of coincidence that delights storytellers, the city Roosevelt delivered the speech in was Paris. This, of course, is where Nadal most emphatically and literally left his footprints on tennis history, winning a mind-boggling record 14 men’s singles titles at Roland Garros. Let one of Nadal’s major rivals, Roger Federer, epitomize Wimbledon’s grass in all its velveteen elegance. Leave the man Nadal played more than any other, Novak Djokovic, to mesh perfectly with the hardcourts of Melbourne Park.

Give Nadal the earth—that finely crushed red brick that demands so much from body, mind and soul. In compiling a 112-4 record at Roland Garros, Nadal took clay-court tennis to new heights. Yes, there had been other superb lefthanders who’d combined topspin and fitness to win the title: Guillermo Vilas in 1977, Thomas Muster in 1995. Then there was Bjorn Borg, whose Swede’s supreme poise and innovative use of topspin carried him to six Roland Garros titles. Nadal went even further than those greats, dominating most of all with a forehand that commanded one rally after another. Unable to play Roland Garros in 2003 and 2004 due to injuries, Nadal won the title the first time he played it, in 2005, the same week he turned 19.

Of Nadal’s 60 matches with Djokovic (31-29 in Novak’s favor), 11 took place at Roland Garros, including one at this year’s Olympic Games. Nadal won eight. None was more dramatic than their 2013 semifinal. Though Djokovic served at 4-3 in the fifth set, Nadal fought back, in the end winning this 4-hour, 37-minute epic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 9-7.

⬇️ TENNIS HONORS: Nadal’s ability to fight back always inspired Djokovic ⬇️

Yet much as Nadal soared, he remained eternally grounded, exceedingly gracious as a sportsman. To be sure, like many tennis champions, Nadal excelled at managing his time between points, often pushing the limits of the shot clock. But in the bigger picture, his conduct was exemplary—the logical extension of how Nadal was raised.

Nadal’s values were strongly shaped by his family. He grew up on Mallorca, an island off the coast of Spain, in the town of Manacor. Nadal’s father, Sebastian, was a successful businessman known for being exceptionally friendly and positive.

When it came to sports, Nadal was shaped by two uncles who understood competition at the highest levels. One was Miguel Angel, a superb soccer player who played on three Spanish World Cup teams and the FC Barcelona squad. Miguel’s fierce style earned him the nickname, the “Beast of Barcelona.” It no doubt left a mark on how Rafa went about competing.

But Miguel’s impact on Rafa was unquestionably secondary to the influence wielded by Toni Nadal. Dissertations could be written about Toni Nadal’s philosophy—not just to tennis, but to life. Though one statement hardly does justice to all the ways Toni’s played out in young Rafa, perhaps this one comes closest: It’s better to be a good person than a good tennis player.

Though young Rafa was hardly any kind of troublemaker, Toni’s training strongly emphasized being humble, constantly drilling into his nephew the need to be respectful of all aspects of humanity in the broadest way possible. This ran counter to the way many family members raise their promising tennis player to think they occupy the center of the universe. “When you think you are the king of the world,” Toni once said, “you are really stupid in my opinion because in this life every person is important.”

These were the kind of lessons that helped Nadal learn to become a gracious competitor. But make no mistake, Toni was also a taskmaster, spending hours on the court drilling Rafa in fundamentals about technique, tactics and toughness. Toni was also the one who suggested that Rafa, a natural righty who early on hit with two hands off both sides, start to hit a one-handed lefty forehand. Little did the two know how that shot would set the world on fire.

Another fortunate factor that aided Nadal’s growth was the presence of a world class player in his orbit. A fellow Mallorca resident, Carlos Moya, won Roland Garros in 1998, the same month Nadal turned 12. Moya became another mentor, often practicing with Nadal, while also offering insights into life as a pro.

One significant origin story goes that in Nadal’s early teens, Moya asked young Rafa if he hoped to have as good a career as he did. Keep in mind that Moya had once been ranked No. 1 in the world. Taking in the question, Nadal shook his head and kindly said he hoped to do even better.

Nadal may have been humble. But he was also deeply driven.

While clay had been the natural breeding ground for a Spaniard, early in Nadal’s career, he made it clear that he wanted most of all to win Wimbledon. This was hardly idle talk. In 2003, ranked 76th in the world, the 17-year-old Nadal advanced to the third round at the All England Club, becoming the youngest man to go that far at the All England Club since Boris Becker in 1984. Three years later, Nadal reached his first of five finals there.

It was clear during this progression that Nadal had continued to enhance his game, adding everything from a more potent one-handed slice backhand to an increased appetite for volleys to an improved serve. His entire career, Nadal knew it wasn’t enough to be a relentless competitor, that it was even more important to enhance his skills.

But no one could ever have imagined what it would take for Nadal to eventually win Wimbledon. His 2008 final versus Federer remains arguably the greatest match in tennis history, a 4-hour, 48-minute thriller marked by rain delays, remarkable shifts in momentum and, this being Centre Court’s last year without a roof, a conclusion played in near-darkness. In the end, Nadal won 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7.

“Impossible to describe, no?” said Nadal that London evening. “I don’t know. Just very happy. Is unbelievable for me have a title here in Wimbledon. Is probably — well, is a dream. I always, when I was a kid, I dream for play here, but for win is amazing, no?

Two years later, Nadal won the title again, this one coming in far less dramatic fashion, a straight set win over Tomas Berdych.

Nadal’s hard court learning curve was a bit steeper. Not until his eighth US Open appearance did Nadal reach the finals there, in 2010 beating Djokovic. That victory made him only the seventh man in tennis history to have won the singles titles at all four majors—the Career Grand Slam. Nadal followed that up with US Open title runs in 2013, 2017 and 2019.

The 2019 final was particularly challenging. A strong favorite versus Slam final newcomer Daniil Medvedev, Nadal went ahead two sets to love and served at 3-2 in the third. But Medvedev fought back, his backhand most of all repeatedly pushing Nadal all over the court. By the fifth set, Nadal realized his best chance was to come to net more frequently. In the end, Nadal had won this 4-hour and 50-minute blockbuster, 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4.

But when it comes to hard court triumphs, Nadal’s most dramatic moments came Down Under. In 2009, he finished the tournament competing over four straight days. On a Friday night, Nadal beat Fernando Verdasco in a semifinal 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (1), 6-4 in a 5-hour and 14-minute long match that ended just past 1:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Sunday evening, the opponent was Federer. This was the first time the two had played one another in Australia. This one too went into the early hours of the next morning. As he had six months earlier at Wimbledon, Nadal won a five-setter, in this case by the more comfortable score of 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2.

A notable moment came during the awards ceremony. As Federer took his runner-up trophy, he began to cry. “God, it’s killing me,” said Federer as he stepped away from the microphone. Next came Nadal. After briefly holding the championship trophy aloft, Nadal lowered it, then wrapped his left arm around Federer’s neck in a comforting manner. From there, each gave their respective speeches.

There followed more than a decade of frustrating Melbourne moments. On four occasions, Nadal reached the final, only to come up empty each time. In 2012, despite leading 4-2 in the fifth, he lost a 5-hour and 53-minute epic to Djokovic. Two years later, Nadal was beaten by a sizzling Stan Wawrinka. In 2017, Federer rallied from 1-3 down in the fifth to win the title. And in 2019, Djokovic played one of the finest matches of his career to earn a straight-set win over Nadal.

Then came one of the most surprising runs of Nadal’s career. After suffering a foot injury versus Djokovic in the semis of 2021 Roland Garros, Nadal played only two matches the rest of the year. This was the same foot problem—Mueller-Weiss Syndrome, a rare degenerative condition—that had intermittently plagued him since 2005, a malady so bad that it constantly threatened to end Nadal’s career. Never was that possibility more the case than in 2021, the year Nadal turned 35.

In December 2021, Nadal announced that he’d tested positive for COVID. The recovery delayed his pre-tournament training schedule. Nonetheless, in January he advanced to his sixth Australian Open final, this time versus Medvedev. By now, Medvedev was far more experienced, his resume boasting a 2021 US Open final win over Djokovic. Inside Rod Laver Arena, Medvedev was thoroughly in control, winning the first two sets, 6-2, 7-6 (5). In the third, Nadal served at 2-3, love-40. Amazingly, he won that game—and then the set, 6-4. Then he took the next two, 6-4, 7-5. Nadal would call this run the most unexpected triumph of his career.

Nadal’s tennis journey surely ranks among the most epic in the history of men’s tennis. He, along with Ken Rosewall and Pete Sampras, are the only men to have won Grand Slam singles titles in their teens, 20s and 30s.

Through hundreds of matches, through all the points Nadal contested with such heartfelt abandon, for all the injuries took that him out of the game and the effort it took to recover from them, this man’s passion for life in the arena gave vivid proof to the notion that tennis and life are best taken one point at a time.