“I wasn’t able to move the way I used to,” Rafael Nadal reveals the exact moment he realized he was going to retire

Rafael Nadal played his last professional match against Dutch Botic van de Zandschulp in Malaga at the Davis Cup Finals.

“I wasn’t able to move the way I used to,” Rafael Nadal reveals the exact moment he realized he was going to retire

Rafael Nadal (via Instagram)

Rafael Nadal is regarded as one of the greatest players to ever grace the tennis court. The Spaniard enjoyed a legendary tennis career, breaking records throughout as he claimed some of the sport’s biggest titles. He recently revealed the moment he realized he had to retire after months of struggle with injury.

Nadal won 22 Grand Slams, 14 of which he claimed at the Roland Garros. Indeed, his impressive career major title was only broken by Novak Djokovic, who has 24. However, Nadal suffered several injuries that forced him out of tournaments. His last major injury was at the 2023 Australian Open, where he suffered a muscular tear on his hip.

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Despite making his return to the court in 2024, Nadal was never the same player he was before the injury. Signs of rust and persistent injury scare made it hard for him to progress. In October, he decided to hang his racket by announcing he would play his last professional match at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.

Recently, he had an in-depth conversation with American legend Andy Roddick, where he explained the full extent of his struggles. He added that his injury nightmares left him with no choice than to retire.

I started practicing, I felt quite well, but the problem is I still had the feeling that I was not able to push, I felt some limitations in that area. So I give myself time to see if I can recover myself the proper way, because in terms of tennis, I still feel well in myself, still felt competitive, I didn’t feel like I lost speed on the ball, just needed to recover the physical confidence and take out the limitation. That’s why all these months had been difficult because in some way I felt at some point maybe that it’s going to go well, I was able to compete, but I was not able to compete at the level that I wanted for different reasons, because I was not playing well.

Rafael Nadal said via Served with Andy Roddick

Nadal last professional match was against Dutch Botic van de Zandschulp in Malaga, which ended up in a loss. That led to Spain crashing out of the Davis Cup Finals in the quarter-finals, losing to the Netherlands 1-2 in aggregate.

Rafael Nadal said he lost his competitiveness after the Paris Olympics

Rafael Nadal made the decision to retire after the Paris Olympics last year. The former World No.1 competed in the doubles alongside Carlos Alcaraz and also in the singles. In the singles, he lost to Novak Djokovic in the second round, while exiting the doubles in the quarter-finals after winning just two matches.

Rafael Nadal (via X)

During the aforementioned conversation, he revealed that it was after the Paris Olympics that he stopped feeling the competitiveness in him. He added that he tried giving himself a break to return to the court with the feeling but it was gone.

After the Olympics, I came back home and said it’s over, I feel it. Before I didn’t feel it, I wanted to give myself the time. After that, I say okay, it doesn’t make sense, I don’t feel like with this issue I’m going to come back and be competitive at the level that motivates me. When I felt that, it was over.

Rafael Nadal said

Nadal has since shifted his focus to his family and business after retiring from tennis. The Spaniard recently announced an expansion of Rafael Nadal Academy projects in Spain.