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Rafael Nadal It is less than a year in retirement, and 22 times Grand Slam champion shows no signs of repentance.
In statements to the media at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid on Monday night, Nadal was Frank about his time away from the courts. The Spanish legend said it does not miss playing, and its reason is because it left the game feeling “happy.”
Rafael Nadal from Spain reacts to a point during his match against Alexander Zverev in Germany on the two of Roland Garros in Stade Roland Garros on May 27, 2024. (Susan Mullane-USA Today Sports)
“The truth is that I don’t miss it. In fact, I miss it zero,” he said, through CBS Sports. “But the strange zero not because I ended up tired of tennis or fighting against tennis. Not at all, quite the opposite. I ended up happy with tennis.”
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Nadal, 38, is largely considered one of the best of all time and for decades competed along with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer for some of the most fierce battles of tennis in the great stage. “The great three”, as they became known, have collectively won 66 Grand Slam Singles titles among them.
Only Djokovic remains active.
Nadal announced his retirement from the sport in October after the injuries hindered the second half of his career.
Rafael Nadal plays against Novak Djokovic (SRB) in the first male tennis round during the Summer Games in Paris 2024 in Stade Roland Garros on July 29, 2024. (Amber Searls-USA Today Sports)
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“It is obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken some time to do,” he said in his retirement announcement. “But, in this life, everything has a beginning and an end. And I think it is the appropriate time to end a race that has been long and much more successful than I could have imagined.”
Nadal added on Monday, that despite not missing anything, if he was still healthy today, he would still be playing.
“If it had been possible, I would still be playing because I loved what I did,” he said, according to the report. “I was passionate, and this is the whole life. It’s just that when you realize that you can no longer do it, you try to close that chapter. And I closed it.”
Rafael Nadal greets the crowd after losing to Austin Krajicek and Rajev Ram (USA) in a quarterfinal tennis match of male doubles during the Summer Games in Paris 2024 in Stade Roland Garros on July 31, 2024. (Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports)
Nadal has won a record 14 France open Titles, the US opens four times and won twice at the Australia and Wimbledon Open, respectively. He accumulated gold medals in 2008 in Beijing and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
His retirement followed Federer in 2022.
