Rafa Nadal is getting close to retirement from professional tennis, but where and when will his final match be?
Judging by recent performances, Nadal must be getting to the end of the road of his most outstanding professional tennis career. He didn’t enjoy himself at the recent ATP Tour, after his 2023 hip operation. He ended up losing 7 of his 19 competitive matches in 2024, and at 38 years old, who would blame him for hanging up his racket now? So, the odds he will announce his retirement sometime in the next few months are high.
While he has made mention of carrying on his career into 2025, he may well bid a fond farewell at his final pro-outing at the Davis Cup Finals in November 2024, considering his long line of victories at previous Davis events and now pairing up with Carlos Alcaraz, his obvious successor.
Pundits reckon he will drop out of the Australian Open in January and prefer the Barcelona Open where he has already triumphed a jaw-dropping 12 times throughout his career. Could this be his swan song?
Rafa Nadal, ‘The King of Clay’
Earlier in 2024, ‘The King of Clay’ came off well in front of Spanish spectators at the Caja Magica in Madrid, winning the first 4 matches to rapturous applause. Might this be the most fitting venue for the announcement of a tearful goodbye?
Then again, the 14-time Roland Garros champ had claimed he was ‘ready to leave everything and die in Paris’, although he is currently tipped to not even make the top 100 in the World, making this venue less likely. There had been a ‘tribute ceremony, planned for the Mallorcan star on the French clay in 2024, but he asked for it to be scrapped.
The 22-time major winner may well still play the ATP Tour in 2025. If so, the French Open could well be the venue for his fond farewell. We will see. At whatever time he chooses to call it a day, there will be cheers, and applause and no one will be left in any doubt that Rafael Nadal is the greatest tennis player in the history of the game.
