Nadal: “Maybe I should have stopped a year earlier” — Now feels “little pain” in his body
Rafael Nadal says he has no regrets about retiring from tennis, even if it took him a long time to accept that his body was no longer up to the task. He spoke to French newspaper L’Équipe three days before a tribute in his honor on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Famous Tennis Player Rafael Nadal during the inauguration of the new Movistar Space on Gran Via street in Madrid, September 12, 2024.
Rafael Nadal is not the type of man dealing with regrets. But reflecting now about how he ended his career, the Spaniard, soon aged 39, said that maybe he shouldn’t have pushed til the season 2024.
“Maybe that last year of tennis was too much,” he told L’Équipe, on Thursday. “My body wasn’t really allowing me to compete at the level I enjoyed. But I couldn’t have known that.”
The 22-time Grand Slam champion said he was still in pain 40 days after playing his final match in the 2024 Davis Cup. Had he wanted to play casually after retirement, he wouldn’t have been able to.
“I ended my career knowing there wasn’t much more I could do. My body had reached its limit. In the 40 days after retirement, I would have liked to keep playing because I still had the level—but my foot was in terrible shape. I could barely walk. I took care of myself, and now, overall, I only feel minor pain.”
Nadal felt he would win 2022 Wimbledon
Physicality was the one and only factor that prevented Nadal to give more.
“I felt good on the court,” he said. “Mentally, I was motivated and willing to fight. I was making the effort. But after the hip surgery, I couldn’t move freely anymore. I couldn’t hit my backhand strongly from an open stance. Every time I needed to make a sharp move, my leg just didn’t respond. So you keep going, hoping it will get better, because people around you say it might, that you could return to 100%.
“I gave myself that window. But as the months went by, I saw it wasn’t improving. Continuing without the goal of competing for what truly made me happy just didn’t make sense. Once I accepted that, once the final test—time—didn’t deliver results, it was time to stop.”
Asked if he should have retired after winning the 2022 Roland-Garros title—where he played with anesthetics to manage the pain—Nadal said hindsight doesn’t change how he felt then.
Tribute for Nadal
“I tore my abdomen at Wimbledon [withdrew from the semis]. If that hadn’t happened, I think I was ready to win Wimbledon. But it’s always the same: speculation. What if I’d retired…? Sure, if you ask me today, yes, I would have retired after Roland-Garros. But back in 2022, how could I retire when I was in top form and happy to be playing?”
Nadal will be honored on Sunday, Day 1 of Roland-Garros, with a ceremony on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
