Nadal Announces His Retirement

          Rafael Nadal, one of the greatest tennis players to ever grace the court, has officially announced his retirement after a 23-year career. Nadal has said multiple times in the past few years that he planned on retiring, and this time, he has followed through. He won 22 Grand Slams throughout his illustrious career, second most behind Novak Djokovic, with 14 of those being at the French Open. He also brought home 2 Olympic Gold Medals. Even as a child, Rafa showed potential to be among the best tennis players in the world, becoming one of the tennis’ brightest young stars before he went pro, but no one could have foreseen the lasting impact that Nadal would leave on the sport of tennis. He inspired an entire generation of young tennis players such as Carlos Alcaraz, one of the best current players, and established a school for tennis in his home country of Spain in order to bring tennis to underprivileged families.

          Nadal and his fellow “Big 3” peers, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, have combined for 65 Grand Slams out of the 80 available to be won over the past 20 years. These three players, through their sheer dominance, redefined what it meant to be a winner in the world of tennis.

          Despite his years of dominating the world of tennis, age has finally caught up to Nadal, and his body simply doesn’t respond as well as it used to when he was younger. Nadal’s electric and fast-paced playstyle proved difficult to sustain as he got older and lost some of his explosive athleticism. He wanted to play another season to see if he could win any more titles, but he realized that his body wasn’t going to be able to make it. His rival, Djokovic, on the other hand, has a much more relaxed play style that relies on consistency, so I could see Novak playing for years past Nadal’s retirement just based on his style of play being less taxing on the body. Although it is sad to see Nadal walk away from the game, his impact on the tennis community won’t be forgotten.