Spanish racket Rafael Nadal announces he will quit tennis in 2024

Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal announced that he will not participate in the French Open (Roland Garros) Tennis Tournament, which will start in Paris on May 22, due to the muscle injury in his left hip, which has been ongoing since January.

Nadal announced that he will not participate in Roland Garros at a press conference held at the tennis academy he owns in Majorca, Spain.

The Spanish tennis player said, "I have been going through a period of constant physical difficulties. I have given everything in the last months to recover, but I am still not fully recovered. I have no intention of playing a professional match in the coming months. My goal is to return to the courts when I feel physically and mentally ready. Maybe that will be the Davis Cup at the end of the year."

RETIREMENT DATE ANNOUNCED

"I think next year will be the last year of my career. That's my intention," Nadal said, emphasizing that he did not have a good physical period after the pandemic, that he lost an important season as a professional and that he had to accept it.

Nadal said, "You cannot always ask for more. You have to listen to your body when it tells you (enough, okay). I don't know what will happen from now on, I won't train for a while, I'm not a negative person, but I know that it's very difficult for me to win a grand slam after this, I'm sorry."

"I don't think my career will end like this. I'm not worthy of this," said the Spanish tennis player, expressing that she wanted to leave tennis on the courts.

Nadal, who has not won in Paris only in 2009 and 2016 since 2005, when he started to make a name for himself in the tennis world, has a statue standing in Roland Garros.

'KING OF CLAY' RAFAEL NADAL

Nadal, who has succeeded in winning Roland Garros, one of the four major tennis tournaments organized by the International Tennis Federation under the name of "grand slam", 14 times so far, last lifted this trophy last year.

Nadal, who was eliminated by Mackenzie McDonald of the USA in the second round of the Australian Open, the first grand slam of the season, and suffered a muscle tear in his left hip in this match, has not played an official match for about 120 days.

The Spanish tennis player, who missed the tennis tournaments in Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Godo, Madrid and Rome, is out of the top 10 for the first time since April 2005.

22 GRAND SLAM TITLES

The possibility of Nadal, who has had frequent injury problems recently, has 22 grand slam titles in the men's singles category and will turn 37 on June 3, saying goodbye to the courts is also being mentioned more in the European press.

According to Forbes magazine, Nadal, who has earned more than 125 million dollars so far in his professional tennis career, which started in 2001, is also strongly involved in the business world with his investments in real estate, tourism and restaurant sectors, as well as the Rafael Nadal Academy, which he founded in Majorca in 2015.

Source: Anadolu Agency