Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal’s uncle and former coach, has stated that his nephew would have preferred to continue competing, but he soon understood it was impossible.
Nadal announced his retirement last month. The end of the Spaniard’s brilliant career will come in the Davis Cup Finals. Team Spain will meet the Netherlands in the quarterfinals on November 19th.
That choice took a long time to reach. Nadal had been dealing with injuries for more than two years, the most serious of which being a hip injury he suffered at the 2023 Australian Open, which sidelined him for a year.
The 14-time French Open champion attempted to return in 2024, but he was physically hampered again. Nadal did manage to compete at Roland-Garros two more times, losing to Alexander Zverev and his great rival Novak Djokovic at the French Open and the Olympics, respectively.
After losing to Djokovic, Nadal was asked multiple times if he planned on retiring from the sport. The 38-year-old did not like those questions, saying he would tell him when any decision was made.
Two months later, Nadal announced his career would end at the Davis Cup Finals. He will likely renew the high-profile doubles partnership from the Olympics with Carlos Alcaraz, but it is unknown if the 22-time Grand Slam winner intends to play singles.
Nadal’s uncle Toni previously revealed that Rafael would get more involved with his academy and also mentioned the possibility of him becoming Real Madrid’s director of football.
During an interview with Flashscore, Toni spoke about Nadal’s decision to retire. The 63-year-old admitted it was hard for Nadal to walk away from something he loves, but he eventually realized overcoming his physical issues would not be possible.
“People always tend to blame others for things they don’t do themselves. Rafael found it hard to retire because, for anyone, to stop doing an activity you like and have been doing for many years is hard.”
Fans often argue that athletes should retire at or near their peak, however this reasoning ignores a number of considerations. To begin, Toni addressed sportspeople’s passion in his words.
Furthermore, players such as Nadal have demonstrated tremendous resilience in overcoming injuries and competing for the most important events again later. That would have given him the confidence to try again.
Nadal eventually realized that healing from his troubles during the last two years was impossible, but he can’t be criticized for trying after previously recovering from injuries.
Toni understands better than anyone how complicated Nadal’s decision-making process must have been. Hopefully, the tennis legend will receive the farewell he deserves at the Davis Cup Finals.
