Rafael Nadal, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, has announced he will retire from professional tennis at the end of the season after next month’s Davis Cup Finals.
When he was 14, the Spanish tennis federation requested that he leave Mallorca and move to Barcelona to continue his tennis training. Nadal’s family turned down this request, partly because they feared it would hurt his education, but also because Toni said that “I don’t want to believe that you have to go to America, or other places to be a good athlete. You can do it from your home.” The decision to stay home meant that Nadal received less financial support from the federation; as a consequence, Nadal’s father covered the costs.
In May 2001, he defeated former Grand Slam tournament champion Pat Cash in a clay court exhibition match. In 2002 he reached the Wimbledon junior semifinals. In 2003, at 17 he became the youngest man to reach the third round at Wimbledon since Boris Becker in 1984. In 2004, he defeated the world No. 1 Roger Federer in Miami. At 19, Nadal won the French Open on his first appearance.
Nadal has won 22 grand slam titles, placing him second on the men’s all-time list behind Novak Djokovic with 24. Fourteen of those came at Roland Garros, a tournament he has dominated unlike any player in the sport’s history, compiling an unprecedented 112-4 French Open record. Nadal has won all four major titles multiple times and spent 209 weeks at No 1.
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