Farewell “Rafa”

Rafael Nadal is one of the most successful athletes in tennis history, with the nickname "King of Clay". He has got 22 Grand Slam titles, 2 Olympic gold medals, 5 Davis Cup championships, and many other titles in the ATP system. The only title missing from Nadal's collection is the ATP Finals. In 2005, at the age of 19, Nadal surprised the world by winning the Roland Garros championship for the first time in his career, opening a period of personal domination on clay courts. At the end of his career, Nadal won 14 Roland Garros titles out of a total of 22 Grand Slam titles. Fans have called him the “King of Clay” because of his unprecedented achievements on this surface.‏

When Nadal was 24, after winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon and Roland Garros, he completed his Grand Slam collection by winning the 2010 US Open for the first time after defeating Novak Djokovic 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in the final in New York. This title helped Nadal become the 7th tennis player to win 4 Grand Slam tournaments and the youngest tennis player in history to win the US Open championship. However, Nadal's journey has not been easy, during his professional career, with his dedicated playing style, Nadal had to face and endure many painful injuries. It could be injuries to the back, hips, feet... And if injuries had not hindered him, Nadal's career would have been much more brilliant.

In Nadal's glorious career, the person with the greatest influence is his uncle Antonio Nadal, also known as Toni. He has followed Nadal closely in all his conquests during the peak of his career. However, Nadal's wonderful "sidekick", his partner Maria Francisca, is the foundation for Nadal to develop his career brilliantly and sustainably; thereby becoming one of the immortal monuments of tennis in particular and world sports in general. After over 20 years of dominating the world's tennis courts, on October 10, 2024, in his retirement announcement video, Rafael Nadal shared: "The reality is that it has been some difficult years, these last two, especially. I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations,” And the time he chose to end his proud career is the day he ends his journey to find the title at the Davis Cup in Malaga in November 2024. The Davis Cup title is also the title he won with the Spanish team exactly 20 years ago.

November is approaching, and Rafael's professional journey will come to an end, starting from next year's professional season, Tennis fans around the world will no longer be able to witness the “King of Clay” on the court. However, surely, what he left for the history of the tennis industry will forever be in the fans' hearts.