22 Majors, 91 total titles, two Olympic gold medals (one in singles, one in men's doubles), 209 weeks as ATP No.1, 63 titles on clay-courts of which 14 - needless to say - at Roland Garros: this is the summary of the main milestones obtained by Rafael Nadal in his career.
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With a moving video shared on X, the legendary Spanish champion announced a few hours ago his tennis farewell, which will take place in November, during the week dedicated to the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
"I am very excited that my last tournament will be the Davis Cup finals representing my country. It will close a circle, since one of my first triumphs as a professional was the final in Seville in 2004. I feel super lucky for all the things I have been able to experience. I want to thank the entire tennis world, my teammates, my great rivals, with whom I have spent many hours and lived many moments that I will remember for the rest of my life. The truth is that they have been difficult years, especially these last two. I have not been able to play without limitations. It is a difficult decision, it took me a while to make it, but in this life everything has a beginning and an end. I think it is the right time to end a career that has been long and very full of successes, more than I could have ever imagined," he said in the moving video that you can see below.
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Rafael Nadal's main titles and records
Rafa has won 22 Slams in singles, two less than the record holder Novak Djokovic (24). Among women and men - always speaking of singles competitions - the Spaniard is in 4th position, after Novak Djokovic and Margaret Smith (24) and Serena Williams (23), tied with Steffi Graff (22). Nadal has won 14 Roland Garros titles: a unique goal, as the Spaniard is the only tennis player among men and women to have won a singles event in a Major at least 14 times. Rafa also holds the record for titles won on clay-courts in the men's singles (63). He is the only tennis player in history to have reached the No. 1 position in the ATP ranking over three different decades (2000-2009, 2010-2019, 2020-2029), and is the oldest tennis player in history to have finished the season in the top 2, at 36 years and 6 months in 2022.
In the Majors, Nadal holds the highest winning percentage in the open era (87.90), with 315 matches won out of 359 and is the tennis player who has won the most matches (112) in a single tournament, which is obviously Roland Garros, where - among other things - he is undefeated in the 14 finals he has played. Not only that, because the Spaniard is the only tennis player in history to have reached eight finals without losing a set and the only one who does not have a negative record with any opponent faced in the direct clashes of the Slam finals.
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Nadal is one of four tennis players in history to have won all four Grand Slam events at least twice, along with Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and Novak Dokovic. It should be remembered that Rafa is - together with Roger Federer and Dokovic - the only tennis player to have reached the final at least five times in all four Slams, a record later improved by Nole himself, with at least 7 finals played in each Major. Along with Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver, he is also one of three tennis players to have won Roland Garros and Wimbledon at least twice in the same year.
In the ATP Masters 1000, Nadal is the tennis player who has played the most matches overall (500), of which he has won 410 matches (record). But he is also the only one to have won at least one tournament a year for 10 consecutive years (from 2005 to 2014) and the only tennis player to have won the same tournament for eight consecutive times: Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, from 2005 to 2012.
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Furthermore, Rafa is one of only three tennis players in history to have completed the Career Golden Slam in men's singles, with Andre Agassi and Novak Djokovic.
What else to add for such a champion?
