When he entered the professional tour, hardly anyone thought that Rafael Nadal would have such a long career. The former world No. 1 had a very stressful game for his body and injuries have been a constant throughout his journey in professional tennis, but they have not prevented him from continuing to play until the end of 2024.
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The 22-time Grand Slam champion has had to miss many more prestigious tournaments than his main rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic and has been affected by chronic foot pain that has caused him several injuries to his knee.
His career seemed to be one step away from the end already in the spring of 2022, when he admitted that the pain in his foot had become very strong and that he could not continue to play in those conditions. After the Rome Masters 1000 that year, it was rumored that Rafa would not participate in Roland Garros and that he would announce his retirement from tennis.
Nadal made the decision to anesthetize his foot and not only participated in that edition of the French Open, but lifted the trophy for the last time by defeating his eternal rival Nole Djokovic in the quarterfinals and Casper Ruud in the final.
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In the last two years of his career, the Spaniard's injuries further increased until he withdrew at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
Angel Ruiz-Cotorro's prediction
Fans and insiders have noticed that current players have many more injuries than those of the past.
In a recent interview with 'SportKlub', Dr. Angel Ruiz-Cotorro who has followed Nadal throughout his career reflected on this issue: "The players of the new generation will not have such long careers.
If someone had asked me this question 15 years ago, I would have replied that it was more likely to get to play at 40. Tennis players like Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Verdasco and Wawrinka have all had very long careers.
Current talent doesn't seem to be able to play for so long."
