Rafa’s Last Dance
Spanish great Rafael Nadal ready for one more year on tour
They say all good things must come to an end. In life, unfortunately, we know that ultimately nothing lasts forever, and whether we like it or not, that is inevitable.
And that brings us to 2024 and a fresh year on the tennis tours. But for one of the sport’s legendary players, it will unfortunately be his last.
Rafael Nadal will retire from professional tennis at the end of this season, closing the curtains on one of the most decorated and dominant careers in not just tennis history, but in all of sports. During the middle of 2023, Nadal revealed he would sit the rest of the season out after undergoing surgery with the intent of making 2024 his final year on tour.
“It’s not a decision I’m making, it’s a decision my body is making,” said Nadal last summer. “My goal and my ambition is to try and stop and give myself an opportunity to enjoy the next year that will probably be my last year in the professional tour. That is my idea, but I can’t say 100 percent it will be like this, but my idea and my motivation is to try to enjoy and say goodbye to all the tournaments that have been important to me. You can’t keep demanding more and more from your body, because there comes a moment when your body raises a white flag. Even though your head wants to keep going, your body says this is as far as it goes.”
Injuries have been a consistent theme for the 37-year-old from Spain, who had hip surgery in 2023 to add to his long list of ailments, so the expectations for Nadal in 2024 should be tame.
He announced he will begin his “retirement tour” in Australia at the Brisbane International, one of the year’s first events and he reinforced that even he doesn’t know what sort of tennis we will get to see from him.
“I have been afraid to announce things because in the end, it’s been a year without competing and it’s a hip operation,” Nadal said. “But what worries me most is not the hip, it’s everything else. I think I’m ready and I trust and hope that things go well and that it gives me the opportunity to enjoy myself on the court.”
Australia is the last place tennis fans saw Nadal compete, as his last action on tour was at the 2023 Australian Open. He was eager to return to one of the biggest stages in tennis, but a muscle tear suffered at the Brisbane International forced him to withdraw from the year’s first major.
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Nadal being unsure of how his body will respond as he returns to competition was something he anticipated entering this season. And he emphasized that he doesn’t know what to expect from himself, and that he is just eager to return to the court and be able to compete, no matter what comes of it.
“I have internalized what I have had throughout my life, which is to demand myself the maximum. And right now, what I really hope is to be able not to do that, not to demand from myself the maximum, to accept that things are going to be very difficult at the beginning and to give myself the necessary time and forgive myself if things go wrong in the beginning, which is a very big possibility,” he said candidly. “But knowing that there may be a not-too-distant future in which things can change if I keep the illusion and the spirit of work, and the physique responds to me, without any doubt.”
That perhaps will be the biggest challenge for Nadal. Of course, the emotions of playing at these events for the final time in his career will be overwhelming at times, but Nadal has always been a player who prides himself on his competitive nature and the physical brand of tennis he plays.
At his age, and with his rolodex of past injuries, reining back that intense style of play could be a difficult proposition for Nadal. But it will be important for him to pace himself, especially in the early parts of the year, in order to remain healthy and be able to complete the season.
When you look at the ATP Tour Rankings, you have to scroll down several pages before you arrive on Nadal’s name. He currently sits at 663rd in the world heading into 2024, so he will receive wild cards into the tournaments he chooses to play.
The top-ranked American Taylor Fritz was asked about Nadal’s comeback and what it will be like to be in the draws with Nadal this coming season, where Nadal will be unseeded.
“I mean, I expected that, it’s Rafa,” said Fritz. “I don’t think that he was ever going to just retire and not give it another go, so I definitely, after the amount of time he’s had off, I expected him to come back to start the year. So I think that it’s good news for tennis as a whole.”
Fritz added:
“I think that maybe it’s going to be tough. Maybe he might be a little bit rusty. I think it’s going to be pretty crazy having him in draws where he’s going to be unseeded. So anybody can play Rafa in the first round, so it’s going to be pretty crazy.”
2024 will be a fresh start for professional tour players, but for one it will be both a fresh start and the beginning of the end. As we’ve seen with retirement tours in other sports, such as Derek Jeter or Kobe Bryant, there will likely be pageantry and ceremonies at many of the events Nadal decides to play, and the fact that he is going out on his own terms should be comforting to the Spaniard.
As we enter a new year, tennis fans would love to see Nadal maintain his health and make a run at each major one last time. Nadal will try to give all of his fans some final memories as we say goodbye to professional tennis.
But before we get that far ahead, tennis fans should be grateful that Nadal is not done playing yet, and will give everyone a chance to appreciate one of the greatest athletes of all-time for the final time(s).
