The 38-year-old Rafael Nadal announced that he will be retiring from Tennis this November. Davis Cup will be his final tournament which will be held in his home country Spain. The Spanish Tennis legend will play his last tournament in Malaga. Rafael Nadal popularly known as ‘El Matador‘ has won 22 grand slams in totality. The 38-year-old Tennis star took to social media and announced his decision through a video. In this article, let’s reminisce the five epic performances of the Spainiard.
Becoming the King of Roland-Garros
One of the epic performances of the Spanish Bull, Rafael Nadal was in the final of the 2014 French Open. This game was another Tennis classic between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. History weighed on both sides of the rackets heavily on a fine Sunday in 2014 at the Court Philippe Chartier. On that day for the 23rd time out of 46th time, Rafael Nadal drank the juice of sweet victory against the Serbian. The game started on a burning afternoon and ended under cloud cover the final fell below expectations. But there were enough moments of drama and controversy that made the win worthwhile. The game ended with the scorelines of 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 and 6-4. Rafael Nadal became the king of clay by becoming the first player in the history of Tennis to win nine grand slams at Roland Garros.
Historic Olympic Gold in Brazil
On 13th August 2016, Both Rafael Nadal and his on-field partner Marc Lopez fell on the court weeping out of joy as the duo created history and won the first-ever gold medal of their lives. Lopez and Nadal defeated Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau 6-2 3-6 6-4 in a high-quality final lasting two hours, and 26 minutes. In a tense final set, the Romanians broke Lopez for a 4-3 lead but the Spanish pair recovered the break immediately, and two games later Tecau’s serve crumbled to hand victory to Lopez and Nadal on their third match point. Both of them started sobbing with relief and joy, before started joining forces for a hug between best friends rejoicing at the victory on the biggest stage of the Olympics.
2008 Wimbledon Final
A match that is widely remembered as one of the greatest games in the history of Tennis is the final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon final of 2008. This game ended in favour of Nadal after four 48 minutes of action. The match which was scheduled for a 2 pm start, the final began late because of rain, had two more rain delays, and ended in light so bad that the Hawk-Eye line-calling system ceased to work. Federer clawed back a two-set deficit and saved two match points to take till the end. The sheer quality of tennis was nothing like before until Fedrer finally erred finding the net at 9:21 pm to hand Nadal, who fell in relief to secure his first Wimbledon title.
2022 Australian Open Final
Nadal’s comeback against Mendelev in this match for five hours and twenty-four minutes was historic. He became the first player in the Open era to have won the final of the Australian Open while being two sets down. He defeated Mendelev with the scoreline of 2-6 6-7 6-4 6-4 7-5 to win the Australian Open in 2022 making his 2nd Australian Open title and 22nd grand slam title in total.
French Open 2005 Final
Nadal who announced his retirement recently after the French Open 2024, started his career by winning the French Open in 2005. In that tournament, he defeated Roger Federer in the semi-finals and Mariano Puerta in the final. He won this title when he was 19 years old, making him the first teenager to win the prestigious French Open. Now when he is finishing his career, he has 22 grand slams 14 of which are French Open titles.
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