Rafael Nadal, 22-time Grand Slam tennis champ, announces retirement

(WJET/WFXP) — Rafael Nadal, professional tennis legend and 22-time Grand Slam champion, announced his retirement in a video message early Thursday morning.

The 38-year-old Spaniard posted an emotional video to social media, saying, "Hello everyone. I'm here to let you know that I am retiring from professional tennis." Nadal indicated that his decision was related to persistent injury problems.

“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," he said. "It is obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken me some time to make. But in this life, everything has a beginning and an end.”

Nadal’s unrelenting, physical style of play made him one of the greats of the game and the unquestioned King of Clay, the slow, red surface on which he claimed his record 14 French Open championships.

That’s more than anyone, man or woman, won at any one of the sport’s four major tournaments, a dominance celebrated by a statue of Nadal that stands near the main entrance to the grounds of Roland Garros and in the shadow of its main stadium, Court Philippe Chatrier.

Nadal also won four trophies at the U.S. Open and two apiece at Wimbledon and the Australian Open, giving him a career Grand Slam. His last pair arrived in 2022, at Melbourne in January and at Paris in June, pushing him ahead of Roger Federer for the men’s record of 20 Grand Slam titles. Federer announced his retirement when he was 41 at the end of the 2022 season, shortly before bidding adieu by teaming with Nadal in a doubles match at the Laver Cup.

Both have since been surpassed by Novak Djokovic, who is up to 24. Nadal said Thursday that his final appearance will be at the Davis Cup in Malaga, Spain, in November.

"I think I've come full circle since one of my great joys as a professional tennis player was the Davis Cup final in Sevilla in 2004," he said. "I feel super, super lucky for all the things I've been able to experience."

He added," I want to thank the entire tennis industry. All the people involved in this sport, my long-term colleagues, especially my great rivals. I have spent many, many hours with them, and I have lived many moments that I will remember for the rest of my life.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.