Rafael Nadal retires: the 10 best moments of his career

1. His first Davis Cup

Nadal It was practically unbeatable every time he represented Spain in the Davis Cup during the course of his career. This led him to become the youngest Spaniard to lift this trophywhen he managed to win it in 2004, with only 18 years old and 187 days.

Furthermore, he was a key piece for the Spanish delegation, since gave Spain the second point of the finalafter beating the American Andy Roddick by 6-7(6), 6-2, 7-6(6) and 6-2.

2. His first Roland Garros

I was only 19 years old when he could give his big blow and win his first Grand Slamdemonstrating a dominance that was just a preview of what would happen over the next two decades in that tournament.

In those semifinals, he had his first encounter in this type of tournament against who would be his biggest rival in the following years: Roger Federer. But the Swiss could do little against Nadal, who he beat him in four sets (6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and 6-3).

Then, in the final, he closed his two best weeks up to that point with another victory in four sets, this time against the Argentine Mariano Puerta 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-1 and 7-5.

3. Wimbledon 2008: the best match in history

In 2006 and 2007, Nadal was on the verge of glory, nowhere near winning Wimbledon. Thus, he arrived at the 2008 edition wanting to get rid of the mufa, in his third consecutive final against Roger Federer.

Thus, in which it is recognized by many as the best match in the history of tennisthe Spaniard defeated Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8) and 9-7. The match had everything: from rain interruptions, match points wasted by Nadal in the fourth set and a duration of almost five hours to prevent the Swiss from lifting the Wimbledon trophy for the sixth consecutive time.

4. 2008 Olympic Games

2008 was one of the best years for the Madrid tennis player, since won several of the most important tournaments. Then, he reached the Beijing Olympics after defeating Federer in the final of Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and with the number one in the world almost assured, a position he achieved one day after the Olympic medal final.

To accentuate this leadership in the world of tennis, Nadal won the gold medal almost without complication. He only lost one set in the first round against the Italian Potito Starace, and in the semifinals, against the Serbian Novak Djokovic. His victim in the final was the Chilean Fernando Gonzalezwho could do little and found himself outmatched in straight sets.

5. Australian Open 2009

Nadal began the 2009 season as the best tennis player in the worldnumber one in the ranking. And what could be better than starting by lifting the first title of grand slamwhich was celebrated in oceanic lands.

The Spaniard reached the semifinals of the Australian Open without problems and without leaving sets in the way. There his rival was quite unexpected for this type of instance, since it was his compatriot Fernando Verdasco. This one is positioned as the 14th seed.

However, what seemed like it was going to be a procedure ended up being a war of more than five hours in which the Madrid native won 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-7(1) and 6-4.

Roger Federer was waiting in the finalchampion of the tournament in the 2004, 2006 and 2007 editions. The Swiss arrived having lost only two sets against Tomas Berdych in the fourth round and showing an impressive level. Furthermore, in the decisive match I was going to have a clear physical advantagegiven that he was rested while his rival had been completely exhausted after the match with Verdasco.

But Nadal showed a recovery miraculousand was left with another match that had to be defined in five sets. This time it was 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(3), 3-6 and 6-2 in almost four and a half hours of play. In this way, the Spaniard was once again left with an epic duel against the Swiss, and raised his sixth Grand Slam title at only 22 years old.

6. US Open 2010

The 2010 season was one of Nadal’s most dominant. at the Grand Slam level. He had a weak performance in Australia, but he won absolutely everything that came from then on.

Its finishing touch came in the US Openwhere he won the tournament for the first time and completed the Grand Slam career That is, win all the major titles at least once. In that historic decisive match, where he entered more than ever into the great history of tennis, defeated the Serbian Novak Djokovic by 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 and 6-2.

7. His tenth Roland Garros

The weakest years of the career for Nadal were 2015 and 2016, because he could not add Grand Slams to his showcase. It seemed that his time had passed and, furthermore, Djokovic had climbed a lot and kept winning important tournaments.

But in the 2017 season, the Spaniard was reborn as a tennis player and won his tenth Roland Garrosafter having lost to Djokovic in the 2015 quarterfinals and having withdrawn from the 2016 edition due to injury. His emotion at the trophy ceremony said it all.

8. The Miracle of Melbourne

For September 2021, The future of the Madrid native was really an unknown. Plagued by injuries, he shared an image on crutches after his operation on one of his feet. It was not known at what level he would return to the courts.nor if his return would materialize.

But he quickly cleared up all doubts, as he began 2022 with a title in the Melbourne ATP and then he won his second Australian Open and his Grand Slam number 21.

However, the great miracle of that tournament occurred in the finalwhen he turned around a match that was practically lost to the Russian Daniil Medvedev.

The Muscovite was 2-0 in sets and had three opportunities to break ahead in the third, when Rafa woke up and was able to completely twist the story. Thus, he was left with the victory by 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 and 7-5 in 5 hours and 24 minutes, consummating the famous “Melbourne Miracle”.

9. Roland Garros on crutches

Everything was illusion after its start in 2022 with that historic victory. But the Spaniard was attacked again by injuries. This caused him to have to play Roland Garros infiltrating his foot in almost every game.

But this situation It did not mean a complication for Nadalwon his 14th title in Paris, defeating rivals such as Felix Auger-Aliassime, Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud in the last rounds. In the final weeks, Ruud confessed that the day after the decisive match he saw Nadal on crutches.

To take dimension of Nadal’s dominance in this tournament, it is useful to use the American as an example. Pete Sampras. Before the appearance of the Big Three, “Pistol Pete” was the top Grand Slam winner with 14 conquests, the same number of times the Spaniard won Roland Garros.

10. His farewell season

Retirement, that moment that no tennis fan wanted to arrive, something inevitable and that was becoming increasingly announced due to Nadal’s physical problems in recent years. First he said goodbye to his people in Barcelona and Madridwhere he reached the round of 16 on both occasions. Then, in Romewhere he had an early farewell, in the second round, against the Polish Hubert Hurkacz.

Then, he played his last tournaments at Roland Garros, where broke every existing recordand also in the Olympics which were carried out in the same facilities. The week of the Davis Cup finals will be more than emotional, as it will represent the final goodbye to one of the great legends of tennis.