Rafael Nadal was born on June 3, 1986 in Manacor, Mallorca, commonly known as Rafa, is a Spanish professional tennis player.

Nadal, undoubtedly one of the greatest players to ever play tennis, announced yesterday (October 10) that he will retire at the end of the 2024 season. Nadal, who turns 38 in June, has struggled with injuries throughout his career, but the past two years have been particularly difficult, leaving him unable to play comfortably.

Twenty years after winning the Davis Cup in Sevilla, Nadal has decided that this year’s Davis Cup finals, to be played in Malaga, Spain in November, will be his last tournament – a full-circle moment, as he described it in a farewell message on social media.

Nadal has won 22 Grand Slam titles over the past two decades, most recently his 14th at Roland Garros in June 2022. It all started in 2005, when Nadal won his first major title at Roland Garros, becoming one of the youngest players to win the Paris Grand Slam at the age of 19 years and two days, and only the second player to win the tournament on his first attempt – only Swede Mats Wilander had previously achieved that feat. This was followed by three consecutive victories in Paris in 2006, 2007 and 2008 against Roger Federer.

In 2008, Nadal also won his first Wimbledon, a title he would win again two years later. Although his first defeat at Roland Garros came in 2009, he won the Australian Open that year, winning his first Grand Slam on hard courts.

In 2010, Nadal completed the career Grand Slam by winning the US Open, which means winning each of the four major tournaments at least once. He also won Roland Garros and Wimbledon that year, winning three Grand Slams on three different surfaces in the same year. It would be the best year of Nadal’s career, but there was more to it than that.

Between 2011 and 2022, the Spaniard added 13 more Grand Slam titles to his tally, making him the second most successful male tennis player of all time, behind only Novak Djokovic, who has won 24 major titles to date.