Udaipur, October 11, 2024 - Rafael Nadal, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, has decided it is time for him to hang up his racket, after ruling the courts for almost two decades. The Spanish legend announced his retirement from the sport, yesterday, October 10, thus ending an illustrious career with 22 Grand Slam titles under his belt.

In an emotional video posted in social media, the player bid farewell to the sport saying, "I am retiring from professional tennis. The reality is that it has been some difficult years, these last two especially…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."

He will play his last tournament for the Davis Cup finals between November 19 and 21, in Malaga, in which his country will face the Netherlands in the quarter-finals. Nadal had not played in the group stage because of an injury. He has been included in the squad for the finals which will be his fitting finale to the game.

With his retirement, Nadal draws the curtain on a career which saw him reign absolute at the French Open with a record 14 wins. His laurels include a total of 92 ATP singles titles, including 36 Masters titles - fifth after Jimmy Connors (109), Roger Federer (103), Novak Djokovic (99) and Ivan Lendl (94). He also won an Olympic gold medal.

Nadal holds the unique record of being one of the three men in tennis history to complete the Career Golden Slam in singles. The others are Andre Agassi and Roger Federer. He was also the youngest player to win a Career Grand Slam after winning the US Open title in 2010.

Till today, Rafael Nadal remains one of the most decorated sportspersons of all time with the record for being the World No.1 for 209 weeks...for being the only man in history to win a Career Grand Slam and bag an Olympic gold medal in both singles and doubles.