Rafael Nadal has received plenty of tributes since announcing his retirement from professional tennis including from Andy Roddick.
After enjoying a spectacular career spanning 23 years, the 38-year-old admitted he can no longer play without pain or limitations.
Therefore, after much thought, the Spaniard will exit the sport following the conclusion of the Davis Cup Finals.
Rafael Nadal will have a chance to bid farewell in front of his home fans and add a sixth Davis Cup to his impressive list of career achievements.
Andy Roddick had the difficult task of playing Nadal at the start of his career and during some of his prime years on the ATP Tour.
They played 10 times between 2004 and 2011, and the 2023 US Open winner claimed victory on just three occasions.
Roddick spent the majority of his career on the circuit with Nadal and saw first hand how he conducts himself both on and off the court.
One of the most fascinating things about Nadal is the fact that has never let any frustration or challenges on court cause him to break a racket, which Roddick finds astonishing.
“As someone who shared a locker room with him, tennis is a small world. We all know people’s faults. We know where the scar tissue is, we know what annoys people,” he said during an episode of his ’Served’ podcast.
“I guarantee you every person I played with, I hope they say he’s petulant, he’s emotional and he can be a d-bag sometimes. But my best case scenario is that he will probably give you a kidney if you needed it.
“You don’t have to set the table for his decency. If he had a bad day, he never showed it. It didn’t affect him saying hello or giving respect, or the way he was in the training room. He hasn’t broken a racket, nobody has seen him break a racket. That’s impossible.
“It just doesn’t really happen. I don’t know that he has an enemy on tour. Just think about that. You don’t annoy anyone on tour for 20 years, even though you are beating them?”
Before the 2024 season Nadal hinted that it could be his last. Throughout the year, many wondered if each time he competed would be his last.
But the Paris Olympics in July proved to be Nadal’s final event before announcing he will retire from professional tennis.
November’s Davis Cup finals in his home country of Spain will be the last tournament of Nadal’s extraordinary career.
“Hello everyone. I’m here to let you know that I am retiring from professional tennis,” he said in a video posted on social media.
“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. 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. And I think it’s the appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined.”
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