Rafael Nadal announced in a video on Thursday that he will be retiring from professional tennis following the Davis Cup in Malaga, Spain, which runs Nov. 19-21.
Nadal will retire as one of the most decorated tennis players of all time. He’s won 22 major titles, with 92 total career titles. He’s won over 1,000 matches, and earned an Olympic gold medal in 2008.
It’s been quite the career for the Spaniard, and fellow tennis players posted congratulatory messages to Nadal on social media shortly after Nadal shared the news.
The other two players considered in the “Big Three” of men’s tennis, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, wrote lengthy posts with lots of throwback pictures.
Current tennis stars, like fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, expressed their admiration for Nadal. Alcaraz has repeatedly said how he grew up with Nadal as his tennis idol. Additionally, Alcaraz and Casper Ruud both played doubles with Nadal this year.
Some additional tennis legends had kind words to share about Nadal, too.
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Grand Slam tennis champion Rafael Nadal retiring end of season
Tennis is a supremely popular sport, and only continues to grow in infamy, as do the stars within it.After all, it has birthed some of the greatest athletes th