Sharing the stage with long-time rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic for the best part of two decades, Nadal carved out a legendary career.

The king of clay announced his retirement from tennis in October last year via an emotional video message on social media that sent shockwaves through the sports world.

The Spaniard played his last match at the 2024 Davis Cup where, representing his home country for the final time, he ultimately fell to Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands.

Nadal, despite arguably still capable of beating many players in world tennis, ultimately knew when to call it a day.

Rafael Nadal says he knew it was time to retire after the Olympics

Nadal played at the Olympics for the final time last summer in Paris, hoping to make one last run at the games by playing on his preferred surface of clay at Stade Roland Garros.

The two-time gold medalist made it to the second round, where he lost to Novak Djokovic 6-1, 6-4, in what was a dominant display from the Serb.

Speaking to Andy Roddick on the ‘Served’ Podcast, Nadal said: “After the Olympics, I came back home and I said: Ok it’s over, I feel it.

“I don’t feel like I’m gonna come back being competitive at a level that motivates me.

“I have been practicing all my career with very high intensity – that’s the way that I understand the sport. That’s the way that I enjoy the sport, so when I am not able to do that anymore, then for me it’s not anymore that interesting.”

Nadal’s injuries proved too much in the latter stages of his career

Nadal was still competing for the grandest prizes in tennis in 2022, having won both the Australian Open and Roland Garros that year, but suffered an abdominal tear at Wimbledon that would put an end to his dominance.

Nadal played just two tournaments in 2023 before undergoing surgery that would keep him out of action until January 2024.

The Spaniard told Roddick: “After the surgery, things went more or less well. After that, I started the recovery process, so after six or seven months, I started practicing and I felt quite well, the problem is I had the feeling I was not able to push. I felt some limitations in that area.

“All these months have been difficult because in some way, I felt like okay, let’s keep fighting because at some point maybe it’s gonna work well, but after weeks, I was able to compete, but I was not able to compete at the level I wanted. I was not able to move the way that I used to move.”