Rafa Nadal bids farewell to professional tennis, after announcing on October 10 that 2024 would be the last season of his sporting career. With 38 years oldthe Manacorí player made the decision after thinking about it for many months, as confirmed by his family members and also his coach, Carlos Moya. The professional career of the greatest legend of Spanish sport, with 22 Grand Slam titles in your honorsis coming to an end, but… Why is Nadal retiring and when is his last match?
The first tournament he played Rafa Nadal in his 2024 calendar and after announcing his retirement, it is Six Kings Slaman exhibition competition and not valid for the ATP calendar in which the Manacorí faced, with defeat, five other great tennis players, including Novak Djokovic And Carlos Alcaraz. This event, organized at Saudi Arabia from October 16 to 19, this is not Nadal’s last tournament before his retirement, and we will have to wait a few weeks, until the last professional tennis event in 2024, to definitively say goodbye to the best Spanish tennis player in all the time.
Nadal He has some tournaments marked on the calendar and in 2024 he is determined to reach 100% in two of them. Not even in Roland-Garros nor in the Olympic Games He was lucky with the draws, but he still has one ball left, in the Davis Cup Final 8where he will compete as part of the Spanish team led by David Ferrer in search of the sixth Salad Bowl of his sporting career, the one which will allow him to come full circle.
Rafa Nadal’s last tournament before his retirement
It will be in Malaga, in Martín Carpena PavilionWhen Rafa Nadalwithin a Spanish Davis Cup team in which they are also Carlos Alcaraz, Pablo Carreño, Roberto Bautista and Marcel Granollerscame to the court for the last time as a professional tennis player. The man from Manaco will almost certainly play the double with Granollers and who knows if he will also play one of the individual matches as number two, escorting that of Alcaraz, in a team capable of winning the Davis Cup 2024 and thus puts the perfect climax to the sporting career of Nadal, who will definitely retire after this tournament.
When will Nadal’s last match be: day and time
Taking into account the fact that the Davis Cup celebrates its final at 8 a.m. November 19 to November 24 and Spain would have to overcome the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final to win the title, there are three options regarding Rafa Nadal’s retirement day and his final match. It could be against Holland, in the quarter-finals, himself Tuesday November 19 in the afternoon, or Friday November 22in the semi-final, against the winner of Germany-Canada. In both cases, Spain And Nadal They would say goodbye to defeat. If all goes well, the Spanish team could reach the grand final of the 2024 Davis Cup, the Sunday November 24and there Rafa Nadal could play singles and doubles to say goodbye to tennis in style.
What needs to happen for Rafa Nadal to retire today
Rafa Nadal plays the first match of the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup 2024 against Holland, in an individual duel against Botic Van de Zandchulp. However, the victory or defeat of the Balearic does not necessarily imply its withdrawal, since Spain could qualify for the semi-finals with a defeat of Nadal, for the Davis Cup Formulaand also be eliminated this Tuesday even if the Balearic player wins his match. We will therefore have to wait until the end of the draw to know if the Rafael Nadal’s career remains “alive” until (at least) Friday, or if it ends now.
