Rafael Nadal’s retirement leaves a gaping hole in the sport

A passage from the Rudyard Kipling poem ‘If’ is written on the wall of the players’ entrance to Wimbledon’s Center Court. “If you can meet Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors both the same,” it says. Competitors can take a look at Kipling’s writing before they take to the London lawn.

For American tennis legend Chris Evert, these words reflect the spirit of Rafael Nadal, the Spanish star who has thrilled his legions of admirers around the world for the past two decades, but announced his impending retirement from tennis on Thursday.

“That’s him, down to the last detail,” Evert tells TIME. Nadal had a knack for crushing obstacles on the court with force and power: his snap belied an inner calm that, more often than not, triumphed. “Have you ever seen him break a racket?” says Evert. “Did you ever see him yelling and screaming at his coaching box? If he lost, he would give compliments. He wouldn’t make excuses.” Of the three all-time men’s players who have dominated this era of football – Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – Nadal seemed the shyest of the three. He enjoyed the victory, but not the worship. He radiated the most humility.

“In the sports world there seems to be controversy and anger, and that is not always fun,” says Evert. “He was like a bright light. He always brought order out of chaos. There will be a gaping hole.”

The 38-year-old Nadal has been hinting at his retirement all year. Injuries took their toll; he played in only one major, the French Open, in 2024, and lost in the first round of the tournament, he has won an impressive 14 times. He could have stayed another year and received a final send-off at any of the Slam tournaments. But Nadal didn’t need a pro forma retirement tour. Waving to the crowd and losing in the second round had little appeal.

Instead, he will leave on his own terms: after the Davis Cup Final 8, held in Malaga, Spain, from November 19. Nadal will look to help his country win the Davis Cup title for the fifth time in his illustrious career.

He will step aside with 22 major championship titles, good for second all-time among men; he trails only Djokovic, who owns 24. He is without a doubt the greatest clay court player of all time: in 2021, a statue of Nadal was unveiled at Roland-Garros in Paris while he was still participating in tournaments. A year later he won his last major, appropriately at Roland-Garros.

Evert himself won seven French Open titles. “I was going to pat myself on the back,” she says, “until Nadal came along.”

Patrick McEnroe, the ESPN commentator and former US Davis Cup captain, remembers watching the 2019 French Open final of Roland-Garros: Nadal’s opponent, Dominic Thiem of Austria, had a strong season after losing that year had won the Indian Wells tournament on hard court and also won the Barcelona Open title on clay about a month before the French. But after splitting the first two sets, Nadal crushed Thiem in the third and fourth, 6-1, 6-1. “For Thiem to win a point was a huge effort,” says McEnroe. “Nadal’s ability to receive the ball, take it early and also play that typical defensive game on the clay – he could do everything. No one has ever played so aggressively.”

Nadal won his first French Open in 2005, at the age of 19, wearing white capri pants. He went on to take the next three Roland-Garros titles, before putting aside any speculation that he was an all-clay specialist with his unforgettable breakthrough in the 2008 Wimbledon final, when he defeated Federer, who won the had won the previous five Wimbledon Championships. Nadal won the five-set match, which was played over nearly seven hours due to a pair of rain delays and ended as darkness quickly descended on Center Court, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7. It was probably the best tennis match ever played. “That catapulted Nadal from a great player to a legendary player,” says McEnroe. He would win another Wimbledon in 2010, plus four US Opens and a pair of Australian Opens on hard courts.

Nadal’s rivalry with Federer defined the game for years. Fans from places like the United States, Great Britain and Australia looked past their own countrymen and chose the graceful Swiss artist or the reckless Spaniard. “They transcend the sport,” says Brad Gilbert, an ESPN analyst who has also coached stars like Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and most recently Coco Gauff. “Fed has the largest fan base in tennis history. Rafa maybe the second. They have huge fan bases outside their own country. You don’t see that much.”

And while Nadal toppled Federer at Wimbledon, where Federer has won a record eight titles, Federer never gave anything back in France. Nadal defeated Federer all six times they met at Roland-Garros, including four finals (2006, 2007, 2008, 2011).

Nadal’s warrior mentality certainly stood out. But you can’t overlook his unique ability to hit a tennis ball. “No one has ever matched Nadal with the forehand topspin, shot after shot after shot, with the same consistency,” McEnroe says. “No one.” From the start, experts feared that the abandon with which Nadal played would wear out his body. “He was like a running back who sometimes pounded too much,” Gilbert said. “Instead of going out of bounds, he took on tacklers.” Yes, injuries sometimes disrupted his career and ultimately ended it. Yet few expected him to last so long and win so much. He turned pro in 2001, at the age of 15, and built a remarkable 23-year career that also included two Olympic gold medals. “He missed three months, four months with injuries, and every time he came back he didn’t miss a beat,” Gilbert said.

At Nadal’s first victory at the French Open, in 2005, when he was rocking long hair and a baby face, Gilbert told anyone who would listen that he thought Nadal would win seven to 10 French Opens. People thought Gilbert was crazy. But it turns out he – and so many others – fell short of what Nadal was ultimately able to achieve. Nadal exceeded all expectations, both on and off the tennis court. While true tennis fans could have felt Nadal’s announcement coming, the void seems no less immense.