heroes say goodbye differently | Relief

This could not have been a surprise for Federer, and in fact he had already told the world. It was September 3, and I had an interview with a TV channel in New York. There he said that Nadal is going to follow in his footsteps in the near future.who will soon announce his retirement. He does this against his will, and the announcement video itself shows that he is reluctant to accept it.

You should see the difference between Federer’s retirement announcement on September 15, 2022 and Nadal’s announcement on October 10, 2024. The Swiss decided to publish a smiling photo, explaining his decision in an audio recording. Nadal chose the first image, in which he looks serious and can be heard snorting, offended and upset. for what will be said.

The way he announced that he was throwing his racket could not be more Nadalian: he is not retiring, it is not his decision, it is reality that is sending him into retirement. If it were up to him, he would continue to play in 2025 and beyond.. But his physique, this huge armor necessary for him to achieve such results, said “enough.” You could say he shouted “enough.”

A difficult process for a person who always believed that the impossible is possible. Or was it impossible to win the same Grand Slam tournament 14 times?

That’s why he was convinced that if his physique respected him, his tennis would still be strong enough to play in 2025. This is why from May 18, 2023, he announced that he was stopping the car to reset it and return, he always left the doors open. . HE He said goodbye to Madrid, but not to Rome; fell in the first round of Roland Garros, but perhaps this was not the last match there…

The message, or rather the dagger, stuck in his athlete’s heart came through loud and clear on July 29 this year when Novak Djokovic thrashed him 6-1 to 6-4 in the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The defeat hurt Nadal terribly: “There was a player who was much better than the other and we have to accept that. For an hour it was hard to process everything that was happening, although I did it.”

So what now? “It looks like you want to retire me!” – the Spaniard complained.

A logical reaction from an athlete who is used to always winning. The next day, elimination in doubles will happen to Carlos Alcaraz. forever farewell to the Olympic Games and, although it has not yet been confirmed, to Roland Garros, to the center court on which he did something that no one has ever done in tennis. And no one will ever do this again.

It was already August and, at 38, Nadal found himself in a situation that he had vehemently rejected months earlier in an irritating conversation with a friend.

– Rafa, where are you going to sail this summer?

– But what will you tell me? I’m a professional tennis player, I don’t have time to travel!

It was August and I had a decision to make. That’s why he called Federer.. To understand how the Swiss retired and how he made his last decision.

Now you will have all the time in the world. His attempt to become a professional tennis player in 2024 ended in just seven tournaments. 19 games and seven defeats. From April 2002 to July 2024, 1,307 singles matches were played, with 1,080 wins: 92 titles, including 22 Grand Slam tournaments.

After step from 16 to 18 October at the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia, the only and last official event being the Davis Cup. November 19 in Malaga, exactly 20 years after that title in Seville, in which he encouraged his older teammates to victory over the United States from the age of 18. Nadal has already said it: he will say goodbye not at a press conference, but on the court.

Are these five weeks enough for Nadal to come to terms with what he said but didn’t mean? Federer had already explained this to him in that conversation, which the Swiss revealed in detail: “You can do whatever you want. He was one of the most iconic tennis players in our sport, and that’s what I told him. “So I just hope he can go his own way and the way he wants.”