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Rafael Nadal is set to retire and bring his illustrious 23-year career to an end after playing for Spain at the Davis Cup Finals this week. At a press conference, the Spaniard made his feelings known about what post-retirement life has for him.
In an emotional video uploaded to his social media accounts in October, Nadal had announced that he would retire from professional tennis after the Davis Cup Finals in November.
On Thursday, November 14, the Spaniard reached Malaga for his final tournament amid much fanfare and even attended his first practice session. Since then the 38-year-old has been sweating it out on the courts to bring his A-game one last time for Spain in front of his family.
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On Monday, November 18, the Spanish team including Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Roberto Bautista Agut, Pedro Martinez, Marcel Granollers, and captain David Ferrer joined reporters for a press conference. The 22-time Grand Slam champion was asked what he would miss most about professional tennis after retiring later this week. Nadal reflected on life after tennis, sharing his thoughts on adapting to change and embracing the process.
"I mean, I am not worried about the next chapter in my life. I have been always happy without tennis, and I had a lot of moments in my life that I was not able to play tennis because of injuries, so I spent a lot of months doing other things. Is true that during recovery so now is a different approach," he said.
"But at the same time always accept the challenge of an important change in my life that for everyone, when you have important changes in your life, you need to accept the process and accept that the things at the beginning gonna be a little bit, I don't know if difficult, but different, and you need to respect the process, no? So I don't know how the things going to be," he added.
Furthermore, Nadal highlighted the adrenaline and atmosphere of big matches.
Rafael Nadal opens up about what he would miss after retiring from tennis following the 2024 Davis Cup Finals
During the press conference, when asked about what he would miss most after retiring, Rafael Nadal said:
"Probably the feeling of competition, go on court and see the fans out there, the atmosphere when you play big matches. And at the end of the day is about the adrenaline that you feel before, at the end, and during the match."
"That's something that in life you have, I probably gonna have things that gonna make me happier or give me different and more important feelings, but this kind of feeling, adrenaline, it's difficult to find outside of the professional sport, I think," he added.
On Tuesday, November 19, Nadal could play the final match of his career as Spain takes on the Netherlands in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup Finals. However, whether the 22-time Grand Slam champion will compete in singles or doubles is still unclear.
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