As Rafael Nadal went about mounting his latest comeback from a cacophony of injuries this year, he gave himself a clear timeline. He would play until the Paris Games, he said, and then he would assess the state of his game to see whether he still felt the urge — the need, really — to compete. At 38 and continually battling ailment after ailment, he had the end in sight, and the last thing he wanted was to keep hanging around out of sheer love of the sport. He had sacrificed more than his fair share for tennis, and the time was coming for him to finally give of himself to himself.
And so Nadal went about the start of the year the way he always did: He suited up at a tuneup tournament prior to the Australian Open. Unfortunately, a micro tear on a muscle in the quarterfinal round of the Brisbane International prevented him from even trekking to Melbourne Park. Outside of an exhibition match, his next stop was at the French Open. Needless to say, the 14-time winner harbored high hopes on red clay; instead, he found himself eliminated in the opening round for the first time ever. After skipping the entire grass court season and, therefore, missing out on Wimbledon, he summoned enough of his magic to reach the Swedish Open final.
In retrospect, the Summer Olympics made the decision to retire much easier for Nadal. And, for all intents, it was but fitting that his last set-to was against longtime foil Novak Djokovic. Those susceptible to recency bias would argue that he exited with a whimper; the second-round defeat wound up being the last in a burgeoning series of failures. For the overwhelming majority, however, he boasted of a remarkable body of work that more than offset whatever setbacks he had of late. As an all-time great, he had no mountain left to climb.
Nadal has professed to an absence of regret in hanging up his racket for good. And who’s to disabuse him of the contention? He has 22 Grand Slam trophies in his mantel, second most in the annals of the sport, and earned at a time when it also basked in the luster of such notables as Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray. He has been there and done that, and the only thing left for him to do is enjoy life to the fullest. He has earned it.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.