Key Points
- Rafael Nadal says he has reached the next chapter of his life after retiring from tennis in 2024.
- A documentary about Nadal’s life, “Rafa”, debuted on Netflix on May 29.
- Nadal said he would not rule out becoming a coach in the future, but said it was not part of his short-term plans.
Rafael Nadal will not follow Serena Williams into professional tennis. Nadal told CNBC Sport “this chapter is closed”, days after compatriot Williams said she would compete in professional events again at age 44. Nadal, 40, retired in November 2024 after suffering a series of injuries. “I am very proud of my tennis career and now I am building my next career,” Nadal said in an interview promoting his new documentary, “Rafa,” which debuted on Netflix on May 29. “I’m in the next chapter of my life.” The 22-time Grand Slam winner said he had turned his attention to the Rafael Nadal Academy, a tennis training center that Nadal helped open on the island of Mallorca, Spain, where he grew up and still lives. Nadal’s activities are now expanding throughout Europe and the United States. He is also developing his charitable foundation, which focuses on sporting and educational projects in Spain and India. Nadal does not rule out becoming a coach in the future, but said it is “not in his life plan” at the moment. Other top players such as Andy Murray, Jimmy Connors, Michael Chang and Ivan Lendl have moved from playing to coaching to stay involved in the game. Apart from his future plans, Nadal touched on a series of other topics in the interview. Nadal’s on-court idiosyncrasies included consistent rituals, or ticks, that he used to stay focused, such as lining up water bottles, avoiding stepping on the lines and touching his shirt and headband before serving. Nadal said these habits never followed him off the court and did not persist in retirement. “People think that because I was doing all this while I was competing that I’m a superstitious guy on a daily basis, but honestly that’s not the case,” Nadal said. “I don’t have anything like what I had on the tennis court in my real life. In a way, it was a way to protect myself when I was playing competitively, I had to focus on what I needed to be. Tennis is a sport that you have to be ready to play every day.” Nadal once said that Novak Djokovic, who holds the all-time men’s record with 24 Grand Slam championships, was the greatest player of all time. He said today’s two biggest tennis stars – Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner – both have a chance to become the new greatest of all time if they stay healthy. Yet he said that Djokovic is only the best because he has won the most Grand Slams, and that Alcaraz or Sinner will only become the greatest of all time if they surpass Djokovic’s record. “It’s all about numbers,” Nadal said. “When I said Novak is the greatest tennis player in history, it’s because the numbers say so. We have to think about the numbers when we determine who the GOAT is. You have to play well for a very long time. Today it seems like they have no rivals, but depending on the new players coming onto the tour, how much trouble they will have to win that often, if they avoid injuries, you never know. Life is unpredictable.”