Key Points
Rafael Nadal won’t be following Serena Williams back to professional tennis. Nadal told CNBC Sport “that chapter is closed,” days after his fellow all-time great Williams said she would compete in pro events again at age 44. Nadal, 40, retired in November 2024 after struggling with a series of injuries. “I’m super proud of my tennis career, and now I’m building my next career,” Nadal said in an interview promoting his new documentary, “Rafa,” which debuted on Netflix May 29. “I’m in the next chapter of my life.” The 22-time Grand Slam winner said he’s 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 business is now expanding throughout Europe and the U.S. He’s also growing his charitable foundation, which has focused on sports and education projects in Spain and India. Nadal wouldn’t rule out coaching down the road but said it’s “not in his life plan” right now. Other top players such as Andy Murray, Jimmy Connors, Michael Chang and Ivan Lendl moved from playing to coaching to stay involved in the game. Aside from his future plans, Nadal touched on a range of other topics in the interview. Nadal’s idiosyncrasies on the court included consistent rituals, or ticks, he would use to stay focused, such as lining up water bottles, avoiding stepping on lines, and touching his shirt and headband before serving. Nadal said these habits have never followed him off the court and don’t persist in retirement. “People think that because I was doing all this stuff while I was competing that I’m a superstitious guy on a daily basis, but honestly I’m not,” Nadal said. “I have zero of what I had on the tennis court in my real life. In some ways it was a way to protect me in terms of when I was competing, I needed to be focused on what I needed to be. Tennis is a sport that you need to be ready to play every day.” Nadal has previously said that Novak Djokovic, who holds the all-time men’s record with 24 Grand Slam championships, is the greatest player of all time . He said tennis’s two top stars today — Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner — both have a chance to become the new greatest ever if they stay healthy. Still, he said Djokovic is only the best because he’s won the most Grand Slams, and Alcaraz or Sinner will only become the greatest ever if they top 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 that. We need to think about numbers when we deliver who is the GOAT. You need to play well for a super long time. Today it looks like they don’t have rivals, but depending on new players who arrive on the tour, how tough they’re going to have it to win that often, if they stay away from injuries, you never know. Life is unpredictable.”
