37-year-old legendary Spanish tennis player and winner of 22 Grand Slam tournaments Rafael Nadal He evaluated his expectations in 2024:

“Of course, many times I thought that it was pointless, after all, I was too old, I had many problems, and working for hours was not bringing any results. But overall, I still think about what I said at the last press conference. I don’t think I deserve to end my sports career in the press room.

I wish it had ended differently and I fought and kept hoping it would. There were doubts, there were dark moments, there were very dark moments, but there were also brighter moments.

As always throughout my career, I was surrounded by the right people: family, team, friends. I think it is thanks to them that I have reached where I am now. I had the opportunity to return to competition. And the fact that there were people who wanted to see me play again made a big impact.

There’s a good chance this will be my last year on Tour. Maybe I’ll only play for six months, maybe a year, maybe we won’t make it to the end… That’s the situation right now and I don’t really know the answers to these questions. All I can say is that I will compete again and still keep in mind that this will most likely be my last year and I want to enjoy every tournament as if it were my last year.

I don’t want to announce it because you never know what might happen and you always have to speak in a way that doesn’t get stuck in your own words. I think it will happen, but I can’t say 100% because I worked hard to get back to competition after all. Why should I limit myself if the circumstances and my physical condition allow me to continue and I enjoy what I do? “I don’t think it would make sense,” Nadal said in a video message published on his social networks.

In the early summer of 2023, Nadal had surgery on the iliopsoas muscle in his left leg. It was initially reported that the Spaniard would need five months to recover. Nadal has not played since the 2023 Australian Open.

Rafa had previously announced that he would return to the field at a tournament to be held in Brisbane between January 1-7.

Nadal is one of the representatives of the BIG-3, along with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Roger officially retired in September 2022.

The last reflection of the announcement… 📣

👉🏻 Claro que he he pensado que no tenía sentido (he wants to join the competition)… que son Muchos años…
👉🏻 Animates and revitalizes the illusion at every moment
👉🏻 He worked out for me as well as in my career…… pic.twitter.com/xLnHMdZTqD

— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) December 7, 2023