{"id":7161,"date":"2025-04-10T07:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T07:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/7161\/"},"modified":"2025-04-10T07:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T07:14:08","slug":"what-people-close-to-rafael-nadal-were-saying-about-him-just-before-he-retired-which-novak-djokovic-is-not-suffering-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/7161\/","title":{"rendered":"What people close to Rafael Nadal were saying about him just before he retired which Novak Djokovic is not suffering with"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It became clear to some of those around Rafael Nadal when he was approaching the end of his career.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In November 2024 the 22-time Grand Slam champion retired from professional tennis after over two decades on the tour.<\/p>\n

The injuries and physical toll they had taken on the 38-year-old\u2019s body had finally caught up with him and Nadal decided to hang up his racket<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But before Nadal called time on his illustrious career<\/a>, there were signs behind the scenes that were pointing to the fact he would soon exit the game.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Angel Martinez\/Getty Images for ITFJon Wertheim shares what was said about Rafael Nadal before his retirement<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2023, Rafael Nadal<\/a> hinted that 2024 could be his final season as a professional tennis player. Therefore, throughout his last year, there was a possibility that every match Nadal played could be his last.<\/p>\n

But as he neared the end of his career, those around him said the Spaniard appeared to lose his motivation, which suggested he was about to retire, according to Tennis Channel presenter Jon Wertheim.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got the feeling with Nadal that he wasn\u2019t even sure at some point what was motivating him,\u201d the American said. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to say I want to be the best I could possibly be or ring everything out that I can out of my career.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think there were times towards the end that Nadal wasn\u2019t exactly sure what was motivating him, I heard that from people close to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Jon Wertheim believes this is not something Novak Djokovic<\/a> suffers with, as he is 37 and still consistently competing against the world\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Novak he has never had a hard time motivating himself,\u201d he added. \u201cLast year was a great example, it was all about the Olympics and what did he do? He won that gold medal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not entirely sure whether it\u2019s having Andy Murray in his corner or playing events like Monte Carlo, that he doesn\u2019t have to play, clearly there is motivation there. It\u2019s not a victory he is on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to give him truth serum and say forget about all the sports cliche and ask him what are you chasing or how is chasing you right now that still has you playing and committing yourself a few weeks from turning 38 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Angel Martinez\/Getty Images for ITFRafael Nadal explains why he retired from tennis<\/strong><\/p>\n

In October 2024 Nadal sent the tennis world into meltdown when he posted a video on using social media accounts announcing his retirement from tennis.<\/p>\n

The moment that he had teased throughout the year was now a reality and the sport prepared to bid farewell to one of the greatest of all time. During the video message, Nadal, who suffered plenty of injuries during his tennis career, explained why he decided to now hang up his racket.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that it has been some difficult years, these last two especially. I don\u2019t think I have been able to play without limitations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken me some time to make. But, in this life, everything has a beginning and an end.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think it\u2019s the appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It became clear to some of those around Rafael Nadal when he was approaching the end of his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[4294,4295,4296,79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-7161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-novak-djokovic","10":"tag-rafael-nadal","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}