In his farewell match, the 38-year-old will play for Spain in the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga next month.
Due to injuries, Nadal has hardly played the last two seasons and hinted last year that he would retire at the end of the 2024 campaign.
Nadal declared, “I am here to let you know I am retiring from professional tennis,” in a video message that was made public on Thursday.
“The truth is that these have been challenging years, particularly the past two.
“I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations.”
After years of competition from Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal is the second-most successful men’s singles player of all time when he quits.
Dubbed the “King of Clay,” Rafael Nadal won 112 of his 116 major matches at Roland Garros and set a record 14 times as the French Open singles champion.
At the same tournament, no player has won as many Grand Slam singles championships.
In addition, Nadal has won the US Open four times, the Australian Open twice, and Wimbledon twice.
He also helped Spain win four Davis Cup titles, the most recent in 2019, and won gold in both the Olympic singles and doubles competitions.
In the early 2000s, Nadal and his enduring opponent Djokovic and 20-time major champion Roger Federer established the ‘Big Three,’ dominating the men’s game and drawing enormous crowds of spectators.
