Rafa Nadal has not played tennis professionally in 2025, but has been the protagonist of one of the most spectacular moments of the tennis season. Retired in November 2024, in the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, with the elimination of Spain against the Netherlands, the Balearic tennis player disappeared from the ATP ranking last July, when the points he had achieved in Bastad, the last tour tournament he played in, and in which he lost in the final with the Portuguese Borges, expired. Then came the Paris Olympic Games, where he lost to Djokovic in the second round, and the Davis Cup, in which he was also surpassed by Van de Zandschulp on one of the individual points.
This has been the first campaign without the Spaniard since his debut in 2002, and, therefore, it has been the first Roland Garros without the man who has played the best in history on those courts. Nadal forged his legend on many courts around the world, but one is special: the Philippe Chatrier, the center of the Grand Slam in Paris. He participated 19 times in the tournament and won 14. Conquering the same “Great” 14 times is one of the most difficult records to beat, not only in tennis, but also in the world of sports. He was defeated in four times in the 116 games he playedand in one he had to retire before starting due to a wrist injury.
He was like another Frenchman on that track, where they encouraged him like anyone else, and the proof is the homage they paid him, which Nadal remembers in his congratulatory message for the year.
“Thank you, 2025. I wish you the best for 2026,” Rafa writes on his social networks, and the photo chosen is from the moment of the tribute at Roland Garros, where his great rivals were not absent, Federer, Djokovic and Murrayand that he had the culminating moment when they discovered the surprise they had in store for him: a footprint of his is immortalized next to the net on the center court.
His tennis will no longer be seen on those courts, but his memory will be there, which will be eternal. Later, Alcaraz and Sinner paid tribute in the final, with one of the best matches in history.
