A farewell tour would be fitting for Nadal in 2024

Too often, careers are ended suddenly through injury, or else by a slow decline where the old magic just cannot be found.

There are times, however, when sports stars go out at the top of their game.

In horse racing, Frankie Dettori is on a year-long farewell tour before calling it a day in November at the Breeders’ Cup.

Dettori can still call upon the magic though, as he proved when winning theAscot Gold Cup in June.

Others, like the great baseball pitcher Mariano Rivera and soccer’s Zinedine Zidane, were able to go out at the very top.

What, then, will we make of one of tennis’ all-time greats, Rafael Nadal, who has pinpointed next year as a kind of farewell tour, claiming he hopes to pay homage to the fans and the venues where he served up so many wonderful memories, and where he won so many titles.

As so often this year, Nadal – and his spokesperson and uncle Toni Nadal – have been non-committal on specific dates for a return.

The surgery, as well as Nadal’s other mounting injuries, is serious, so there is a possibility that the legendary Spaniard does not return at all, at least not in truly competitive fashion.

Nadal may not make it to Australia

At the time of writing, the bookies have placed Nadal as a 12/1 shot in the outrighttennis betting for the Australian Open.

That seems a little short for someone who might only narrowly make a return by the time the year’s first Grand Slam comes around in 2024.

There’s precious little in the way of events to get match fit in December and January, and the scorching heat of the Aussie summer can be particularly unforgiving to those not at the peak of their fitness.  

Of course, Nadal will be thinking of Roland Garros in 2024.

The French Open is the tournament he will likely have factored in as his best chance of going out in style – we can think of 14 obvious reasons as to why – but he must only look at his long-time rival Roger Federer to appreciate that the fairytale does not always work out that way.

Federer injuries made fitting farewell impossible

Federer played his last singles match in a Grand Slam at Wimbledon 2021, and he did not retire until 14 months later at the Laver Cup in September 2022.

Fittingly, perhaps, his last match was a doubles game featuringNadal at the other end of the court.

Nonetheless, Federer was not able to say goodbye to the fans in the manner that he hoped. There was no great last stand at Wimbledon or Flushing Meadows.

Tennis is moving on from the era of the Big 3, and that will be a good thing in the long run.

However, it would be special if we could see Nadal patch himself up and at least be competitive in 2024.

But if he was able to bow out on his own terms, a rare occurrence at elite level sport, it would be truly fitting for the great Spaniard to have a proper farewell at the scenes of his greatest triumphs.