Months before the world was introduced to Rafael Nadal the professional tennis player, Rafael Nadal the fighter was already on show. Wimbledon champion Pat Cash was to play Boris Becker for an exhibition match in the Spanish island of Mallorca in 2001. Becker had to withdraw, and a 14-year-old local player was summoned as a last-minute scramble.

Let’s not bulldoze the kid, Cash thought. The kid beat the 36-year-old Aussie.

The only way Nadal knew to play tennis — no matter as a 14-year-old turning up for an exhibition — was to fight for every point, sprint from side to side, hustle from the baseline to the net and back. The only way Nadal knew to play tennis was to not give up at any point and for any point — not at 40-0 in the first game of the first set, not at 0-40 in the last game of the final set; not as a rising teen taking his first steps to greatness, not as a greying great well into his late-thirties.

But on Thursday, at age 38, Nadal, one of the greatest players to have graced the sport, decided that he no longer has it in him to play professional tennis.

In a video message posted on his social media, the Spaniard announced that he will retire after turning up one last time for his country at the Davis Cup Finals next month.

Yes, the King of Clay has called it a day, after all. The raging bull has decided to halt.

“It’s obviously a difficult decision, which has taken me a long time to make,” Nadal said in the video, speaking in Spanish. “I think it’s the appropriate time to put an end to what has been a long and much more successful career than I could have ever imagined.”

Playing a physically brutal style that made many wonder about his sustainability, Nadal will sign off with 22 Grand Slams, second only to Novak Djokovic’s 24, in the all-time list. He pocketed 92 ATP titles, spent 209 weeks as the world No.1, and is a two-time Olympic gold medallist. His record 14 French Open titles are certain to stand the test of time, and a 112-4 win-loss record on the clay courts of Roland Garros a jaw-dropping testament to his unmatched superiority on a surface that is most demanding on the body.

It’s almost fitting that his last Grand Slam triumph would be at the French Open in 2022, yet perhaps not that his final French Open outing would be a first-round defeat (to Alexander Zverev this year). Nadal’s recent physical troubles, though, overpowered his seemingly undying mental resolve to play on. Hampered by multiple injuries over the last couple of years, he spent a large part of his time away from the sport — Nadal competed in only seven tournaments this year — and admitted last year that 2024 could possibly be his final sighting on the tour.

“The reality is that it has been some difficult years, the last two especially. I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations,” he said.

The Spaniard’s retirement also pushes the unforgettable “Big Three” club of men’s tennis further into the night. Nadal follows his good friend Roger Federer, who quit in 2022, leaving Djokovic as the only member still going on from the greatest era of tennis. Collectively, they gobbled up 66 Grand Slam titles and conjured up a rivalry that made them greater and, during that period, made the sport grander than any sport could ever hope to be.

Think of Nadal’s marathon five-set win over Federer in the 2008 Wimbledon final, believed to be one of the greatest matches ever. Think of that 2012 Australian Open title clash, the longest Grand Slam final where Djokovic outfought the most tenacious fighter. Think of those tears that Nadal and Federer — their friendship evolved as much as their 15-year rivalry — shared holding each other’s hands during the latter’s farewell match.

No wonder Federer was quick to comment on Nadal’s announcement on Instagram.

“What a career, Rafa! I always hoped this day would never come,” Federer wrote.

It did come, after all. The unrelenting fighter did stop.

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