Nadal, Clay Court King, to retire after Davis Cup: Fritz reacts

Nadal is famous as the “King of Clay”, in large part because 14 of his 22 major titles came while playing at Roland Garros. The former world number one recently announced his retirement in a video posted on social media. Nadal, in this video, revealed that he will take to the court for the last time to play at the highest level during the Davis Cup quarter-finals. The news is not surprising as the 22-time Grand Slam winner, who has struggled with fitness issues towards the latter stages of his illustrious career, already announced last year that the 2024 season would be the his last at the highest level.

Current world number seven Fritz, who recently became the first player in 18 years to play in the US Open final, has been quoted in a report expressing his surprise at Nadal’s decision of not retiring just after the 2024 French Open. The Spaniard played at Roland Garros this year, where he was knocked out after losing in the first round to Germany’s Alexander Zverev in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 7-6 and 6-3.

“Yeah, I think a lot of people saw a retirement announcement coming,” he said. “I think I was really surprised to see that it was in the Davis Cup, you know. I think a lot of people would have expected the French Open or Madrid. , Barcelona, ​​something like that, obviously, it’s been a long time since he’s been trying to recover, and, you know, I think the announcement coming now, and the retirement coming to Davis Cup just shows that he’s been trying to play for a long time. That’s going to be it.”