Former world number one
John McEnroe has predicted that Spain’s
legendary tennis star
Rafael Nadal might end his career in the sport at the end
of the
Laver Cup. The 38-year-old is often regarded as one of the greatest
players in the history of men’s tennis in the Open era, having won as many as
22 Grand Slam titles.
Nadal has struggled with fitness concerns in the later stage
his career. It was because of this reason, he ended up missing three out of the
four Grand Slams in 2023. During his time off the court last year, the former world
number one announced that he would consider retirement at the end of the 2024
season.
Nadal returned to the court earlier this season where he
found it hard to produce positive results on a consistent basis. The legendary
tennis star, despite returning to the court, has only managed to play in three
out of four Grand Slams this year and recently announced that he will not play
in the ongoing US Open.
However, Nadal did announce that he will take part in the
Laver Cup where he will be part of the Team Europe. His opposing team’s captain
McEnroe, while speaking to Eurosport as quoted by Tennis365, predicted that the
Spaniard might end his career at the Laver Cup just like Switzerland’s tennis
star Roger Federer did.
“It feels like he is going to stop, maybe, at Laver Cup,” he
said. “Then again, Roger did it at Laver Cup a couple of years ago, so maybe he
wants to do it in his own time. He still seems like he has an appetite to play.
It seems like he is trying to get the body up to a level where he feels like he
can play. Maybe see what he can do at the start of next year? I don’t know and
this is a total guess, but Laver Cup could be the end for Rafa. He really loves
to play, more than almost anyone I’ve ever seen, but we’ve watched Andy Murray
for the last six years trying to get back to that level and it’s hard when your
body lets you down. It’s hard to walk way when you still want to play and you
look at Murray and he wanted it so bad. It sucks when your body doesn’t
cooperate and we will see with Rafa. I’d be a little surprised if he carried on
playing.”
