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

America’s tennis star Taylor Fritz has expressed his surprise about legendary Rafael Nadal’s decision not to retire after the French Open. The 38-year-old is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category in the Open era, having won as many as 22 Grand Slam titles.

Nadal is famous as a ‘King of Clay’, largely because 14 of his 22 major titles came while playing at the Roland Garros. The former world number recently announced his retirement in a video posted on social media. Nadal, in that video, revealed that he will be taking the court one last time to play at the highest level during the umping quarterfinals of the Davis Cup. The news is not a surprising one as the 22-time Grand Slam winner, who has struggled with fitness concerns towards the later stages of his illustrious career, already announced last year that the 2024 season would be his last at the highest level.

Current world number seven Fritz, who became the first player in 18 years to play in the final of the US Open recently, has been quoted in a report where he expressed surprise about Nadal’s decision not to retire right after the French Open 2024. The Spaniard played at the 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, 6-3.

"Yeah, I think a lot of people saw a retirement announcement coming,” he said. “I think I was very surprised to see it's at Davis Cup, you know. I think a lot of people would have expected French Open, or Madrid, Barcelona, something like that. Obviously he's tried for a long time to get healthy, and, you know, I think the announcement coming now, and the retirement coming at Davis Cup just shows he's tried for a very long time to play, and this is going to be it.”