Rafael Nadal will certainly go down as one of tennis’ greatest ever players. 

And he’s going to leave a legacy that may never be matched.

Nadal announced his retirement in October and admitted he felt he had ‘played his last singles match’ at the Davis Cup on Tuesday, after holding back tears before losing his first and potentially final game.

He has been representing his country, Spain, in what will be his last ever competition and the sport will then say goodbye to a legend. 

The Spaniard’s career began back in 2001 and over the following 23 years, he built a reputation as one of the best of all time. 

A 22-time Grand Slam winner, he only sits below Novak Djokovic (24) as the player to win the most major titles in tennis history. 

That is a stunning achievement, but it’s not a record…

Although he has more than enough of those to his name as well. 

The most incredible of Nadal’s records was set in 2010 as he became the youngest man in the Open Era to complete a Career Slam. 

He was 24 years old when he won the US Open for the first time and he added that to the French Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open to achieve greatness. 

All of his glory came over a five-year period, winning at Roland Garros first in 2005, then Wimbledon in 2008 and in Australia in 2009 before success in the USA a year later.

And on top of that, he completed a Career Golden Slam at the same time. 

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Along with all of his titles, Nadal also won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Only Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf had ever won a Career Golden Slam before him, while Djokovic became the first person since to achieve it in Paris this year. 

For such a rare feat to be completed by the age of 24 is monumental and it’s unlikely we will ever see anything like it again.

Throughout his career, Nadal also set some more records that are unlikely to be broken. 

He has beaten the World No.1 23 times, which is the most in tennis history and puts him four above Boris Becker and seven above Djokovic. 

As well as that, he has also spent the most days inside the top ten of the ATP rankings compared to any other player. 

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Nadal had a streak lasting a humongous 912 weeks, remaining in the top ten for almost 18 years from April 2005 until March 2023.

He sits well clear of any other player with Jimmy Connors in second with 789 weeks and Roger Federer in third with a total streak of 742 weeks. 

Of the 912 weeks, he was World No.1 for 209. 

The records aren’t done yet either, as Nadal is out on his own when it comes to winning Grand Slams over a prolonged period. 

He is the only player in history to have won multiple Grand Slams in three different decades, proving his longevity is almost impossible to match. 

The Spaniard won six major titles in the 2000s before he added a huge 13 in the 2010s and then claimed three more in the 2020s. 

The feat cannot be beaten until at least the 2030s as no active player can do so before then. 

Federer and Djokovic didn’t manage it and they were Nadal’s closest rivals, with their stats against each other incredibly close. 

The three superstars are arguably some of the greatest we’ll ever see, but Nadal is the only one of them to dominate on the clay. 

His home became the French Open and his success there is the reason he’s nicknamed the King of Clay. 

No player has ever managed to compete with Nadal at the famous Roland Garros. 

He won an incredible record-setting 14 French Opens in 19 total appearances throughout his career.

Only three players were ever able to beat him on the clay – Robin Soderling in 2009, Djokovic in 2015 and 2021, and Alexander Zverev earlier this year. 

Nadal boasts an unbelievable overall record in the tournament, winning 112 of his 116 matches and only three of those games ever went to five sets. 

In fact, he won the French Open four times (2008, 2010, 2017, 2020) without dropping a single set on his way to glory. 

Nadal was so good at Roland Garros that he also holds the record for most wins, most finals, most titles won, most title defences and most consecutive titles ever. 

In all events held on a clay court, he went on a remarkable 81-match unbeaten run between 2005 and 2007, with that being ended by Federer. 

He has won a whopping 63 titles on the surface, proving himself to be one of the greatest ever seen and well worthy of his nickname. 

Surely, no other player is going to be as dominant as he was on the clay. 

And it’s likely that his records may remain in the tennis history books forever.