"I would not give him more than 2 years" - Evert hints Nadal's retirement is nearing
ATP
After winning two Grand Slam titles in 2019 and finishing the year as World No. 1 player, it might appear that the end of Rafael Nadal's career might be close.
In 2019, Nadal won four ATP Tour-level titles, including two majors, and won a total of 58 matches. In the next two years combined, he achieved the same result.
It seemed that with the rise of young players such as Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, and now Carlos Alcaraz, the 21-time Grand Slam champion Nadal wouldn't have many chances to win more Grand Slam titles.
However, he had an incredible start to the 2022 season, winning three titles, including one at the Australian Open. During the first part of the season, he won more matches on hard courts than during the whole 2020 season.
Despite all of this, fellow former World No. 1 Chris Evert believes that the Spaniard might soon end his career, as she revealed in an interview with Eurosport.
"He is sounding weary. There is so much more that comes with being a professional tennis player than playing a match, but he sounded tired. The respect I have for him because he is 35 years old and he can keep getting psyched up every single day for these matches."
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As a former player, Evert could compare Nadal's situation to her own. According to her own words, the American's decline started in her early 30s.
"I started burning out in my early 30s. When I woke up in the morning I didn’t have anything in me, so I don’t know where he gets this passion and fire in his belly from."
"I am sure with the injury, I don’t want to say he is falling apart, but you get a little more affected by the playing and training. It is going to happen, whether it is next year, two years, three years. I would not give him more than two or three years to play tennis."
