Rafael Nadal recently made the difficult decision to retire from tennis, which surprised some, including noted tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
The Spanish legend played a few tournaments this year, and many assumed that the Roland Garros or the Paris Olympics would be his main goal, given his historic success at that venue.
However, he was quite unlucky at both events. The 22-time Grand Slam winner drew Alexander Zverev in the first round of the 2024 French Open, and he had to play against Novak Djokovic in the second round of the Paris Olympics.
While Zverev reached the final of the Roland Garros, Djokovic won the gold Olympic medal, showing that early in both tournaments, Nadal had to play against the best of the best.
After months of continued struggles, he decided to retire from the sport. His last tournament is the 2024 Davis Cup Final 8 in Malaga, Spain.
Many expected the retirement decision, but Naomi Osaka's current coach, and former coach of the likes of Serena Williams, Patrick Mouratoglou, was surprised with by it, as he explained in the Tennis Majors' Eye of the Coach.
"I think the retirement of Rafa is a surprise. We expected it for the next year. I would really expect him to push until the Roland Garros, and then retire. He is the greatest of all-time at Roland Garros, on clay in general, but at Roland Garros in especially."
Despite being surprised by the 38-year-old's decision to retire from the sport, the experienced French coach was aware of the fact that Nadal couldn't practice like he wanted to, which also impacted his ability to compete with the best.
"For the past two years, he was unable to even practice the way he wants. When you're unable to practice, you can't perform at the highest level, and I think for someone like him, to be playing 30% or 40% of what he can do, and losing too many times too often..."
Mouratoglou also spoke about the Spaniard and his level at Roland Garros. According to the 54-year-old coach, Nadal was at around 50% of his abilities, with his movement mostly suffering.
The Frenchman explained that with Nadal's movement impacted, he was a bit late for every shot, which resulted in more misses and less consistency, impacting his game as a whole.
"Last Roland Garros, he was maybe 50%-60%. He was playing well, but he couldn't move at all the way he used to. And it affects his whole game. When he reaches the ball, a lot of times, he's not in a good position. He's missing much more than usual, and he's not as consistent as he used to be."
Still, Mouratoglou believed that Nadal was better than 90% of the players in the 2024 Roland Garros draw; he was just unlucky to draw the player who was the fourth seed and later reached the final of the tournament.
"He was still better than 90% of the players in the draw. It was only because he faced Alexander Zverev, then ranked world No. 4, the future finalist of the tournament and the winner of Rome, that he was defeated. This speaks volumes about the extraordinary level he maintained throughout his career."
Nadal will now focus on preparing for the Davis Cup by competing at the Six Kings Slam before that. Mouratoglou, on the other hand, will be hoping for Osaka's swift recovery, as she's been struggling with an injury recently.