There is no one way to retire. Two of Spain’s tennis greats gave us a lesson in that this past week.
In Barcelona, 37-year-old Rafa Nadal returned to the court for his first competitive match since January. It came after months of injury setbacks, in a season which he has all-but confirmed will be his last.
In Madrid, 30-year-old Garbiñe Muguruza held a press conference to announce she would be ending her career with immediate effect, after an extended break of her own.
One is a two-time major champion, happily bowing out prematurely. The other is a 22-time major champion, still motivated to try to eke out every last drop from his ailing body.
First to Barcelona, where there was a certain juxtaposition in the narrative around Nadal’s appearance there. He was both making his long-awaited comeback, but also saying goodbye to a club he has held dear throughout his career.
Nadal said he was treating this as his final appearance at the Real Club Tennis Barcelona, a club he first stepped onto the courts at as an 11-year-old and went on to win the tournament a record 12 times. “This is the club of his life,” head of maintenance at the RCTB, Julio Palomo, told Mundo Deportivo. Though he grew up in Mallorca, Nadal spent time training in Barcelona since he was a child and he speaks Catalan. The main court is even named after him.
Amid that nostalgia and sense of sentimentality though, he tried his best to keep it to business as usual when discussing his impending exit. But the adoration he experiences in Barcelona is of a different level.
It was my first time at the Barcelona Open, and my first time on-site at a tennis event since last November - a long stint on the sidelines, and I’d missed it a lot. There really is nothing like the buzz of being at a tournament, and that buzz was tenfold because the home crowd’s prodigal son had returned.
The RCTB, a relatively small club set among upmarket apartment buildings in Barcelona’s Les Corts neighbourhood, was full to the brim with anticipation over the weekend, ahead of Nadal’s first appearance there since 2021.
On Saturday, I jostled among a throng of hundreds of people who gathered to watch Nadal simply sit on the stage where the tournament draw was taking place.
Then I watched from the top of the stands on Tuesday as the crowd jumped to their feet in ovation when he stepped back onto the clay, before a ball was even hit.
He freely admitted that the abdominal injury he is still recovering from prevented him from serving at full pelt throughout his two matches (including a competitive loss to in-form Alex de Minaur). But there were moments when Nadal’s brilliance shone through. His sliding on the clay with ease. How he hit a trademark, effortful forehand pass. The “vamos!” and fist pump that followed.
Those moments are what sustain him, no doubt, but he wants more. While the Catalan press headlines bid a fond “farewell” to their champion, he is hoping his body will allow him to be competitive at the French Open - where he has won the title an astonishing 14 times. In the last few days it was also revealed that he is down as a member of Team Europe of this autumn’s Laver Cup. There is a glimmer of optimism in that decision, and it will be fascinating to see how the next few months transpire.
At the Madrid Open this week - where Nadal opens his tournament against 16-year-old Darwin Blanch, an American more than 21 years his junior who is playing only his second ever ATP tour-level match - we will get to see more of what he is capable of.
A few days after Nadal’s Barcelona Open exit, I travelled to Madrid where I got to interview Muguruza just a day after she formally announced her retirement. She laughed when I suggested the prospect of saying goodbye to tennis on a court, as Nadal is trying to do. “It’s harder when you’re that big,” she said of Nadal’s success.
Muguruza is a former world No 1 too though and her decision to leave tennis at a relatively young age is not unique. In recent years we also saw Ash Barty shock the world when she called time on her career aged 25, when she was still world No 1.
Like Barty, Muguruza said she struggled with life on tour, the constant travel, the loneliness. She explained that she was leaving tennis to embrace a slower pace of life. So the constant questions about what was next in this new era of her life have been overwhelming, she told me.
“Oh my god, woman power is great, but I feel bad to say I want to be home and have a family,” she said, more than a hint of exasperation in her voice. “It’s like, bad nowadays to say that. It feels like I always have to say I want to be a businesswoman, a role model.”
Her’s may not be the popular message everyone wants to hear, but it is more than valid. It’s that old dilemma, on how women can have it all and do it all - but what if you don’t want to? It’s great to see a number of female athletes successfully juggling motherhood and professional sport, and fantastic that they have that choice available in a growing number of leagues and tours. But that word - choice - is the main story here.
Muguruza is choosing to step away from the frenetic life of a tennis player to simply be for a while. I think there is a certain power in that too. You can read the full interview in The Telegraph here.
Those different pressures women face were plain to see the day after we spoke. A clip of Muguruza on the red carpet at the Laureus Awards went viral, when a reporter asked her what message she would send to those criticising her for the way her body looks since hanging up her racket.
It was an intrusive, inappropriate question. Muguruza did not have to explain herself, but she did, reacting with more poise than I would have mustered in the circumstances. “Well, if I don’t train what’s going to happen?” Muguruza said, forcing a smile. “I want to live life, enjoy life. A training regimen is extremely hard, so when you can live life more and relax you want to enjoy it. The physique of an Olympic athlete, ha, let’s be clear - the important thing is to maintain a level of health and enjoy your life.”
She dealt with the moment with real poise. But she should not have been asked the question in the first place. As a two-time major champion and a former world No 1, Muguruza’s body has catapulted her to the kind of success most can’t even dream of. It was both lazy journalism and maddening to hear a fellow female reporter focus solely on how that body looks.
It is no wonder women in sport might find the limelight and scrutiny they face tiresome enough to retire early.
Emma Hayes is right - Chelsea deserve a sell-out crowd
Speaking of goodbyes, on Saturday I swapped tennis for the Estadi Olimpic where Chelsea manager Emma Hayes continued her own farewell tour ahead of leaving for the USA Women’s National Team job this summer.
Chelsea scored a surprising 1-0 victory over Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final. It was the first time Barcelona had lost at home in more than five years. A huge result to take back to Stamford Bridge, where Hayes implored the club to push for a sell-out crowd.
I wrote a little bit about why I think Hayes is right to take this moment as an opportunity - both she and her players deserve it. You can read it in The Equalizer.
Recommendations
It was no surprise to see news that The Sports Agents podcast was downloaded one million times in its first month.
Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman are the dons of sports broadcasting, and it’s been refreshing to listen to a podcast spanning so many disciplines and facets of sporting culture.
They’ve covered topics as wide-ranging as boxing’s Saudi influence, whether the Olympic spirit can be retained with prize money and how women’s football attendances have shot up this season.
Last week’s episode, featuring an interview with Eniola Aluko where she spoke about representation in football, is a great listen.
Thank you
Thank you to everyone who has subscribed so far. I’ve been really touched by all of the support for this new writing outlet - and hope I can keep sharing stories you’re interested in.
See you next week!
Molly x