He also spent his entire career battling his own body, with Nadal’s injuries both acute and chronic carving the trajectory of his career and to an extent the way he played tennis. King of clay. Warrior.

Nadal endured repeated injuries over his two decades, some substantial with long delays, but he always found his way back to familiar, brilliant

Rafael Nadal called it a career on Tuesday after more than two decades of tennis excellence. He announced in October that the Davis Cup would be his