“Would you like your son to become a tennis player too?” Nadal was asked hours later. The answer was yes. “If that’s what my son wants to do, I’m going to support him. I don’t think that will be the case, but I’m going to support him in whatever he wants to do.” That moment on May 25, 2025, when both Nadals appeared together, sparked the imaginations of those who can’t accept that the story of the 14-time Roland Garros champion is over. And they have a point: After a retirement that was driven not by his own desires but by a body that said enough is enough, Rafael Nadal Parera (born in Manacor, on Mallorca, in 1986) must choose the Nadal he wants to be. And, fortunately for him, unlike most of us mortals, he can choose to be pretty much anything he wants. The question of Nadal’s future was in the air that Sunday in May in Paris, during a lunch for 100 people at the Philippe Chatrier court. What would Nadal do next? But social occasions like that event are not the time for long, deep discussions and in any case it’s a conversation that Nadal has to have with himself first. Instead, the guests enjoyed the Pedro Ximenez VORS, in a limited edition of 300 bottles. Nadal was presented with two specific bottles from the series: numbers 14 (to represent all the titles he won in Paris) and 22 (his total of Grand Slam titles). After the meal was over and after the tears had welled up in Nadal’s eyes during a farewell toast, after his footprint had been immortalized in clay on a plaque, and after he had spoken at length with Federer, Djokovic, and Murray after the ceremony, another important moment arrived: His face-to-face encounter with the press. Many of those present had followed Nadal’s career from start to finish. They saw him win his first title in 2005 followed by another 21 Grand Slam titles, Davis Cups, Olympic medals, and so many more. For several of those present, a large part of their lives had been spent alongside Nadal, and an important chapter was coming to an end for them too. The atmosphere was a unique mixture of nostalgia, gratitude, sadness, and relief. Perhaps that is why Nadal devoted almost an hour to answering questions from print outlets, which find themselves increasingly marginalized thanks to the power and reach of television. The latter is, of course, the source of the money that keeps the show running. Print media, on the other hand, only contributes its questions and its passion for telling stories that connect the images seen on the small screen with a thousand and one plot twists. On that afternoon in Paris, Nadal seemed to understand how media today works better than ever. The exchanges between Nadal and the journalists who had covered him for years were, at moments, unforgettable. —How does it feel when you’re in France and you’re handed the Olympic torch beneath the Eiffel Tower or your footprint is immortalized on the country’s most famous tennis court? —First of all, I’m grateful, grateful for all the love and respect I’ve been shown in this country and this city. I’m Spanish and I’ve always been proud of that, but feeling that love here is hugely satisfying. And, of course, having that little piece of me forever at Philippe Chatrier is moving. —Do you have any regrets? What would you have liked to have experienced more, enjoyed more? —Of course I’ve done some things wrong and I’ve made mistakes. Of course I would change some things I’ve done. I’m not the kind of person who says, “No, I wouldn’t change a thing.” I’ve never been that arrogant; I’ve made mistakes regularly. I can’t change them, but I’ve tried to learn from them. And the things I did, I really did them thinking at that time that they were the right thing to do. For example, last year in Rome, thousands of people were waiting for me on a bridge [located above the Foro Italico] after I lost my match. They wanted to give me a send-off, but I wasn’t ready for that. If I had known then what I know today, I would have stayed for 15 minutes to thank them and talk to them. But it was an uncomfortable situation for me because I didn’t know then that I was ready to retire. I made a mistake; I should have stayed longer. But I didn’t want the idea of retirement to take over my thoughts because that would have taken away the opportunity to continue playing. That farewell from Rome, a tournament he won 10 times, is something Nadal may recall with some regret, but so does the Italian Tennis Federation (FIT), which hopes to give the tennis player the send-off he deserves in 2026. “Although we have to admit that Roland Garros set the bar very high,” a senior federation official told Vanity Fair. In any case, Nadal still must say farewell to Rome and several other places that were central to his career. And there is no other way to do it than by playing tennis. That became clear in his exchanges with journalists in Paris. —What’s it like to be a retired tennis legend? What do you do? What’s your daily routine? How often do you play tennis? You seem to be in really good shape. —It’s not because I play tennis, because I haven’t picked up a racket since I retired [laughs]. While I haven’t set foot on a tennis court in eight months, I know I’ll be back at some point to play an exhibition match or something like that, but I need time. An exhibition match isn’t just about going out and playing; it’s all the preparation that goes into it, because when you play an exhibition, you want to show your tennis skills to the fans and everyone who organized it. So my daily routine isn’t a routine at all. Today I don’t have one, I’m just figuring out the next chapter of my professional life, working on projects like my academy, a hotel company, and the supplements company I created with Cantabria Labs and Heliocare. I’m also taking care of my foundation and my family, and I’m discovering what really motivates me. It’s not easy to figure out your next goal. But for me, it’s very important to have goals. Because, from my perspective, a life without goals is more difficult. I’m discovering what really excites me and motivates me to keep going. At the event, Nadal revealed his feelings, expectations, dreams, and doubts with the same intensity and power with which he played: “I’m having fun. I don’t miss tennis that much because I feel like I gave it my all. And now I’m enjoying this new stage of my life, and I’m sure it will be less exciting than my tennis career. The adrenaline rush you get from sports is impossible to find with other things in life, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be any less happy. I can be happier with less adrenaline and by focusing on other things.” —Don’t you need to find something you can truly compete at? —I don’t need to compete at those high levels. I’ll tell you something that’s odd: A couple of months after retiring, I had lost all of my competitive drive. It’s true. I don’t know why, but I would play golf or something else and I didn’t care if I lost, if I won, if I played well or badly. It was a strange feeling for me. Today, I’ve got that competitive side back again, but it’s more enjoyable now. And as for business, I want to be motivated to grow things, develop them, and learn about them. I want to be able to experience different facets of life. I have a lot to learn right now and that’s what I’m doing. The idea of Nadal not caring whether he wins or loses is a little hard to comprehend. It is, quite simply, the complete antithesis of how many of us see him. Perhaps that is why this non-competitive period was so short, just a few months. He couldn’t sustain an attitude of indifference. His uncle Toni, the man who made him a tennis player, an athlete, and, in part, an important person in the world, knows this: Nadal is fated to find himself on a tennis court again with Federer, and surely with Djokovic as well. There will be exhibition matches, of course, and opportunities to relive some of the most beautiful moments in the history of tennis. “I imagine he’d like to play an exhibition match with Federer soon, to give back a little of everything that tennis has given him and what the sport has meant to him,” Toni Nadal told Vanity Fair during those emotional days in Paris. “It would be very special for people to see the three of them playing again. And yes, I think they’ll have to do something later on.” The confidence with which Toni Nadal presented this match as taking place soon was tempered by Benito Pérez Barbadillo, Rafa Nadal’s communications manager: It will happen at some point “in the future,” he says, although there are no concrete plans at this time. But Uncle Toni has arguments to support his prediction: “I think I’ve been close enough to him to get to know him a little and I know that he would love to play with Federer. Tennis has been a big part of his life, it has meant a lot to him, and you can’t just erase that overnight. After these months away from the courts, I think he will want to get back to training and feel that he can hit the ball well. I am convinced that soon, very soon, he will be playing again.” Between 2004 and 2019, Nadal and Federer’s rivalry shaped the history of tennis. They played each other 40 times, with 24 wins for Nadal and 16 for Federer. Nadal is expecting his second child this year and has to get back to training and playing tennis. But nothing will happen before 2026, that much is clear. When he does return, it will be not only tournaments, but major cities around the world, that will compete to host these exhibition matches. Think not only of the great tennis capitals, but also large cities without other major events, in the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. The matches, and the business around them, will be huge. Gerard Tsobanian, the French president and CEO of the Madrid Masters 1000, knows this. The former right-hand man of Ion Tiriac dreams of having Nadal back at the Caja Mágica tennis center. “And not just once, 10 times if he wants!” he told Clay, a tennis website. “If Rafa is able to play in a way that doesn’t cause him physical pain and he can continue to put on a show, as he has done all these years, why not?” During Nadal’s visit to Paris, a tall, lanky man with curly blond hair could be spotted walking around Roland Garros. Christopher Clarey, for years the tennis reporter at The New York Times, has just published a biography of Nadal (The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay) that is the second part of a trilogy of tennis biographies. First came Federer (The Master: The Brilliant Career of Roger Federer) and there are also plans to publish a volume on Djokovic. A man of the world, Clarey is an American who has spent years of his life in Paris and Seville. His Spanish is very good, and he’s surely the English-language journalist who has followed Nadal’s career most closely and intensely. He too was astonished to hear that the player had lost his competitive drive for a few months. “His golf swing isn’t very pretty, but it’s clear that Rafa loves to compete. I think it’s in his genes; he’ll always be like that,” Clarey told Vanity Fair during a conversation at Roland Garros. “Without a doubt, his last two seasons were tough. They demanded a lot from him. He played an extra year, but we both know that, with his character and his love of being challenged, Rafa had to go through that. He wasn’t going to stop until he had.” Clarey nods when reminded that Nadal won the Australian Open and Roland Garros in 2022 and could well have won Wimbledon too had it not been for an injury. He was on track to complete the Grand Slam, something no one has achieved in men’s tennis since Australian Rod Laver in 1969. How could anyone ask him to retire? “He thought, ‘Why should I stop if I’m still winning?’ That’s Toni’s outlook on life and the way Nadal was raised, so for him to really quit tennis, it had to be his body telling him that he couldn’t go on.” Clarey no longer writes for The New York Times. Today, he focuses on his books and a newsletter, Tennis & Beyond. The journalist who knows Nadal so well believes that he may end up at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium one day. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he became president of Real Madrid. I can’t think of anything that makes more sense, to be honest. He’s passionate about the sport. He’s developed an interest in it. He has the contacts. He has the money, because I know you need a certain amount of money to be president of Real Madrid. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but I think he would be a fantastic candidate. Besides, he’s someone who is very used to being the center of attention, although he may be tired of it right now and wants a break. But Nadal could play that role fantastically. He now has the reach and vision to do so with the advisors he has, so it would make sense,” he says. If Clarey’s prediction comes true, we will, one day, have to look back and remember May 25, 2025, in Paris. On that timid spring afternoon in the French capital, there was a detail that went unnoticed by many, though not by those who had long followed Nadal: In the front row of the player’s box were a number of women. Nadal’s mother, Ana María Parera; his sister, María Isabel Nadal; and his wife, Mery Perelló, were all in attendance. Long relegated to the back rows, their appearance in the front row was something completely different. It was another sign that the Nadal’s next chapter, while it will still revolve around the same Nadal as before, is sure to be different. This story was originally published by Vanity Fair Spain. It was translated by John Newton.