Tennis player Rafael Nadal says during a press conference that he will not compete in the French Open, at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, on Mallorca, Spain, on May 18. The 22-time Grand Slam winner has battled to recover from a hip injury he sustained in January at the Australian Open, not playing since then.JAIME REINA/AFP/Getty Images
Cryogenic chambers, German gene therapy and careers that never end are so 2019. Post-pandemic, what the cool kids are into is victory laps, playing footsie with your fans and being famous forever.
With that in mind, Rafael Nadal triple-barrelled his news on Thursday.
First, Nadal will skip the coming French Open. He hasn’t played since bombing out of the Australian Open in January, so that wasn’t a shocker. Still, it’s the first time he’s missed his personal major in 19 years, so it’s newsworthy.
Second, he’s taking most of the rest of the year off to recover from injury.
“I have no intention of continuing to play for the next few months,” Nadal said. So no French, no Wimbledon and, depending on your definition of “few,” no U.S. Open.
Third, he’s quitting. Kind of. Well, maybe.
Nadal turns 37 in a couple of weeks. He said he’s taking time off this season so that he has “an opportunity to enjoy next year.”
Then he tossed off, “That’s probably going to be my last year in the professional tour.”
Before anybody could react to that bombshell, Nadal was already hedging: “I can’t say 100 per cent that it’s going to be like this, because you never know what’s going to happen.”
So the headline is “Rafael Nadal Announces Retirement at Some Imminent, Yet Indeterminate, Future Point Because You Never Know What’s Going to Happen.”
Across the sports media world, everyone’s talking about Nadal retiring. That’s not what happened. Instead, Nadal relieved himself of the pressure to retire, because now he is in a permanent state of retiring, whether he retires or not.
Nadal has become the last man standing at your dinner party. You’ve managed to get him as far as the front hallway, but he’s planted himself there. He’s got his coat in his hands, and just remembered that he wanted to tell you one more story. Is he ever going? Theoretically. But we have yet to see that theory in practice.
One other notable thing about this ‘announcement’ – Nadal did it at his tennis academy in Malaga. The mood was very ‘new CEO charms stakeholders.’
Nadal was up on a stage in jeans that looked like he’d been dropped into from a great height. He looked tanned and commanding. The screen behind him was branded “by Movistar” – a Spanish telecom giant.
This was less John McEnroe and more Jeff Bezos. Here’s a guy setting up his next act, while taking advantage of a few million dollars in free advertising. It was the move of a seasoned media operator.
Athletes generally, and tennis players in particular, are no longer contract workers. They are conglomerates. As long as they’re good enough, tennis (or car-racing or soccer) is one part of their portfolio. There’s also a sponsorship division, a branding division and a business-development division.
In your 20s, you establish yourself as a player. In your 30s, you establish your business. The goal is slowly reducing your reliance on sports as a marketing and revenue stream, while you amp up everything else.
This can’t be done all at once. You can’t be all in on winning Grand Slams one day and then trying to figure out how to get your tennis-court clay comped the next. You need years to transition.
That’s what retirement announcements have become. A signal to the market that you’re disrupting your own business.
Roger Federer led the way in this regard. He was functionally retired long before he actually retired. For the past few years of his career, he only played the Slams he thought he had an outside chance of winning. Whenever he needed a media boost, he knew he could show up and hint around retiring, without doing it.
In the interim, he transitioned from tennis guy to professionally suave guy. Now long gone, he still promotes everything from clothing (Uniqlo) to champagne (Moët & Chandon) to luggage (Rimowa). The last few years he was on tour proved Federer didn’t need to play tennis in order to provide value as a brand ambassador.
Serena Williams did the same thing. By the time she was peace-ing out at the U.S. Open last year, she was more keen to talk about her new venture-capital business than recap her tennis war stories.
This is the new legendary sports career – a career so great that it never needs to end. Long after you stop playing, you are still a player.
No wonder Nadal wants to spin this last stage out for as long as possible. He isn’t as well practised a salesperson as Federer or Williams. While they were laying the groundwork for their post-career careers, Nadal was too busy busting his hump in rehab. He wasted a lot of time trying to be healthy enough to play tennis.
Having reached cruising altitude, that’s what he’ll do for a while – cruise. Nadal just bought himself 18 months.
There’s no way he’s leaving without playing in one more Wimbledon, or one more Olympics. But wouldn’t it be perfect if he left right after winning a final French Open? So that means Roland Garros 2025 at the earliest. We could be talking two years from now.
If that happens, some people will complain that Nadal has become one of those classic rock acts that goes out on its “final tour” once every few years.
With that in mind, Nadal was already laying out his retort.
“I don’t deserve to end like this,” he said in Spanish. “I’ve worked hard enough throughout my career for my end not to be in a press conference.”
Like most things in life, ‘deserve’ has nothing to do with it. You grab what you can.
As of right now, no one in history grabbed more from their careers than Nadal. His 22 Grand Slams (he’s tied with Novak Djokovic) won’t stand as a record. But one suspects that long after that number has fallen, Nadal will still be a name people recognize and, more important, be willing to pay to get next to.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins will bring in another quarterback while starter Tua Tagovailoa deals with his latest concussion, coach Mike McDaniel said Friday.
For now, Skylar Thompson will be considered the Dolphins’ starter while Tagovailoa is sidelined. Tagovailoa left Thursday night’s 31-10 loss to Buffalo in the third quarter with the third known concussion of his NFL career, all of them coming in the last 24 months.
“The team and the organization are very confident in Skylar,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel said the team has not made any decision about whether to place Tagovailoa on injured reserve. Tagovailoa was expected at the team facility on Friday to start the process of being evaluated in earnest.
“We just have to operate in the unknown and be prepared for every situation,” McDaniel said, noting that the only opinions that will matter to the team will be the ones from Tagovailoa and the medical staff.
McDaniel added that he doesn’t see Tagovailoa playing in Miami’s next game at Seattle on Sept. 22.
“I have no idea and I’m not going to all of a sudden start making decisions that I don’t even see myself involved in the most important parts of,” McDaniel added. “All I’m telling Tua is everyone is counting on you to be a dad and be a dad this weekend. And then we’ll move from there. There won’t be any talk about where we’re going in that regard … none of that will happen without doctors’ expertise and the actual player.”
Tagovailoa was 17 for 25 passing for 145 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions — one of which was returned for a Buffalo score — when he got hurt. Thompson completed eight of 14 passes for 80 yards.
Thompson said he feels “fully equipped” to run the Dolphins’ offense.
“What’s going to lie ahead, who knows, but man, I’m confident, though,” Thompson said after Thursday’s game. “I feel like I’m ready for whatever’s to come. I’m going to prepare and work hard and do everything I can to lead this team and do my job.”
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
TORSBY, Sweden (AP) — David Beckham and former England coach Roy Hodgson were among the soccer dignitaries who attended the funeral of Sven-Goran Eriksson on Friday in the Swedish manager’s small hometown of Torsby.
Eriksson’s wooden coffin was covered in white flowers and surrounded by six tall candles and other floral wreaths as the ceremony began inside the 600-seat Fryksande church.
“It is a day of grief but also a day of thankfulness,” the priest, Ingela Älvskog, told those in attendance.
Beckham, who arrived by private jet on Thursday, greeted Eriksson’s 95-year-old father Sven and other family members with hugs inside the church before the funeral started.
Eriksson became England’s first foreign-born coach when he led the national team from 2001-06, and made Beckham his captain.
Eriksson, who also won trophies at club level in Italy, Portugal and Sweden, died on Aug. 26 at the age of 76, eight months after he revealed he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had at most one year to live.
Some 200 seats in the neo-Gothic church from 1898 were reserved for his family, friends and players from his career in the football world, according to his agent. The remaining seats were open for the public, according to Eriksson’s wish, with a big screen set up outside the church where hundreds more gathered to watch the ceremony. The funeral was also broadcast live on some Swedish media websites.
The wooden coffin was wheeled in by pallbearers at the church Friday morning as fog wrapped Torsby — a town of about 4,000 people located about 310 kilometers (193 miles) west of Stockholm. Next to the casket was a photo of Eriksson on a small table. The floral wreaths included ones sent by FIFA and Lazio, the Italian team that Eriksson led to the Serie A title in 2000.
The ceremony began with somber piano and organ music, but later took on a more upbeat note with Swedish singer Charlotta Birgersson performing Elton John’s song “Candle In The Wind” and then “My Way” in a duet with Johan Birgersson, who later intoned the popular Italian song “Volare” after the family had gathered around the casket to lay flowers.
Beckham also visited Eriksson in Sweden in June to say goodbye. Others attending the funeral included the Swedish coach’s longtime partner Nancy Dell’Olio. Eriksson’s agent had said that guests from England, Italy and Spain were expected.
After the funeral, the casket was carried out of the church by eight men to the hearse. The guests then walked in a procession accompanying the coffin to a nearby museum where speeches and eulogies to the coach fondly known as “Svennis” were planned on an outdoor stage. A brass band played during the procession through Torsby, including the tune “You never walk alone” from the musical “Carousel” which has become the anthem of Liverpool, the club Eriksson supported since childhood.
The local soccer club Torsby IF, where Eriksson started his career in the 1960s, wrote on its webpage that “you also showed your greatness by always being yourself, the caring Svennis who talked to everyone and took the time, for big and small, asking how things were and how the football was going. We will miss you.”
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