The 5 Grand Slam champions to retire in 2024: Rafael Nadal headlines year of farewells
Tennis has had more than its fair share of emotional farewells in 2024.
Countless players have called time on their careers or have expressed their intention to do so, with some of those officially leaving the game some of the biggest names in the sport.
Here, we look at the five Grand Slam champions exiting tennis this season.
Rafael Nadal
No retirement this year is bigger than that of Nadal, who will end his legendary career at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga next month.
The Davis Cup has been a happy hunting ground for the 38-year-old in the past, having helped guide Spain to the title four times across his career.
However, there is no doubt he will be best remembered for his staggering haul of 22 Grand Slam singles titles, the second-most of any man in ATP history.
Nadal’s 14 titles at Roland Garros is a record for any tournament on the ATP, though he also found huge success at the other majors.
He was a four-time champion at the US Open and a two-time champion at both Wimbledon and the Australian Open.
Alongside his 22 victories, he reached a further eight major finals.
Andy Murray
Murray was one of two former Grand Slam winners to call time on their career at the Olympic Games, bowing out from tennis after his defeat in the last eight of the men’s doubles.
Playing against the ‘Big Three’ did not make life easy for Murray, who lost his first four major finals.
However, he memorably broke his duck at the US Open in 2012, becoming the first British man in 76 years to lift a Slam singles title.
Murray then made further history at Wimbledon, winning the title in 2013 and again in 2016; his three Slam titles are joined by eight runner-up finishes.
Facts & Stats Features
9 women whose last tour title was a Grand Slam – ft Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters, Ashleigh Barty
5 men whose last tour title was a Grand Slam: Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem match Pete Sampras
Angelique Kerber
The second of the two tennis greats to retire at Paris 2024, German star Kerber hung up her racket after a memorable run to the last eight of the women’s singles draw.
For so long it felt like Kerber was some distance from winning a major, though she shocked the tennis world by lifting the Australian Open title in 2016.
She would then go on to reach the Wimbledon final later that year, and capped off the summer by not only becoming world No 1 – but also winning the US Open.
Two years after her SW19 final defeat, she lifted the title at the All England Club to capture her third and final major.
Garbine Muguruza
Though Muguruza played her last match in 2023, the Spaniard officially confirmed her retirement from the sport back in April.
The former world No 1 first broke through in 2015, reaching the Wimbledon final, though tasted Grand Slam success for the first time by winning the 2016 French Open title.
Muguruza then won the second of her two major titles in 2017, lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish at Wimbledon two years after previously losing the final.
She would reach a fourth and last Grand Slam final at the 2020 Australian Open and, while retired, she has not left the sport completely; she is the tournament director at the upcoming WTA Finals.
Dominic Thiem
Former world No 3 Thiem said a final goodbye to tennis on home soil this week, playing the final match of his career at the Vienna Open.
Long recognised as a huge talent, the Austrian reached his first Grand Slam final at the French Open in 2018 and also made finals at the 2019 French Open and 2020 Australian Open – without winning a major.
However, he finally got his hands on a Slam title at the US Open in 2020, ending his wait for one of the biggest titles in the sport.
That proved to be the final title he won at any level, having failed to recover from a significant wrist injury he sustained the following year.
