Heartbreaking news:  Novak Djokovic‘s retirement is set to leave a huge hole in tennis……..

The 22-time Grand Slam champion will bow out from the sport after representing Spain at this week’s Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, bringing to an end a glittering 23-year career.

Nadal has cemented himself as one of the all-time greats during this time, collecting the second-most major singles titles of any men’s player, with only Novak Djokovic having won more.

And while the Spaniard may have been pipped in this category, he leads the way with plenty more records which could well stand the test of time.

With Nadal set to hang up his racket as a 38-year-old, his longevity has been central to his continued dominance over the years.

In fact, the Mallorca man’s consistency has been such that he is the only tennis player to win multiple Grand Slam titles in three different decades

This is made all the more incredible considering that just seven people have managed to record one major title in the same time frames.

In the men’s game, Nadal is joined by Djokovic and Rosewall, while Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, Nancye Bolton and Blanche Bingley all achieved the same on the women’s side.

Having debuted on the professional circuit aged just 15, Nadal clinched his first Grand Slam at 19, at the 2005 French Open.

A further five major victories would follow before the end of the decade, before enjoying his most successful decade yet, winning 13 in the 2010s, and adding three more in the 2020s.

The staggering record will not be broken anytime soon, with no active player currently able to match the feat of winning three or more majors in three decades until at least the 2030s.

And Nadal’s sustained success at the top of tennis means that he was able to make plenty more history during this period.

Arguably his greatest achievement is his unprecedented dominance of the French Open, having won an astonishing 14 titles at Roland-Garro, the last of which came in 2022.

No other player in tennis history, male or female, has won the same Grand Slam title more than 11 times.

Even more incredibly, the Spanish legend has lost just four times in his 116 appearances at the Paris event.

Nadal is also only the second man in the Open Era to complete the double Career Grand Slam, winning each major twice.

His consistency across the board means that he has spent an unmatched consecutive 912 weeks in the ATP’s world top 10 rankings, having first broken into the elite group in April 2005, before finally dropping out in March 2023.

A considerable amount of this time saw Nadal hold the world number one spot, spending a total of 209 weeks in the position, but he has been equally dangerous when not at the sport’s summit