It is a full year since the great Rafael Nadal retired from the sport he loves and he marked the occasion with a match against rising star Alex Eala so how did it feel to be back playing?

The 22-time Grand Slam winner hung up his tennis racket in November 2024 with his last competitive match a straight-set defeat to Botic van de Zandschulp in Spain’s Davis Cup Finals quarter-final loss against the Netherlands.

With his professional days behind him, the former world No 1 took a complete break from playing and was rarely seen hitting balls on a court until he posted a 41-second social media clip of his match in Mallorca against Rafa Nadal Academy graduate Eala.

“One year later, it felt great to be back on a tennis court!” Nadal wrote. “It was great to practice with you @AlexEala05! Next time I will be stronger.”

In an extensive interview with Jorge Valdano on the Movistar+ program Universo Valdano, Nadal offered feedback on the encounter and explained his current relationship with tennis.

“I played 45 minutes with Eala, they asked me to play and I was happy to do so,” the 39-year-old said.

“If I don’t have to run, that’s fine. Through the academy, I remain involved and watch what I feel like watching. I don’t follow day-to-day as before. Now, I watch the matches or moments that I feel like watching.”

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Nadal retired after he failed to fully recover from a hip injury he sustained at the 2023 Australian Open as, despite undergoing surgery, he knew he would never be able to play at the level he wanted.

But the Spaniard also battled with a chronic foot injury throughout his career and was told at a young age that he was unlikely to have a long career due to the rare and degenerative condition.

Yet he reached the very top in tennis as he spent more than 200 weeks at No 1 in the ATP Rankings, won a record 14 French Open titles, completed a Career Grand Slams, broke just about every single clay-court record and will go down in history as one of the greatest ever tennis players.

Retirement after such a successful career was never going to be easy, but Nadal was always prepared.

“I went through the respect you must have for change,” he explained. “All changes in life, at the very least, must generate some respect for how you will react to a new reality, a life that will be different from what you are used to, not only 20 years of a professional career, but since you were 10 years old.

“Sports and tennis are what I devoted myself to completely.

“I was prepared because I exhausted my options to the end. The fact that I had exhausted all the real options I had to continue competing at the level I would have liked to continue at gave me the conviction and peace of mind to end in peace and be convinced that it was the decision I had to make because there was no more. The tank was already empty.”

He added: “There are people who, logically, thought I should have stopped earlier, that the end didn’t make sense. For me, it did make sense: you have to act according to who you are. I acted as such. I tried to exhaust my options until there really weren’t any left. I liked what I was doing.

“I didn’t retire because I was tired of what I was doing or lacked the necessary motivation. I retired because my body couldn’t take it anymore. I was still happy doing what I was doing. In the surgery, they told me I had options to fully recover from it.

“I had to give myself a prudent time to find out. There came a point where I realised I could compete, but not at the level I needed to continue. I pushed my career to the limit, as far as I could take it.”