Tennis legend Rafael Nadal has announced his upcoming retirement from the sport after a glittering career in which he amassed 22 grand slam titles.

A passage from the Rudyard Kipling poem “If” is written on the wall of the players’ entrance to Wimbledon’s Centre Court. “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two imposters both the same,” it reads. Competitors can glance at Kipling’s writing before they take to the London grass.

Having previously teased retirement without wanting to use that specific term, Rafael Nadal has confirmed his legendary tennis career will come to an