PARIS (AP) — Rafael Nadal hasn't swung a tennis racket in the six months since the final match of his remarkable career. Eventually, he figures, he will do so again, if for no other reason than to prepare for exhibition matches. But for now, he is fine taking time away from the court in retirement.
He also was OK with realizing soon after walking away that he no longer felt the competitive streak that helped carry him to 22 Grand Slam titles. That total includes a remarkable 14 at the French Open, more championships than any other person won at one of his sport's major tournaments — and the site of a celebration of his excellence on Sunday in its main stadium.
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Rafa Nadal waves to the crowd during a farewell ceremony at center court Philippe-Chatrier, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Sunday May 25, 2025 (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Rafa Nadal gets emotional during a farewell ceremony at center court Philippe-Chatrier, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Sunday May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A sign for Rafa Nadal is placed during a farewell ceremony at center court Philippe-Chatrier, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Sunday May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Rafa Nadal, left, hugs Roger Federer, during a farewell ceremony at center court Philippe-Chatrier, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Sunday May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Rafa Nadal reaches for his son Rafael Junior during a farewell ceremony at center court Philippe-Chatrier, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Sunday May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
When he would play golf, for example, “I didn’t care if I lose, if I win, if I play well, if I play bad. Was a strange feeling for me, and not funny. I didn’t like to experience that, being honest, because I understand (sports differently).”
Not surprisingly, though, that period passed. It makes sense that the drive that pushed him for two decades to succeed, to strive to get better, to keep accumulating accolades would not quite disappear forever.
“I am competitive again,” he pronounced with a smile. “Just to let you know, I am enjoying my daily competitions when I play golf and when I do things, but I think in a much nicer way.”
Now he invests time in his family — his wife and 2-year-old son were at Court Philippe-Chatrier for Sunday's moving tribute — and business interests, including his tennis academy, a hotel company and a nutritional supplements company, plus his charitable foundation.
“I am discovering,” said Nadal, who turns 39 on June 3, “what really motivates me for this new life.”
And as for tennis?
“I am having fun. I don’t miss much tennis, because I feel that I (gave) all what I had. I arrive at the day of today with the peace that I can’t be on court. My body doesn't allow me to be on court. So that’s all. I am (at) peace,” he continued. “I did all (that) I could to have the best career possible, and now I am enjoying this new phase of my life, that I am sure going to be less exciting than the tennis career.”
He went on to explain that the adrenaline sports produces is “impossible to find in other things in life,” but that doesn't mean he will be any less happy.
As singular as his achievements in Paris were — not just the 14 trophies, first at age 18 in 2005 and last at age 36 in 2022, but also the career record of 112-4 — Nadal does not find it inconceivable that someone else could come along and produce similar success.
He might be the only one who thinks that way. After all, no man in the professional era, which began in 1968, even won half as many championships at Roland-Garros; Bjorn Borg is next on the list with six.
“I really feel that if I did it — I don’t consider myself somebody very, very special — another one is going to come and going to achieve that, too,” he said. “A lot of things need to happen in your favor to make that happen, because you need a long career, because you can’t have a lot of injuries, even if I had (my share). ... You can have injuries, you can have very, very bad days. So you need some luck, too.”
Rafa Nadal waves to the crowd during a farewell ceremony at center court Philippe-Chatrier, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Sunday May 25, 2025 (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Rafa Nadal gets emotional during a farewell ceremony at center court Philippe-Chatrier, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Sunday May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A sign for Rafa Nadal is placed during a farewell ceremony at center court Philippe-Chatrier, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Sunday May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Rafa Nadal, left, hugs Roger Federer, during a farewell ceremony at center court Philippe-Chatrier, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Sunday May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Rafa Nadal reaches for his son Rafael Junior during a farewell ceremony at center court Philippe-Chatrier, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Sunday May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Two former attorneys and an aide who all worked on President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign were scheduled to appear Monday for a preliminary hearing in Wisconsin on felony forgery charges related to a fake elector scheme.
The Wisconsin case is moving forward even as others in the battleground states of Michigan and Georgia have faltered. A special prosecutor last year dropped a federal case alleging Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Another case in Nevada is still alive.
The hearing comes a week after Trump attorney Jim Troupis, one of the three who were charged, tried unsuccessfully to get the judge to step down in the case and have it moved to another county. Troupis, who served one year as a judge in the same county where he was charged, also alleged that all of the judges in Dane County are biased against him and he can’t get a fair trial.
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The fight over California’s new congressional map designed to help Democrats flip congressional House seats will go to court Monday as a panel of federal judges considers whether the district boundaries approved by voters last month can be used in elections.
The hearing in Los Angeles sets the stage for a high-stakes legal and political fight between the Trump administration and Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s been eyeing a 2028 presidential run. The lawsuit asks a three-judge panel to grant a temporary restraining order by Dec. 19 — the date candidates can take the first official steps to run in the 2026 election.
Voters approved California’s new U.S. House map in November through Proposition 50. It’s designed to help Democrats flip as many as five congressional House seats in the midterm elections next year. It was Newsom’s response to a Republican-led effort in Texas backed by President Donald Trump.
▶ Read more about California’s redistricting effort
Even though Republican Brian Jack is only a first-term congressman, he has become a regular in the Oval Office these days. As the top recruiter for his party’s House campaign team, the Georgia native is often reviewing polling and biographies of potential candidates with Trump.
Lauren Underwood, an Illinois congresswoman who does similar work for Democrats, has no such West Wing invitation. She is at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue working the phones to identify and counsel candidates she hopes can erase Republicans’ slim House majority in November’s midterm elections.
Although they have little in common, both lawmakers were forged by the lessons of 2018, when Democrats flipped dozens of Republican-held seats to turn the rest of Trump’s first term into a political crucible. Underwood won her race that year, and Jack became responsible for dealing with the fallout when he became White House political director a few months later.
Underwood wants a repeat in 2026, and Jack is trying to stand in her way.
▶ Read more about Underwood and Jack
The Arizona Democrat is emerging as a crucial surrogate for a party desperately seeking to win back the Latino support that slipped in 2024 with the election of President Trump. His fall travels have included trips to New Jersey, Virginia and Florida, where he campaigned for Democrats who went on to win their elections. Strategists say Gallego is flexing his muscle as a rising star for the party while also laying the groundwork for a 2028 presidential run despite not being a household name like California Gov. Gavin Newsom or U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
It’s a role Gallego is expected to continue next year, when Democrats hope to break Republicans’ hold on Congress and counter Trump’s agenda.
“Ruben Gallego is going to be our not-so-secret, secret weapon,” said Maria Cardona, a longtime Democratic operative and member of the Democratic National Committee.
Gallego is among the Democrats named as possible 2028 contenders who had the busiest travel calendar in 2025. He stumped for Democratic female candidates in New Jersey’s and Virginia’s gubernatorial races and Miami’s mayoral race.
▶ Read more about Gallego
Trump said Saturday that “there will be very serious retaliation” after two U.S. service members and one American civilian were killed in an attack in Syria that the United States blames on the Islamic State group.
“This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” he said in a social media post.
The American president told reporters at the White House that Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was “devastated by what happened” and stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops. Trump, in his post, said al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack.”
U.S. Central Command said three service members were also wounded in the ambush Saturday by a lone IS member in central Syria. Trump said the three “seem to be doing pretty well.” The U.S. military said the gunman was killed in the attack. Syrian officials said the attack wounded members of Syria’s security forces as well.
▶ Read more about the attack
Two former attorneys and an aide who all worked on Trump’s 2020 campaign were scheduled to appear Monday for a preliminary hearing in Wisconsin on felony forgery charges related to a fake elector scheme.
The hearing on Monday comes a week after Trump attorney Jim Troupis, one of the three who were charged, tried unsuccessfully to get the judge to step down in the case and have it moved to another county. Troupis, who was joined by the other two defendants in his motion, alleged that the judge did not write a previous order issued in August declining to dismiss the case. Instead, he accused the father of the judge’s law clerk, who was a retired judge, of actually writing the opinion.
Troupis, who served one year as a judge in the same county where he was charged, also alleged that all of the judges in Dane County are biased against him and he can’t get a fair trial.
▶ Read more about the hearing
President Donald Trump talks to reporters as arrives on the South Lawn of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after attending the Army-Navy game. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs from the South Lawn of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Washington, en route to Baltimore to attend the Army-Navy football game. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
