David Ferrer to retire from ATP tennis circuit after 2019

Ferrer, 36, from Jávea (Alicante province) – who reached world number three twice in 2013 – says next year he will play a few games on the circuit before hanging up his racquet for good.

“I want to leave by playing the Hopman Cup, Auckland, Buenos Aires, Acapulco, Barcelona and Madrid,” says David, who has a tennis academy and a seafront esplanade in Jávea named after him.

“The hard part was taking the decision [to retire] after the clay court season – stopping and thinking about what I really wanted,” Ferrer admits.

“When you see that your body doesn't react the same and you can't recover so well...I love tennis and have no desire to give it up, but at the level I'm competing it doesn't fulfil me as much as making the effort to go and play in more minor tournaments.

“That's why I'd like to finish next season playing before my own people, here in Spain.”

Ferrer stresses that the birth of his first child in May has not influenced his decision to step down from the ATP tour circuit.

“Leo has nothing to do with the decision I've made,” he insists.

“It's been harder for me physically because I get less rest, but having a baby hasn't been what's led to my deciding 2019 will be my last season. This is purely because I can't play at the level I want to and I don't have the same chances any more. It's not because of my son – if I was still high up the ranking, I'd carry on playing.”

Ferrer spent seven seasons in the world top 10, and currently ranks number 41.

Ahead of his match against world number one Rafa Nadal, David said he was 'very happy' to have drawn such a great rival.

“It's going to be my last Grand Slam and, for me, it's the icing on the cake having the chance to play against Rafa on the centre court at the US Open – I'm really happy because tennis has given me this as a final gift,” Ferrer enthused.

Often referred to as El León de Jávea ('The Lion of Jávea'), Ferrer has won 10 ATP 500 titles, 16 ATP 250s and a Masters 1000, which was in Paris in 2012 – the year he came fourth in the doubles at the London Olympics with his game partner Feliciano López, reaching the semi-finals – and has reached the final rounds in eight major tournaments, six of which were Masters 1000.

Behind Rafa Nadal and Manuel Orantes – in that order – Ferrer has the third-highest number of titles of any Spanish player in history, at 27, and the second-highest number of match victories after Nadal, with over 720 wins out of 1,000 or so matches.

His 11 consecutive seasons in the ATP top 20 – seven of which in the top 10 and four in the top five – is a Spanish tennis record only ever beaten by Rafa Nadal in the history of the sport.

Photograph: David Ferrer at the US Open in 2016 (Si.Robi/Wikimedia Commons)