Rafael Nadal insisted on Monday that he doesn’t “miss tennis” after being honoured with a Sporting Icon award at the Laureus World Sport Awards in Madrid.

The 38-year-old Spaniard, winner of 22 Grand Slam trophies, including 14 at Roland Garros, retired from the sport after his final match at the Davis Cup in Malaga in November.

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“The truth is that I don’t miss tennis. Zero. I don’t miss it at all,” Nadal told reporters. “But not because I finished tired of tennis or fighting against tennis, not at all.”

“I finished my career happy and if I could have, I would have carried on, because I loved what I was doing.”

“It was my passion and that’s been the case all my life. It’s just that when you realize that physically you can’t do it any more… you try to close that chapter. And I closed it.”

Nadal suffered numerous injuries during his career but resisted retiring as long as possible.

“I delayed making my final decision because I needed time to be sure it was the right one. What would have been hard was sitting on my sofa wondering if I should keep trying to play.

“When I saw that my body wasn’t going to recover to the level I needed to continue enjoying myself on court, then I made the decision to stop.

“That’s why I don’t miss it,” Nadal added. “Because I finished with the peace of mind of knowing that I’d given it my all, and that my body couldn’t give any more.”