When announcing he would not play in the 2023 French Open, Nadal said he planned to retire at the end of 2024 because of the series of injuries which were taking their toll on his body.

But, having returned earlier this season, Nadal became increasingly non-committal about his future.

The former world number one regularly said he wanted to keep playing as long as his body let him.

Now, after a chastening defeat by long-time rival Novak Djokovic at the Paris Olympics in July, he has decided the time is right.

“It is obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken me some time to make.

“But, in this life, everything has a beginning and an end.”

After returning to competitive action in Brisbane in January, Nadal was sidelined again with a thigh injury, missing the Australian Open.

Nadal played four tournaments during the European clay-court season, culminating in a first-round defeat at the French Open.

Since then he has played just two more tournaments – in Bastad and the Olympic Games at Roland Garros.

Last month he was included in Spain’s squad for the Davis Cup Finals, which takes place between 19-24 November.

“I think it’s the appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could ever have imagined,” Nadal said.

“I’m very excited that my last tournament will be the final of the Davis Cup and representing my country.”

THIS is the awful moment a helpless jockey is flung like a rag doll in a terrifying pre-race scare at Sedgefield.

Poor Conor Rabbitt’s head was snapped back and his body yanked almost out of its saddle after getting tangled up in reins.

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The conditional jockey was riding 50-1 chance Skinty Fia to the start of a 2m1f bumper at the County Durham track on Wednesday when disaster struck.

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Eventual winner Riviera Walk was in the care of a handler when, somehow, Rabbitt appeared to ride between the horse and the track worker.

While Skinty Fia’s head ducked underneath the reins, Rabbitt wasn’t so lucky and it wrapped around his neck.

Cameras caught the moment he was effectively clotheslined in awful fashion, his body going from upright to horizontal in a fraction of a second.

The jockey later joked he ‘wouldn’t be any good at the limbo’ but in all seriousness it was a miracle he wasn’t seriously hurt.

The speed at which his neck connected with the rein could have led to all kinds of awful injuries.

Rabbitt and the horse were well enough to race but didn’t finish, being pulled up six furlongs from home.

In response to one punter praising his flexibility, Rabbitt wrote: “It’s never been pushed that far before. Awaiting great pain tomorrow morning.”

Viewers were relieved the jockey, who has 35 career wins and over £300,000 in prize money winnings, was all OK.

One said: “Nearly took the lad’s head off his shoulders.”

Another wrote online: “He needs to buy a lottery ticket this week, how lucky was he?!”

While a fellow punter posted: “Jeeze that could’ve been very nasty.”

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Wayne Rooney has been nominated for the Championship manager of the month award for the first time since becoming Plymouth Argyle boss.

The former England captain – who took over at Argyle in May – has been recognised for his work in September alongside John Eustace of Blackburn Rovers, Sheffield United’s Chris Wilder and Burnley manager Scott Parker.

Rooney led an upturn in form at Home Park last month that saw Argyle beat Championship leaders Sunderland 3-2 before a narrow 1-0 loss to West Bromwich Albion.

The club ended the month with a 3-1 home win over relegated Premier League side Luton Town.

The results saw Argyle climb from the relegation places to 13th in the Championship with Rooney claiming his first league wins as boss.

The former Everton and Manchester United striker also led Argyle to victory over Blackburn Rovers last week, but faces FA charges after he was sent off.

Rooney was unhappy with a decision that led to Rovers’ equaliser and is accused of three counts of improper conduct.

A complex hamstring injury saw the left wing-back miss the 2022 World Cup, something the Saudi Arabia-born defender admits he continues to struggle to come to terms with.

“I was still only a couple of weeks post-surgery, so I think the first couple of weeks were bed-bound, just watching the World Cup,” he explained.

“It probably hasn’t actually settled in yet, that I did [miss the tournament]. I probably haven’t realised the opportunity I’ve missed out on, even now, two years down the line.

“At the time, you are devastated when you pick up the initial injury, but your focus then is trying to get back fit and remaining as positive as you can about the situation.

“I watched the boys whilst they were out at the World Cup, and it was a tough one to take.

“I was thinking that I should have been there. But, in my head, I just wanted to get back fit and back playing as soon as possible.”

After more than a year on the sidelines, Norrington-Davies made his long awaited return at Manchester City, although, on only his fifth appearance after coming back from injury, the versatile defender suffered a further setback.

It means Norrington-Davies has featured just 12 times for Sheffield United since initially sustaining the problem in October 2022, and the setback also came at a point where his contract with the Blades was close to expiring.

“I was coming up to the end of my contract and there were probably a lot of grey areas with the injury I had sustained,” he said.

“A hamstring injury occurs quite a bit in football, but the complication, not so much.

“I’d picked up nerve damage. It could have been sustained during the initial injury or during surgery. It just meant the time frame was extended massively.

“I was at the eight week mark, post surgery, and I was in the gym doing exercises I’m getting told to do and I can remember just not having a great deal of strength.

“At that stage, we probably realised something wasn’t quite right.”

THE Nations League returns this week and Netherlands are in action away to Hungary in League A3.

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Canada’s goal is to win next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup in England, says captain Tyson Beukeboom.

Canada, despite being amateurs, are second in the world rankings behind England, who narrowly defeated them 26-19 at the World Cup semi-final in 2022.

Canada welcome John Mitchell’s England team to Vancouver’s BC Place on Sunday in a decider for the WXV1 title, with both sides undefeated in this year’s competition.

“We have that belief [to beat England] but recently England have been our biggest challenge, so being able to go into that game and get a good marker of where we stand is important,” Beukeboom said.

“We are looking to build but also beat England as we don’t get to say that we have very often.

“It will be nice to have a benchmark of where we stand when it comes to the number one team in the world.

“Our goal is to win the World Cup next year and we are looking to build through this tournament to build that confidence.”

Canada have competed at every Women’s World Cup, coming closest in 2014 when they were defeated by the Red Roses in the final, also reaching the semi-finals on four occasions.

Unlike their main rivals for the World Cup, every player has an individual playing agreement with Canada Rugby to help cover flights, accommodation, daily expenses, training fees and match fees because of their amateur nature.

Following a victory earlier this year over New Zealand to clinch the Pacific Four Series, their sevens team picked up a silver medal at last summer’s Paris Olympics.

Added to comfortable wins over Ireland and France in WXV, they are now a team who their opponents must “watch out for”, according to lock Beukeboom.

“Having been on this team for a long time, I feel like we have always been here,” Beukeboom, who came off the bench during the 2014 World Cup final, added.

“It feels like we are really coming into our own right now and we are really building, we are looking to the World Cup, to put our name down and install fear in teams.”