NEW YORK (AP) — Rafael Nadal thought about taking a mental health break from tennis a few years ago but “conquered it by always moving forward” and “slowly became myself again,” the 22-time Grand Slam champion writes in an essay posted online Tuesday, Dec. 17, less than a month after the last match of his career.

“Physical pain I was very used to, but there were times on the court when I had trouble controlling my breathing, and I couldn’t play at the highest level. I don’t have trouble saying it now. After all, we are human beings, not superheroes,” Nadal says on The Player’s Tribune.

“Thankfully, I didn’t get to the point of not being able to control things like anxiety, but there are moments with every player when it’s difficult to control your mind, and when that happens it’s difficult to have total control of your game,” he says. “There were months when I thought about taking a complete break from tennis to cleanse my mind. In the end, I worked on it every day to get better.”

The 38-year-old Nadal headed into retirement after playing for Spain in the Davis Cup in November, following two seasons filled with injury issues that limited him to competing only sparingly.

In the essay, he writes about the chronic pain in his left foot that first surfaced when he was 17 and says he was told then that he “would probably never play professional tennis again.”

“I spent many days at home crying, but it was a great lesson in humility, and I was lucky to have a father — the real influence I’ve had in my life — who was always so positive,” said Nadal, who won a record 14 championships at the French Open.

He mentions being nervous before matches, and some of the highlights of his career, and notes: “I hope that my legacy is that I always tried to treat others with deep respect. This was the golden rule of my parents.”