“It’s easy to express your opinion from the couch and write from your mobile phone” | Relief
Are you late? The end of Rafael Nadal’s career? At 38 years old, after two seasons, having many physical problems and not being able to compete for major titles, spanish tennis player realize that his body no longer responds to the demands he wantshe will hang up his racket in a month in the Davis Cup finals in Malaga.
Davis will be the epilogue to a legendary career that began to fade between the end of 2022 (the year he won the Australian Open and Roland Garros) and the start of 2023.when an abdominal rupture and psoas muscle injury sent him to the infirmary. The former number one underwent surgery in June 2023 with the intention of returning to give himself one last chance. But Upon returning in early 2024, new physical problems appeared and the great Nadal never returned.
“I haven’t expected much from finishing my career for a long time now, because You start to realize how complicated everything is, and I don’t believe in movie endings.“, says the tennis player in an interview published this Monday by the newspaper As.”Almost no one has movie endings, because in sports it is very difficult to have them.unless they are people who have actually gotten to the point where they are healthy and can win, but they don’t like what they do anymore. Then you can retire as a winner. When you’re passionate about what you do, it’s very difficult to retire being a hundred percent winner.“.
A message for those who asked for its withdrawal
Nadal has had a hard time answering so many questions about his retirement in recent years, and has even sometimes asked reporters to stop asking him about it. But lately it has not only been journalists. And in development of this topic, in an interview with As, Manacori sends a message to those who believe his departure is too late..
“I’ve been through a lot, and at some point it would have been easy and perhaps logical to allow myself to go a little further and say: this is it.”
“People have asked me, why don’t you retire early? From the outside it is easy to express an opinion. Lying on the couch and writing using a mobile phone or computer. But when you’re happy doing what you’re doing and your family is happy too, you want to try to continue. And my family was happy traveling with me to tournaments, having new experiences, and I think I would want to continue if I could and if I could actually find a way to do it to a standard that made me happy.” – comments the 14-time Roland Garros champion after participating in the Six Kings Slam: “And it happened because I had the support of people who had to be with me to do it, and who were happy to follow me. If this had not happened, it would have been very difficult for me to continue, especially the way the end times have been.“.
Nadal also looks back at mistakes he may have made throughout his career. “Of course, it will obviously change things. Those who say no, that they would not change anything, are deeply arrogant. Of course, I have made many mistakes in my career and in life. We expect and wait. On Mondays we all always know what we would do on Friday. But I always tried to do things the way I felt and with good intentions,” says a student of Carlos Moya.
“And where did I go wrong? That I made decisions that later led me to more problems? Yes, but also many times it ended well for me and in the end I won very important tournaments. So where is the balance? If we had known that on Monday, if we had always taken the conservative option, then maybe instead of what I have, I would have had 12 Grand Slams.It’s always difficult to find the perfect balance, but of course, if I came back now, I would tell you exactly those moments in which I would not repeat what I did.”
At this point, Nadal emphasizes the “determination” he had to “always try to come back” and that it was precisely the driving force that led him to such a long and fruitful career.
“I think I made an effort and I leave with peace of mind because I think I did everything I could and even a little more. Because at the end of the day, because of the injuries, I didn’t allow myself to quit, I had the determination to always try to come back, continue and do it in a positive way. I think I’ve achieved this. I’ve been through a lot, and at some point it would have been easy and perhaps logical to allow myself to go a little further and say: that’s it.“.