Rafael Nadal lives with a smile. A brand new father, his personal life intertwines with his sports life like never before, with surprising validity. Owner of 22 Grand Slams, a record never thought of, the man born in Manacor can’t ask for more from tennis. He gave her too much. With his temperament and his class, the Spaniard will be an example for several generations. For your resilience and delivery. Beyond the pain. Beyond everything.

That’s why it’s always nice to read what Nadal has to say when he takes stock of his career. And, above all, in explaining the sufferings his body went through and from which he came out not without pain. He spoke about this topic and many others in an interview with the sports newspaper “Sign”.

“I have to thank Mario, my regular anesthesiologist in Barcelona, ​​​​​​and Dr. Ángel Ruiz-Cotorro, who put me in touch with David Abejón, a pain unit specialist, to start a treatment that changed me drastically. longer my career, which in the end is secondary, but my personal life,” said Rafa.

“I’m much happier now, regardless of winning or losing on the pitch, because I was lame. I played tennis on a lot of anti-inflammatories, but was lame all day. I thought I had to quit tennis because I had lost my vitality and was a sad person. almost every day,” he added with brutal honesty.

When he reviewed his 2022 season, he started with his Australian Open title. “The first stretch of the season was very exciting, because it came after five very complicated months and my foot wasn’t well. Far from imagining what would happen next in Melbourne, with one of the most exciting finals he has ever played,” he said of the match he won in 5 sets against Russian Daniil Medvedev.

What about his 14th Roland Garros? “It was unexpected, because a week earlier he had left Rome lame. That’s the truth,” he admitted. It is clear that if the doctors had not found the solution to numb the nerve in the foot to relieve the pain, I could not have won Roland Garros. The day I needed to play very well, in the quarterfinals against Djokovic, I did it. We also have to be realistic and admit that the semifinal against Zverev was very complicated and anything could have happened, but the poor guy blew his ankle off.”

When it comes to the balance sheet for the year, Nadal feels complete: “When I think back to this year, the difficult moments and the injuries will take a back seat and it will be that I won two Grand Slam titles, so the final balance is fantastic and very emotional, but also very painful. This is the reality”.

What would world tennis be without Nadal, Roger Federer Y Novak Djokovic? The three left historic battles in the sport. It turns on Ref in the debate about who is the greatest?

“I understand that and I think it’s good for the promotion of our sport, but my understanding of this debate hasn’t changed over the years. There will be one that will be the best, which I don’t think is easy to define, because everyone has their arguments to defend one player or another. Also, two of those three tennis players are still active today,” she explained.

“What matters is that both Federer and Djokovic or I have done much more than we dreamed of. We accomplished things that had never been done before, so the three of us will go down in tennis history”, he ruled.

How did you experience the rivalries between the three? Nadal replied: “I am Federer’s first great rival. When Novak arrives, it is true that Federer is even better than me, but in the following years I win more than Roger, so I also met Djokovic several times on the court. In other words, I was more his great rival than Roger. We took off a lot between the three of us, but I don’t think either of them would have made it to 35 or older being so competitive without the other two. Federer, Djokovic and I pushed ourselves to the limit, to improve, to always want more.”

Rafael Nadal and…

Lionel Messi

“When he scored the third goal against France, my eyes filled with tears. For someone so great to end his career like this, it felt right and I was thrilled. The fact that he lifted the World Cup made me made happy”.

The authorship

“It was a drastic change, but you have to organize yourself so that I can continue to lead my professional life in the best possible way. I always thought that all this would come when I retired. The fact is that my career, fortunately, lasted much longer than expected. I trusted. So you have to learn to live with this new phase of life and try to continue to be as competitive as possible.”

Be the greatest Grand Slam winner

“Of course I’d like to be the one who ends up with the most large. I am a competitor, but it has never been an obsession nor will it be. I can only thank life for everything it has given me, not only as a tennis player but also as a sports enthusiast. I got to experience many things that I never dreamed of when I was growing up.”

Retirement

“I don’t visualize it because I’m not one to guess, predict or prepare for the future, because things change very fast. I know this moment is closer than last year, no doubt. This is pure logic. But in the end it’s something that will happen when it has to happen, I wish he was on the pitch, yes.”

SA