“It’s good to see you again, even in small screens. “The day after his 34th birthday, he will not have celebrated once at Roland-Garros (“We just had a very small party with the family“, he said), Rafael Nadal held an online press conference Thursday morning to discuss this funny period, what he calls a”gradual return to normal life“and the prospects for resuming the circuit in the coming months.
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More than tennis, it is first of all this normality that the Spanish champion has lacked since the start of the planetary health crisis due to Covid-19. “Normal life, that’s what I missed, more than tennis, he admits. To be with my friends, my family. This is more important, more than tennis. I didn’t have my head at tennis. And it feels good to finally hear some positive news because for a very long time we had nothing but terrible echoes. I try to take advantage of the return to a normal start in life, and to stay positive.”
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Professionally, it is not at the stage of normalcy. “I was confined to an apartment“, he recalls. So he resumes smoothly. Without trying to force or impose too heavy a workload on himself.”I’m going step by step, increasing the doses of work week after week, explains the world number 2. The most important thing is to avoid injuries and prepare my body for what might happen in the coming months.. Now is not the time to be 100%. You have to practice a little, stay calm and enjoy being back on a tennis court.”
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Rafael Nadal in Acapulco in 2020.
Credit: Getty Images
“If you ask me if today I would like to go to New York to play tennis, I would say no”
In this regard, he is very cautious. Almost fatalistic, even. The US Open, Roland-Garros, the end of the season, the resumption in August, all this seems to him both distant and, above all, more than uncertain. “If you ask me if today I would like to go to New York to play tennis, I would say no, he admits. But in two months, I don’t know how the situation will have turned out. I hope it will improve and I am sure that the USTA, like the FFT, do everything to organize their tournament in good conditions.. “As he had mentioned last week, it conditions its coming to the health aspect.
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But on this level, one hardly feels optimistic. At best, he appears to be very cautious, and rightly so. “If everyone is safe and the tournament can be played in good conditions, OK. Otherwise, I don’t see the point, he continues. Organizing an event like a Grand Slam tournament is not like hosting an event with eight or ten people. We’re talking about 600, 700 people between the players, the people who work … The men’s and women’s tournaments, the doubles, the qualifications … But I don’t want to predict the future. I’m just trying to follow the news and the situation.”
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In any case, he has not taken any decision to date on a possible takeover in the United States. Choosing between the US Open and Roland-Garros? Once again, all this seems too far away, almost abstract, to consider this kind of decision at the beginning of June: “There will come a time when I will decide with my team, my relatives. We will decide what to do next. is best for me, for my body, for my career. We have to be able to play without being afraid of the virus, without fear of making it go again, and that’s why I’m not 100% sure of the decisions that we will take. We are a global sport, with people coming from all over the world and that makes it more difficult for tennis. “
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As for Roland-Garros, he does not think about it (too much) for the moment. Especially in view of the context which promises to be so particular with a minimum of preparation on clay, even in the best of cases. “The ideal, he smiles, it would be to be able to play Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome. That would be it. And to win a lot of matches. This is the ideal preparation. But the reality is quite different. I can’t tell you what will be the best preparation possible this year. Let’s wait and see what it is possible to do, and what is impossible. “
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Rafael Nadal at the 2020 US Open.
Credit: Getty Images
“I would like us to send strong messages, to show the example”
For questions of fairness and justice, Rafael Nadal would also like the circuit to resume only when all the restrictions have been lifted, so as not to penalize some players from countries where the virus is still very active. Even if it agrees, this is more of a wish than a realistic vision:
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My feeling is that we should only resume when all players from all countries are able to travel under normal conditions again. In my opinion we will pick up before and maybe I myself will go with the flow but I believe that if we do this we will not be 100% correct and I would like my sport to be 100% correct especially in these very special circumstances. I would like us to send strong messages, to set an example.
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Like everyone else, Nadal has more questions than answers at the moment. He is eager to pick up the thread of his profession, his passion, his career. But he hopes not to leave aside the last three months and the perspective that they have imposed on him and on others.
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“What I learned, explains the Mallorcan, is that we should all remember how lucky we are when things are normal. Being healthy, with loved ones, enjoying dinner with friends … We understand how lucky we are when we lose this normalcy. We need to stop complaining every day about stupid and futile things“But, even on this point, Rafa the fatalist does not harbor too many illusions:”The problem is, we forget too quickly …“
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