This Sunday, Rafael rediscovered the joys of competition. And from the post-match press conference, following his defeat with Marc López in the first round of the ATP 250 doubles draw in Brisbane.
On the hard court outside the Queensland state capital, the man with 22 Grand Slam titles is not the only star to return to the circuit. Absent from the courts since the Tokyo tournament in September 2022 before giving birth to her first child in July 2023, Naomi Osaka, four-time Major title winner and former world number 1, is also present. By wanting to rediscover the pleasure on the ground, the one who had been slowly killed by her mental health problems caused by pressure, anxiety, about which she had spoken several times in 2021 and 2022.
Naomi (Osaka) and I are in completely different situations.
Rafael Nadal
“I think Naomi and I are in completely different situations,” replied Nadal, asked by journalists to compare his return to that of Osaka. “If I’m not mistaken, she said she lost her love and passion for tennis for a while. This is something that has never happened to me. This is the big difference in our situations. She had been a little worn out and had lost her motivation. This has never happened to me. I had to stop because my body wouldn’t allow me to continue.”
An injury to the iliopsoas of the hip contracted during his defeat in the second round of the 2023 Australian Open which kept him sidelined for almost a year, pushing him to consider ending his career.
If I thought about retirement? Yes of course.
Rafael Nadal
“If I thought about retirement? Yes, obviously,” he replied. “I had to overcome a lot to come back. Sometimes, yes, when I was at my lowest, I asked myself that question. It’s 100% human, knowing everything I was going to have to do, at 37, to come back, while having the probability of being back without being able to be healthy enough to be competitive.”
“But after a while I decided to continue,” he added. “I had the determination to continue. And when I had this determination, I then knew that the road was going to be long, painful without knowing how things were going to happen.”
The only thing I know is that I’m happy to be back.
Rafael Nadal
“Then I just tried to work day after day, not really looking ahead,” he continued. “Just doing what I had to do, and hoping for the best. And here I am (in Brisbane). I don’t know what’s going to happen. The only thing I know is that I’m happy to be in a position to play on the professional circuit again.”
Nadal’s big comeback in singles is scheduled for Tuesday, against another former Grand Slam winner: Dominic Thiem. Coming from qualifying, the Austrian, currently 98th in the world, has also been trying to get back to the top for a year and a half and his return from a long injury to his right wrist.
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2023-12-31 15:38:21
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