“Now I don’t feel like that”, said this Thursday a Rafael Nadal that he recognized a moment before that a couple of weeks ago he sat down to assess his professional retirement. The Roland Garros that he won a month ago pushed him to the limit, but now he is disputing Wimbledon as one of the favorites for the title. He is already in the third round of the tournament All England Club.
Nadal beat the Lithuanian Hollow in four sets (4-6, 4-6, 6-4 and 3-6). It was a lackluster match for the manacorí, but in the end he won to advance to the next round. The rain did its thing again in south London and the game had to be suspended for a long time. Even so, Rafa ended up happy with his tennis in the last round.
“I still have room for improvement. Four sets, three hours on court, everything helps. If the physical is good, of course I’m where I wanted to be, in the third round. It’s not today or the first day when I have to be at the highest level. Experience gives you that. I know when you have to play well and when you have to suffer and row”, he said.
Nadal hits a two-handed backhand ball at Wimbledon
On winning despite playing badly, Nadal left an interesting reflection: “The key in this world of tennis, the great difference that I think Federer, Djokovic and myself have had; I am not arrogant in that sense, but if we have something better than the rest is that we are the ones who have won the most games playing badly”, said the winner of 22 Grand Slam.
And he added: “This is the key to success for tennis players. Playing well, almost everyone wins, because the differences are not very big. When you play well you win by inertia, the key is to win when you play badly, because when you play poorly and lose, you don’t play until next week. If you play poorly and win, you can play well the next week. Wins help you play well.”
[La batalla de Rafa Nadal contra su cuerpo: el historial de sus 22 lesiones en 19 años]
As for thoughts about withdrawing, he admitted to having them. He faces it naturally and without fear that this moment will come sooner or later: “My philosophy is that a few weeks ago I was close to retiring, now I don’t feel that way. That day has never scared me. I’m happy that I have a life very happy outside of tennis, although it has been a very important part of my life in the last thirty years. I have many good things outside of it.
It is the law of life for him: “When it arrives, it will be a change and we will have to adapt to the changes. It is normal for people to talk about retirement because the athletes have been at the top of the sport for many years, they are part of the people’s lives. It happens to me with soccer players with golfers. As with Tiger Woods, I like him a lot and in recent years I haven’t been able to see him as much,” he added.
Covid at Wimbledon
Thursday’s day was also marked at Wimbledon by the third withdrawal of a tennis player for being positive in Covid, that of the Spanish Robert Baptist. Nadal claimed to be taking precautions: “It’s not paranoia, it’s reality. A good friend of mine had to leave (Bautista). When this happens it’s probably because there are many cases. I’m not doing many things, I’m staying at home, I’m not going to going out a lot more. It’s part of what we’ve been experiencing in the last two years. I’m not saying we’re not doing things the right way, because we have to get back to normal at some point and Covid now creates fewer health problems, but when you open, these things can happen,” he explained.
On his next rival, the Italian Lorenzo SonegoNadal commented that he is a player that he likes and that he is going to be dangerous. “I like the way he plays, he has a great attitude, good forehand. He’s won two games here so he’s going to be dangerous.”
