With the record of 22 titles of Grand SlamWith a total of 92 on the ATP circuit and two Olympic gold medals, Rafael Nadal only aspires to live “day to day” with health, without setting a date for his retirement and without considering himself the best in the history of tennis.
“The only thing I need is health, hope and inner strength to keep trying every day. The second and third, I have it; health, I hope to recover it, and from there, we will see what happens.
“I am not in a position to ask for anything more. I am happy doing what I do. I still like to train, compete, play on the best stages in the world, feel the love of the people, all of this pushes me to continue.
“The objective is to continue day by day, with enthusiasm, with the determination to fight for the objectives that excite me and we are going to try until the body and the head say enough is enough. At the moment that is not happening,” said the Spanish tennis player on his first visit to Mexico City, where the number two in the world concludes the exhibition tour of Latin America that he is doing alongside the Norwegian Casper Ruud, whom he has surpassed in the four appointments in the last 10 days: Buenos Aires (7-6 (10/8) and 6-2), Belo Horizonte (7-6 (7/4 and 7-5), Bogotá (7-5 and 6-4 ) and Quito (6-4 and 6-4).
Nadal, who launched his career towards world number one in 2005 with the title of the Mexican Tennis Open in Acapulco, has visited that port and tourist spots in Quintana Roo, but had never been to the Mexican capital, which he promised to “explore ” with more time in the future and did not rule out the possibility of doing it with the Swiss Roger Federer, recently retired, who gave a majestic exhibition in Plaza México in 2019, with the German Alexander Zverev.
For now, he admitted that this may be the last time he visits Mexico as a professional player. “You have to be realistic, I am 36 years old. In 2023 Acapulco is not on my calendar, so thinking about 2024 is far from today.
“So, let’s enjoy this moment to the fullest, which is what we have, playing in an emblematic stadium, with a lot of people, in a country where I have always felt unconditionally loved and highly supported,” he said at the press conference before from last night’s exhibition in Plaza México.
Being the best in the history of world tennis is a subject that generates controversy and involves the three greats of recent times: Roger Federer, Nadal and the Serbian Novak Djokovic.
“There cannot be several if we are talking about one. It’s something no one else has done. That is (a subject) very difficult to mature; We are in a time when, it is true, three players have achieved things that had not been done in the past. Then, the criteria that you want to value, it will be necessary to analyze who does and who does not. I think it’s a discussion between three and from there, because all the assessments have their credibility. Everyone can put one thing above others.”
And he reflected: “Everyone has arguments to fight for that title of the best in history. Other than that, it’s not something that makes me lose sleep. I believe that in the end the three of us managed to exceed our dreams by far and in our own way, each one with our titles, with our special results in major tournaments, because we have taken our sport to a higher rung”, he concluded.
