Published by TennisTemple.com Editorial, Wednesday 05/01/2024 5:12 p.m.
“My path with racket in hand is not over”: on the evening of his farewell to Madrid, Rafael Nadal gave a glimpse of a reinvigorated flame, far removed from the speech tinged with fatalism that he gave a week earlier. Promising for Roland-Garros?
“It was an emotional, unforgettable day, but my career continues. I have personal goals in the coming weeks and I want to explore if I have a chance of achieving them,” insists the Spaniard with 22 Grand Slam titles. .
If he held back his tears Tuesday evening, it is because his “path with racket in hand is not over,” Nadal repeats. “Maybe this isn’t the time to let out all the emotions I have inside. I don’t want to let out all this adrenaline yet.”
. “My body held on”
This is the sine qua non condition for nurturing hope, because when his body leaves him alone, he generally knows what to do, racket in hand.
Playing four matches in six days and winning three in a row, accumulating eight hours of play, playing two weeks in a row on the circuit (with Barcelona): all of this, Nadal has not had the leisure since the summer of 2022 .
“Even if today (Tuesday) there was a little muscle fatigue and a few small things, nothing serious, my body withstood several hours of competition at a high level, that’s the most important thing for me”, remembers -he after his defeat in the round of 16 against the Czech Jiri Lehecka (7-5, 6-4).
“I have to regain confidence in my body,” he explained three days earlier, on the day of his victory against world No.11 Alex de Minaur – his first against a top 20 player in almost a year and half I have to be convinced that my physique will respond.
. “Consolidate” in Rome
If Nadal describes Madrid as an “incredibly positive week”, even better than hoped, it still needs to be confirmed in Rome next week.
From his first set played against Lehecka, “it is in my opinion my best since I returned to competition, he believes. This is what I am looking for”, in terms of “footwork, ability to spin the ball, speed and control.
“I arrived here with doubts, I leave with less. And with significant energy. I have taken steps forward, that’s for sure, afterwards, we will see if I am capable of consolidating this progress “, he projects.
. Will he play Roland-Garros?
It remains a question, less than a month before the first day of the Parisian Grand Slam, May 26.
“I will tell you after Rome,” Nadal repeated Tuesday evening. His week in Madrid is encouraging, certainly, but “I’m not sure of anything, I don’t know what could happen”, he observes, scalded by the physical struggles which have continued to put obstacles in his way. wheels for two years.
At least the facts of the problem are clear: “Rafa” will only play in Paris if he feels “ready enough”.
“If I have the hope of having the means to play a few days in a row, I will go. If I know that my body will not last the whole tournament, I will not go,” says the Mallorcan left-hander. .
The Parisian land of his dizzying fourteen triumphs is too dear to his heart for him to risk bitter farewells.
“If I can’t dream, even a little bit, about what could happen, it doesn’t make sense. I prefer to keep all the extraordinary memories I have there,” he sums up. After all this that I lived there, it makes sense.”
. The Olympic dream
With the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, 2024 offers an exceptional double dose of Roland-Garros.
Will we see Nadal there? In what format? Doubles with Carlos Alcaraz, the new phenomenon of Spanish tennis?
In any case, Nadal has it in the back of his mind: when a week ago he expressed doubts about his participation in the Parisian lifting of the Grand Slam, he immediately mentioned the prospect of the Olympics and its ” different formats.
“If all goes well, we will play doubles at the Olympics. But until then, there are many weeks left,” Alcaraz said after qualifying for the quarter-finals in Madrid.
Nadal is already a double Olympic champion: in singles in 2008, in doubles in 2016.
Source: AFP
2024-05-01 15:12:08
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