Rafael Nadal reveals that he is ‘finding the pleasure of playing again’

 

Rafael Nadal has spoken about his future in the sport, revealing the reasons why he did not want a farewell ceremony at Roland Garros this year.

Nadal suffered his earliest ever loss at the Paris major this year, being defeated in the first round by eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev.

Despite this, the Spaniard appears more positive than he has done in recent months about his fitness, “I feel like I’m finding the pleasure of playing again, having fun.

“I want to give myself a chance to see if my physique remains at this level or if it is only a temporary moment and that it starts to go wrong again. I give myself time to see how I will feel after the Olympic Games and then we will see what will happen, what decisions I will make.”

There was a farewell ceremony originally planned for Nadal in Paris this year, but tournament director Amelie Mauresmo announced that they made a U-turn upon the Mallorcan’s request.

And Nadal has explained why he did not want this ceremony when speaking to L’Equipe, “At first, I said, ‘OK, let’s go!’ But at the last minute I said I didn’t want it, that’s the truth. It would have bothered me to announce that it was the last time I was playing the tournament, knowing that I did not have the opportunity to prepare as I would have liked.”

He continued, “And nothing prevents them from waiting a year. If the tribute takes place and I am retired, I will go there as a retiree. And if I still play, I will obviously be present. I preferred not to live with the idea that they had to pay tribute to me, because it was practically forcing me not to play here again and I was not ready at that time.”