The Spaniard did not hide his hope of being able to form a couple with Alcaraz in Paris
Nadal continues to prepare his return to the courts, although he still avoids setting any exact date
Still in full recovery from his hip injury that has kept him off the courts throughout the year, Rafael Nadal faces the beginning of his tune-up with his sights set on next year, with enthusiasm but without haste and without a date. fixed.
The Balearic tennis player, winner of twenty-two Grand Slam titles, reappeared at the presentation of a new business project, the NDL Ro Health together with Cantabria Labs in Madrid, where he gave an interview to Agencia EFE in which, among other things, He admits that he has been surprised by Novak Djokovic’s performance, whom he congratulates and recognizes his merit, in a year in which the Serbian has won three Grand Slam titles and in which Carlos Alcaraz stands out as the best of his generation.
– Ask: Rafa, how are you?
+ Answer: “I feel well, on a personal level well and with enthusiasm. Also in this new project. In the end, sport, health, today is something that is more the order of the day. People are much more aware. More than when I started. Therefore, I believe that supplementation can be more effective in all facets of the sport, both at the professional and amateur level as well, the pre, during and post, with good nutrition and supplementation one has “the right energy to be able to continue and to be able to perform better and in a happier way”
“And on a personal level, good. Happy. I am working to try to recover well and as soon as possible, but with the peace of mind that we have been stopped for a long time and taking things as I have to take them, calmly.”
– Q: Were the statements by the director of the Australian Open, Craig Tiley, that his participation in the first Grand Slam of the course was certain?
+ A: “Yes, it was a bit daring. I have a very good relationship with him and I understand his excitement and also that of the Australian Open, which is surely less than what I have about going there. But from there to saying that I am going to be at the Australian Open seems very complicated to say today. In fact I don’t know and I’m working to try to recover. Therefore, my way of understanding my moment is that I don’t need dates, but I need to simply work day by day with enthusiasm and with the right mentality to try to recover.”
“If I set dates and I don’t keep them, I add disappointments that I don’t need, because I have already had enough disappointments at a sporting and physical level in recent times. So I don’t need to set any dates; I go about my day day and I’m honestly improving. I’m better now than a month ago and I hope in a month and a half I’ll be able to tell the news, I’m going there or I’m going there.”
– Q: Even so, it has drawn a little attention immediately that you still feel discomfort, that the pain has not gone away. There is a lot of desire for her to reappear, people are waiting for her to arrive.
+ A: “It is logical that I have discomfort. I had a hip operation, they had to do a very invasive, very complicated operation, and having discomfort is part of the equation and the discomfort is more tolerable now that it is done week. And this is the positive. Let’s not just say that I have discomfort, because in the end let’s stay that I have less discomfort than weeks ago and this is the way I see it.
– Q: What have you missed most during all this time away from the slopes?
+ A: “I haven’t been able to miss the competition much. I have a theory and it is that you can miss things when you feel like you can be there, right? When you see that you can’t, because physically you can’t Well, one cannot miss competing. You have to live day to day and I have tried to be happy with what I have had and I think I have achieved it in my day to day life. About competition? In the end I am a person I am competitive but not only in tennis, it has been difficult for me not to be able to play golf, which at the end of the day is a way of competing, it has been difficult for me not to have been able to compete doing other things and obviously in tennis I have missed the being on the circuit, being able to compete, being able to feel like a player, going out to the best tracks with a full stadium; of course I miss it but I can’t live with it.”
– Q: Is it easier with a child at home?
+ A: “I have always taken things well. But in that sense, of course having a child at home who is also the first one is always special, because of course it makes you happy in many moments. But I think that without it there would also be It’s been good, because I have accepted and tolerated it well throughout my life. But without a doubt it helps and gives me happiness.
– Q: “Has anything caught your attention especially so far this season?
+ A: “No, no. In the end we all know that Djokovic is what he is and that he has achieved something historic, something that had never been achieved before and all that remains is to congratulate him and in the end it did not surprise me either.”
– Q: Did you expect so much difference between Djokovic and the rest?
+ A: “No, not really. I thought that this year, on a personal level and not as a player, I thought that… I didn’t imagine Djokovic… I imagined Djokovic winning Grand Slam but I didn’t imagine that I will win three because I think there is another young generation that is very powerful.
Well, I think Carlos (Alcaraz) had a great opportunity at Roland Garros to prevent Djokovic from winning three but unfortunately what happened to him physically happened to him, although later he made up for it and achieved something historic for our sport, at Wimbledon and happy for it. “The season has been going on, I think that in the end the things that have happened have not been very surprising.”
– Q: It seems that Carlos Alcaraz is the only one of his generation capable of facing Djokovic, the rest are falling even though they are of a similar level.
+ A: “No. I believe that Carlos is superior to the others and the reality is that Novak has enormous merit and we must congratulate him for everything he is doing, which is what I have said before, something that has never been done before I think there are other players with a high level like Jannik Sinner, like others, Holger Rune who had started well is now having a worse time… But hey, in the end winning is always very difficult in every way and you have to value what they all do”
– Q: Will we see you with Carlos Alcaraz in Paris, at the Olympic Games?
+ A: “I wish, I don’t know.”
– Q: But the Olympic Games are an illusion for you, right?
+ A: “If I’m fine and he wants to, I’ll be happy.”