Rafa Nadal will return to Paris, at least once again. Since the Balearic tennis player announced his presence in the Olympic Games in singles and doubles with Carlos Alcaraz, there has been a lot of expectation about it. The Spaniard will represent Spain at least once again and will do so with all the enthusiasm in the world for wanting to compete again as he acknowledged in an interview in The team: “I feel like I’m recovering the pleasure of playing, of having fun.. I want to give myself the opportunity to see if my physique remains at this level or if this is just a passing moment and it starts to go wrong again. I’m giving myself time to see how I’m going to feel after the Olympics and then we’ll see what happens.“What decisions do I make?”
I am happy for him and his family. He is an incredible player and a good person. For me it was the big favorite
“If Alcaraz is at his level, it will be difficult to beat him”
Rafa Nadal knows what it is to win Roland Garros. A ‘Grand Slam’ that he has lifted on 14 of the 18 occasions he has participated and that on this last occasion Carlos Alcaraz has been able to know what it is for the first time. “I am happy for him and his family. He is an incredible player and a good person. For me he was the big favorite. I felt that if Carlos played at his level, without necessarily being incredibly good, it would be difficult to beat him,” he said just before saying: “The other players are amazing, but on land they have a little less options than him“.
A player with whom he is going to compete in the doubles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and so he was asked about how it ended up happening: “We didn’t know if he was going to compete in the Olympic Games , or how I was going to get there. And David Ferrer told me: ‘If you feel good, Carlos would like to play doubles with you. Would you dare?’ “Of course, delighted! I can’t have a better partner than him.” Although for this they must prepare differently: “I have been in his shoes and I know how a player like Carlos thinks. You have to do what you have to do, try to win as much as possible (…) My job is to try to be prepared to reach the best possible level before participating in a tournament“.
I want to play at a high level in singles and I know that if I achieve that I will be able to play at a good level in doubles
Regarding participation, he has also given the key points to compete at a high level in those Games: “I want to play at a high level in singles and I know that if I achieve that I will be able to play at a good level in doubles. (…) If Carlos is available and I am physically well, I think it would be interesting to train together the week before the Olympic tournament,” he again insisted on the idea of being able to play a tournament together. Nadal knows that it is a great option to get his third Olympic medal: “This is the opportunity to try to win a medal. “This is the ultimate goal.”
Have you thought about ending your career?
The question about the end of his career hovers over the world of tennis and even more so after the farewell he received at the Caja Mágica in Madrid. An answer that leaves no one indifferent: “Yes, of course. On numerous occasions. I had recurring problems, I couldn’t train, I no longer had fun. When I don’t enjoy it, when I am too physically limited, it loses all its meaning in the day to day. Absolutely everything. And even more so when you are almost 38 years old, when you have a family and after the career I have had. But I always had people by my side who helped me, whether it was my family or my team. And I always knew how to stay stable in my head,” he said.
I preferred not to live with the idea that they had to pay me a tribute, because it practically forced me not to play here anymore and I was not prepared for that at that moment.
A possible farewell for which the Roland Garros organization prepared and which it has spoken about: “If the tribute takes place and I am retired, I will go there as a retiree,” he responded clearly. A ‘non-farewell’ that was handled like this: “The tournament offered it to me, Am�lie (Mauresmo, the director of Roland-Garros) discussed it with my team. At first I said, “Okay, let’s do it!“But at the last moment I didn’t want to, that’s the truth.” A tournament for which he has special affection and wants to say goodbye to it in a different way: “It would have hurt me to announce that it was the last time I played the tournament, knowing that I did not have the opportunity to prepare as I would have liked. And nothing prevents you from waiting a year (…) I preferred not to live with the idea that they had to pay me a tribute, because it practically forced me not to play here anymore and I was not prepared for that at that moment.“he concludes.
