Rafael Nadal appeared before the international media this Saturday before his debut at Roland Garros. The 37-year-old Spaniard will debut on Monday against German Alexander Zverev, the world number four, in what could be his last participation in the French great, which he has conquered 14 times. The Mallorcan spoke to journalists around one thirty, after completing the morning training on the Suzanne Lenglen Track – the second largest in the venue – with the young Dane Holger Rune. He did it in the midst of great expectation, in a press room in which there was no room for a pin. Nadal returns smiling (in blue and tan) after last year’s absence and in the middle of a very open edition, without a clear candidate for the title in the men’s draw and with him monopolizing all the spotlights. No matter how far you go, he is the epicenter of this tournament that smells like the last time. Or maybe not, he qualifies with an enigmatic tone.
How do you get to the tournament? “Don’t know. The competition tells me that a week and a half ago I made a disaster in Rome (lost in the second round), but internally I feel better in every way. I have had one of the worst draws. I found out the other day, while playing Parcheesi. It was something that, not being seeded, I somehow expected. I couldn’t be optimistic. I don’t know if I’m lucky or not, because on paper he is one of the toughest possible opponents, but what can I do?
Last time in Paris? “I still think that there is a good chance that it will be my last Roland Garros, but, luckily, I am not in a position to tell you for a very simple reason. I don’t want to close the door one hundred percent. If they have to pay me a tribute, it will come out naturally, with the public. I’m happy doing what I do. I’m not training with too much pain. The limitation that I felt a few weeks ago took away my enthusiasm, but now I have less, or with few, and if that lasts over time I can continue to be competitive. I don’t want to be left with the feeling of having only tried it for a week. If I had been able to do it since January and I hadn’t been able to, it would be different, but I don’t want to be left with doubt.”
The option to postpone the withdrawal. “I haven’t played for two years, I’ve had a tough operation. Maybe, in a month I’ll get injured again, and I’ll tell myself: it’s no longer worth it, as I felt it was a month and a half ago. But today I feel a little different. There is a good chance that it will be the last time here, but I don’t want to force myself to tell you that it is the last. In Madrid I did say it, but here it is different. I have missed out on playing some events that I would have liked to play, so next year, making a different schedule, I have to explore how far I can go. Let’s see what happens”.
Door open to 2025. “There is a large percentage that it will be my last Roland Garros, but if you ask me if it is the last, I’m sorry, but I don’t want to say yes. I’m not that kind of man who reacts to a defeat. I don’t want to close the door one hundred percent (to continue competing next season), for three reasons. The first, because I am enjoying tennis; later, because I am traveling with the family and they are also enjoying this process; and third, because I have not yet been able to truly explore how far I can go, without limitations.”
Parallelism with the 2022 Roland Garros, which he won practically limping. “I think it is very different for one simple fact. In 2022 my foot was very bad, I left Rome lame, but then the level of tennis was different and I had won Australia and Acapulco, I had played against the best before. So I needed to solve my foot problem (the chronic injury I’ve had since I was 18), which allowed me to sleep (using the radiofrequency technique) and that allowed me to play; and if he played, although it was not ideal, it was different. This time is the time we have started further back. It is much more complicated, and on top of that we add that I am not seeded.”
Your current level and options in the tournament. “I go day by day, but I don’t close the door to anything either. I don’t have enough of a scale to be able to say if I’m competitive right now. I haven’t really had the concentration, the automatisms and everything that you build over the weeks. I’ve played very limited so far, with hip and abdominal problems… And that affects your daily performance, but I’ve had a different feeling for a week or so, and that excites me. “Whatever may happen is a utopia, but if I didn’t have a minimum of hope, I wouldn’t be here.” “It doesn’t mean that on Monday I’m going to play in an incredible way, but this place is magical for me; Many things have happened that were difficult to imagine. So I still have the motivation and a little hope to play well.”
The good signs of training. “They tell me that I am not that far away (from the others). I’m not a person who usually deceives myself, so I need to improve, that’s clear; but I am being competitive in all of them and against important people (Sebastian Korda, Stan Wawrinka, Daniil Medvedev, Mariano Navone and Holger Rune). The shame is that we are very close to the start, because it is the first week that I feel free, thinking about how to play the ball and little else; I have been thinking for a long time about what movements I could do and which ones I couldn’t. At the beginning I didn’t even try and in Rome I couldn’t do it, and that mentally undermines you. But now I can play more or less without limitations. A priorithe margin is very insufficient (pauses), but the truth will be seen.”
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