Rafael Nadal exclusive interview: 'Covid made me question if I should keep on playing'
Of all the world’s tennis players, Rafael Nadal has approached the pandemic with the greatest sensitivity and inner strength. Since returning from a seven-month sabbatical in September, he has repeatedly stressed the triviality of sport, while continuing to compete with his customary ferocity – a tricky double-act to pull off.
Yet the whole experience was not as straightforward as Nadal made it seem at the time. As he told Telegraph Sport on Thursday, he found it difficult to switch from his home in Mallorca to a hotel in Rome – where he played his first bubble-era tournament last autumn. His spirit, initially, was less with the day-to-day routine of tennis training than it was with the victims of Covid-19, whom he was working to support through his foundation.
“It has been a tough year, I really believe, for everyone,” said Nadal, during a Zoom call from Madrid. “If you are not completely arrogant, everybody needs to be less happy under these very difficult circumstances around the world, no? Because you have a lot of people suffering, a lot of people have lost a family member, a lot of people are losing their companies, their job.
“For me, personally, it has been tough. It was difficult for me to keep going after the lockdown. The circumstances made me think about what was the right decision for my career: if I keep playing, or stop for a little more? It was not an easy decision. So I missed the US Open last year - that was tough, but it was a decision that I needed to take. And then I just played Rome and Roland Garros. Finally, I was able to have success there.”
It was Nadal’s triumph in Paris which has just earned him the Laureus world sportsman of the year award for 2021. Even if his own memories of that season are coloured with sadness, the facts are that he still landed a 20th major title, and thus moved level with Roger Federer at the top of the grand-slam table.
Asked if this latest trophy meant more than his previous Laureus award, which he collected in 2011, Nadal replied “Every one is special, no? I don't know if it's the most emotional for me, but this is probably the most unexpected.
“For me personally, it was not an easy year. I don't think it is a good thing to stop the body dramatically like we had to do for two months. We had lockdown, then when you come back – especially with older bodies that have [clocked up] a lot of kilometres – it is difficult to do so at the highest level. But I really believe that we managed it well.
“I didn't play many tournaments [this year], only Australia before Monte Carlo," Nadal added. "Every decision is respectful under the circumstances. And for me I make decisions thinking about my happiness, more than anything else. That's why I'm not playing that much. But I have developed the competitive spirit that I had when I had been playing [more].”
With a little over three weeks to go before a slightly delayed Roland Garros, the wheels are turning again. It’s true that Nadal lost on Friday against an on-song Alexander Zverev, but Madrid’s altitude has always made it his least favourite clay-court event. He was excellent in Barcelona a fortnight ago, and in Paris, he will start as favourite to claim a 14th French Open title. Just to put this achievement in context, that’s as many as Pete Sampras – the record-holder before Federer – collected in his entire career.
“Well, I am happy with 20,” said Nadal. “It doesn't mean that I don't want 21! But yes, of course, probably [I won] this Laureus award because of equalling the number of Roger.”
Asked how he had pulled off such an improbable feat, he replied “If you don't have a long career, then it's impossible. The same if you don’t love the game, if you are not passionate about the game. Then you are not able to improve the things that you need to improve. That’s how you stay competitive, because the sport is changing all the time.”
As Nadal continued his answer, he began to look bashful. He realised that he was going to have to blow his own trumpet – and that is not something that comes easily to him. In the end, he did so very softly.
“I hate to talk about me in that way,” he said, “but of course to repeat the title for these 13 times, in some way you need to be a little bit better than the others in that tournament. Because if you are equal, it's very difficult to be lucky enough to achieve all this.”
It is part of Nadal’s unique relentlessness that El Decimocuarto – as no-one is calling his putative 14th French Open – would excite him as much as any of its predecessors. Not that he likes to talk up his chances. “Winning titles, for me, has always been difficult,” he said. “And today for sure is even more difficult, because at the age of 35, normally it is more difficult to win titles than when you are 25.”
Still, the extra challenge brings extra satisfaction in its wake. As Nadal explained in his autobiography, the thrill of winning stands in direct proportion to the effort he puts in beforehand. And that is one reason why he is not even considering retirement, despite his ongoing vulnerability to issues with his knees and his lower back.
“After my tennis career, I think I have enough interesting things to do in my future,” said Nadal. “But today, I'm happy to do what I'm doing. I can't predict my future, but I'm not worried about that. When the day arrives, I will know.”
