Despite his physical ailments the Spaniard, 38 in June, feels he is making progress and is pushing for an Olympic appearance in Paris
Shortly after his first opening‑round defeat on Court-Philippe Chatrier, Rafael Nadal arrived at the press conference room for his postmortem in a jovial mood. After a career of dominance at Roland Garros, where he has so often been untouchable even against some of the sport’s greatest players, he would have been forgiven for feeling a sense of injustice and frustration with a straight‑sets defeat in the first round against Alexander Zverev. Instead, he felt progress. “I was not that far,” Nadal said. “That’s my feeling.”
His demeanour further underlined what has been increasingly clear over the past few weeks. If this really is the end and retirement is imminent it will be because his body made the decision, not his mind. It seems clear that the player who turns 38 next week would love to further elongate his career and he is determined to do everything possible to try.
Written by Tumaini Carayol at Roland Garros
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/may/28/rafael-nadals-mind-has-not-yet-reached-the-end-but-will-his-body-let-him-go-on under the title “Nadal’s mind has not reached the end, but will his body let him go on? | Tumaini Carayol”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
