Rafael Nadal he still doesn’t want to establish an exact date for his retirement from professional tennis and has set an appointment for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in which he will hunt for a medal on the clay courts of Roland Garros in both singles and doubles. Fresh from his clear defeat in the first round of the French Major against Alexander Zverev, the Majorcan granted an interview to L’Equipe to take stock of the situation regarding his physical condition.
“I have the impression of rediscovering the pleasure of playing, of having fun. I want to give myself a chance to see if my body stays at this level or if it’s just a temporary moment and then it will start to get worse again. I started training again a week and a half ago, the sensations are more or less good. I continue to train hard, as if it were the pre-season. We’ll see how it goes in the next few weeks“, declares the Spanish champion.
On the birth of the collaboration with Carlos Alcaraz for the Olympic double: “David Ferrer told me: ‘If you feel well, Carlos would like to play doubles with you’. I was delighted, I can’t have a better partner. My job is to try to be ready to reach the best possible level before the Olympics. If Carlos is available and I am physically well, I think it would be interesting to train together the week before the Olympic tournament. The Olympics are team affairs, doubles are as important as singles. The final goal is the medal“.
On his future after the Olympics: “I would like to give myself some time to see how I will feel after the Games. Then we’ll see what happens, what decisions I will make. But always with great serenity and with the satisfaction of having always done my best. And when, in the end, I have to make a decision, I will make it without problems. I always said I thought this was my last year, but I can’t be sure, because ultimately we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.“.
