Rafael Nadal has no plans of stepping away from the world of tennis anytime soon but admits he isn’t afraid about when he does have to do so.
The 34-year-old Spaniard recently added to his Grand Slam tally by winning a record 13th French Open title where he defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets during the final. Nadal’s latest achievement has drawn him level with Roger Federer for most major singles titles ever won by a male player with both of them now on 20. Overall, he has won 86 titles on the ATP Tour.
Nadal is currently the second oldest player ranked inside the top 10 after Federer. Approaching the later stages of his career the inevitable questions are starting to arise about when he may retire from the sport. Speaking to newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya, the kind of clay says it is impossible for him to say when he may or may not stop playing professional tennis.
“I’m unable to guess when I’ll retire. Who knows, it may even be in 1 year’s time. You can’t program the future. I have no idea what life will bring. Perhaps some things could happen that would take away the motivation for what I’m doing. Wish it’s not so, tho,” he said.
“Of course, to this day, I see it unlikely, but you must always be ready because things change very fast.”
The world No.2 has vowed to continue playing until his passion for the sport goes. Over the years he has had his fair share of injury setbacks with problems related to his knees, abdomen and wrist among other issues.
“I’m not afraid of that day and thus I don’t think of it. In my mind it’s clear that when the time arrives, I’ll feel it, I’ll know it and I’ll notice it probably in that I’ll no longer feel that passion that moves me to go to practice every morning, those goals to keep on improving that are needed to remain competitive as time goes by…when that happens, it’ll be time to stop & start doing things that are as important, or more, as tennis,” Nadal explains.
Nevertheless Nadal does concede that it is possible that it will be his own body that could decide when he hangs up his racket. Although he is currently free of any major injury problems at present.
“Fitness is very important when assessing if you can or not go on being competitive. That’s why I think that, if injuries respect me ,I don’t see, for now, any reason to not continue competing,” he said.
“If you feel pain every day and life, practicing and competing become a continuous suffering, it’s obvious that it [retirement] will have to be considered.”
After tennis Nadal may even decide to have a shot at playing golf. This weekend he has entered to play in the Balearic Championship in Mallorca, according to a report in Spain. He also recently played at the V Hexagonal Circuit Test-Autovidal in Calvia.
On the Tour Nadal has achieved a win-loss record of 22-4 so far this season and has made more than $3.2 million in prize money.
