World No.2 Rafael Nadal has spoken out about his mental health ahead of his return to competitive tennis at the Citi Open in Washington.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t played a match since losing in the semi-finals of the French Open after opting to take a break from the sport to rest. Earlier this week he confirmed that part of the reason for his absence was due to a foot injury that sidelined him from tennis for 20 days. He admits that it is unclear how long it will take him to return back to full fitness.
Nadal is no stranger to injury setbacks during his career but another issue that isn’t discussed as much is the mental toll of playing in competitive sport. The topic of mental health in sport has been placed in the limelight in recent times due to high-profile athletes speaking publicly about their struggles. Naomi Osaka revealed during the French Open that she has been dealing with social anxiety and depression since 2018. Another athlete to speak openly about her personal issue is Simone Biles at the Olympics.
Questioned about mental health during an interview with CBS, Nadal believes being an athlete can be both positive and negative.
“Everybody approaches the issues in a different way,” he told CBS. “We are under pressure because the competition makes you feel more stress. But, at the same time, we are super lucky persons, you know, because we are able to work on one of our hobbies. The most important thing in this life, in my opinion, is be happy, more than anything else.”
Although even somebody of Nadal’s calibre is not exempt from feeling anxious. He pinpoints the 2015 season as an example of when he felt stressed. During that season the Spaniard failed to go beyond the quarter-final stage at any Grand Slam tournament and dropped down the rankings to 10th place at one stage.
“One approach is stop it for a while and try to recover,” Nadal explains about how deals with pressure. “Another approach is just keep trying and accept that you have this problem. You accept that you will not win. My approach was to keep going and slowly overcome that situation. So I was doing, and after eight months I started to feel much better.”
Over the coming weeks, the 35-year-old is hoping to get back into top shape in time for the US Open which will begin on August 30th. He is currently tied with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer for most major titles win by a male player at 20 each. However, Nadal says he is not fixated on trying to surpass his rivals.
“The fact that Novak has 20, Roger have 20, I have 20 don’t increase the motivation for me, or the pressure,” he said. “My approach will not change. I always stay the same. I do my way. If Novak or Roger plays there and win, okay, well done for them. I will not be frustrated for that. I know I achieve something that I never dreamed about, and I gonna keep fighting for, keep doing things.”
Nadal will play Jack Sock in the first round of the Citi Open.
