Rafa Nadal: “I have thought very little about tennis, but I am confident that I will continue to be competitive”

GQ, Condé Nast's iconic lifestyle and culture magazine, launches its most important and anticipated issue of the year – its “September Issue” – starring Rafa Nadal, in a special edition dedicated to change and optimism, as part of the global initiative of all GQs in the world under the slogan “Change is Good”. The manifesto signed by all GQ headers declares the need to be better, fairer, more committed and empathetic. Nadal is the Spanish representative of this commitment and resilience, since the tennis player has taught us for almost two decades that it is possible to overcome adversity, becoming a symbol of struggle, tenacity, humility, work and dedication.

“Faced with all the problems that my physique has caused me during all these years, I have always maintained a basic pillar in the options for success, which is the enthusiasm and passion to move forward (…) Yes, throughout my career I have had many moments of physical complications, many tournaments playing with pain, many days of getting up and not being able to train properly. But in the end, everything consists of putting things on a balance and what I do has always made me happy. I am not a machine, of course I have my low moments, of course I have my moments of disappointment, but in the global count I have always maintained that illusion that has kept me going ”.

Knowing how to overcome and adapt to the situation have also been key elements in Nadal's career: “It is true that my career has been long and regular, and stable. (…) I think I have adapted to training in different ways. Before I trained with a lot of intensity, a lot of energy. After my physique has not allowed me, I have had to adapt to training in a different way, to enhance aspects of my game that perhaps before I did not have to enhance so much (…) The determination to want something, and want means to seek solutions ”.

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Confinement and sports break

Nadal has spent months in seclusion at his home in Manacor, with his family. Training, learning to communicate with his fans through Instagram Live, watching series and documentaries and learning to cook a little better (“I like it, and I've been trying things”). The break has allowed him to stop traveling around the world and spend more time with his family, at a time when tennis has been the last of his worries. “Everything sports goes to the background when there are so many people suffering, so many families who have lost loved ones. The reality is that personally it is something that does not concern me, and I say it with my heart. I don't care if the sports break has been good, bad or normal, During all these months I have thought very little about tennis, I think there have been much more important things and enough misfortunes to think of something that I think is still secondary. When things are good I am confident that I will once again be fully prepared to get back into action and remain competitive. “

Nadal and commitment

No matter how hard he has earned it, the tennis player is aware of his privilege, and the way he deals with that situation is what makes him a different idol. His willingness to help arises from a sincere impulse and empathy, as evidenced by the process that led him to collaborate with the Red Cross to deal with Covid-19:

“I had been talking to my team for a few weeks because I wanted to do something, but I'm telling you honestly, I didn't know how. (…) I always think that we have turned to the tragedies that have been happening, but in this case it was different. I say it with my hand on my heart, I didn't know where to start. And the reality is that they sent me the Red Cross Responde program from my computer (…) And in the end what I did that night was call Pau (Gasol), who was on the other side of the world, and tell him that it would be nice to ride something, because I think it was necessary and that it was time to contribute something from the world of sports. Pau immediately told me that he wanted to participate, that he also had the same concern and did not know how to start. Julen Lopetegui helped us in the world of football and we were contacting different athletes. In the end, an important network of people was formed who contributed their grain of sand, not only supporting the project with their image, but also making donations, and the truth is that the Red Cross Respond project raised more than 14 million euros “

As part of his commitment, Nadal claims in the interview his status as a citizen, including his right to express himself, such as when he expressed his opinion on the management of a pandemic that, according to GQ, had touched him for many weeks. Something that was answered with some criticism on social networks:

“I am from another era, I was not born with social networks nor have I grown up with them, I live a little outside of all that, I promise you that I do not have the perception of that criticism. (…) We are in a world in which negative news or negative comments are always news, and positive ones are never news (…) I stick to what I said and I would say it again, because I didn't say anything out of the ordinary. I said what I felt at the time. And why am I not going to be able to comment on what I please as long as it is with respect. I am a Spanish citizen like any other, I am an athlete like others are engineers or electricians, and I have the same right to express my opinion as any other citizen. After my statements have an impact or they want to be used politically by one side or the other, that no longer depends on me. What I do tell you is that I am not going to enter into the radicalization that many intend to implant in this society, in which they try to make controversy with everything. A time has come when whatever is said is political, the flag is political, If one says that what they have done is right or wrong because it is also political, one can no longer freely express what one believes because then you are speaking badly of a government. I never spoke ill of a government, I expressed an opinion that I believed at the time and the truth is that I expressed it with the utmost respect. What happens is that today absolutely nothing can be said, because unfortunately they are radicalizing us. (…) I'm not interested in participating in this circus of hypocrisy and radicalization. Above all, I am a person, I have no need to do politics or want to benefit some or penalize others with what I say (…)

When I speak I do it simply as a citizen and with the humility that my knowledge allows me, because in the end the only thing I am is another citizen, I am not a doctor, I am an athlete who follows the news, and if they ask me a question, well What do you want me to say, I don't answer it? Well no, I have to give an opinion, if I don't look like a fool too (laughs) ”.

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Nadal, the family man

GQ: Do you plan to return to competition?

RN: “I reserve my verdict right now, because I am waiting for how things evolve. When the time comes, I will make a decision and I will do it after talking with my family and my team, together we will make the decision that we think is best for us ”.

GQ: What changes did the departure of Toni Nadal mean in 2017 from the front row of your coaching team?

RN: “Sportingly speaking, Toni is the most important person in my life without a doubt, without Toni I would not be a tennis player at first. He was the one who decided that he wanted to step aside and focus more on the Academy, or be more at home. I've never had a problem with that, everything has always been fine with him. I have always said that I am a nephew, a relative, rather than his ward. He is much earlier my uncle than my coach ”.

GQ: Family is something that is very important to you, and you recently got married. Do you see yourself as a parent in the future?

RN: “Yes, God willing, yes. Yes, I am a person who likes children and my education has always been that way, with which it would be difficult for me to understand life without forming a family ”.

GQ: Maybe when you retire and live more calmly?

RN: “I don't know, they are things that go between my partner and me (laughs). I am not telling my father or my mother, so I am not going to answer it to you (laughs) ”.

GQ: Would you encourage your children to pursue a career like yours?

RN: “Hopefully, it would be good for any of my children, if I am lucky enough to have them come, to have the career that I have had, without any doubt. (…) I suppose that when the children come they will dedicate themselves to whatever they want, but obviously of course I would like them to be involved in sports … ”.

Nadal and football

GQ: When you were very young you had to choose between soccer and tennis. Would you exchange a Roland Garros for a Champions League playing with Real Madrid?

RN: “No, because in the end I am a tennis player. It's just that I can't… It has made me very happy to enjoy all the Madrid Championships as a fan, I wish I could have enjoyed them as a player, but I have enjoyed many other things that I have no complaints about, I am very happy and I I feel very grateful to life, I am lucky for all the things that have been happening to me (…) I cannot fantasize about many more things because I already have much more than I ever dreamed of ”.

The future

GQ: How many years of play do you think you have left? Until the body and mind hold out?

RN: “One thing is linked to the other,” he says. “Everything has a beginning and everything has an end, and I am not one of those people who are afraid of the end, I think I respect yes, but fear no. When the end comes, it will be time to accept it and continue looking for motivations in life. “

GQ: Would it be nice for you if the next Rafa Nadal left your Academy?

RN: “There is no next Rafa Nadal. What will be there will be another that will be the same or better, it is not known, the future always holds uncertain things … (…) I have won 12 Roland Garrós, and I always have the certainty that if I have done it, that I consider myself a person normal, surely another will come and equal or exceed it. (…) And someone will also come who will surpass Novak, Roger, me, someone will come who will surpass us, and this is good and is part of this world, it is a continuous evolution ”.

GQ: Speaking of Roger, do you think he hasn't retired yet because he's afraid you could take away his Grand Slams record?

RN: “I don't think so, I think that Roger does not play tennis for me or for anyone, he plays tennis because he likes to play tennis, because he is passionate about this sport and because it is fun for him to continue playing tennis. For this simple reason, because he likes to do what he does ”.

GQ: In a time as complicated as the one we are experiencing, what values ​​of sport do you think could be applied to our country?

RN: “I think we have to let people work, and we have to support people who want to work. I think what we need is people willing to make an effort, to be awake. I am referring to people who are entrepreneurs (…) And I think that we as a country need to empower and help these people who have the illusion to get ahead (…) because in the end the people who are entrepreneurs are also the people who generate many jobs, that are needed in the situation we are in. Because of this pandemic. We need brave people, committed people with the ability to excel and work ”.

Full interview on GQ September, on sale August 25