PARIS
Bill Simons and Vinay Venkatesh
Following his on-court celebration Sunday, Rafa Nadal met with the media and opened up as he rarely has. Among other things, he spoke about how he wants to be remembered, his greatest qualities, the Big Four, the media, his son and how his life has changed. Here, edited for brevity and clarity, are the highlights:
WHAT HE IS MOST PROUD OF IN HIS CAREER
Determination and the spirit of improvement. And that brings up the next thing: passion about every single day that you go on a practice court.
I always went on court in every practice session with the goal to improve. I never went on court just for practice. That’s one of the keys of my longevity and success, because I had to face a lot of injuries, so without that spirit of improvement to compensate for all the things that I was losing…it would have been impossible. That’s what I am most proud of.
HOW HE WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED
I want to be remembered as a guy that people are happy to see when I come back. That’s the important thing.
The [on-court] results are the results, and of course I will be remembered for that…To the bigger audience, you can, in some way, lie, but you can’t lie to the people who are next to you every single day. People who are behind the scenes, the drivers and the ball kids see how you react every day, how you are after you win or lose, how you behave during these moments.
They know how you are in real life. If these people are happy to see you again, it’s good news. I had that feeling in almost every place.
THE MESSAGE OF THE BIG FOUR
To have my three biggest rivals there [at the celebration] meant a lot, no? You can’t imagine how emotional and how big in terms of happiness and satisfaction that was.
At the same time, it’s a great message for the world, that the toughest rivals probably in the history of our sport are able to be good colleagues, to respect each other. You don’t need to hate the opponent to try to beat them with all your forces. That’s the message we showed the new generations – in some way, that’s our legacy. The results are just results. The rest of the things stay.
THE IMPACT OF THE BIG FOUR
We pushed each other to the limits…We were three or four of the best rivals.
In some ways, when you have only two rivals, you can lose a bit of motivation, because the other one starts losing or gets injured. But here, being four of us, one of us was always winning the tournament. That never allowed us to relax or take a break in terms of intensity and the determination to keep improving.
We showed each other the way to be better. We achieved our dreams. Because of that rivalry, we raised the numbers to the next level. And that helps the next generations to improve. And I’m sure that’s going to happen.
ON THE MEDIA
Tennis players are exposed [to the media] more than almost any other sport, because we talk to you before every tournament and after every single match. In other sports, they don’t have to do it every day. But in some ways, I think it is a very positive learning, because at the end, it’s about self-control, it’s about learning how to deal with tough situations, with moments of frustration.
You have to be respectful to everyone. I feel very well respected by all of you. I hope you feel the same way from my side. I tried. Nothing is perfect. We did some things better, some things worse, but I tried my best to be nice and respectful with all of you.
WHICH FRENCH OPEN TITLES MEANT THE MOST?
Before, I was the kind of guy that almost remembered every single point. It’s true, I used to remember every tournament, every game. I didn’t forget. But I lost that years ago. Now I don’t remember most of the things. Probably because I closed that chapter of my life.
But 2006 [when he beat Federer to win his second French title] was so special for me after coming back from my very tough foot injury. That was very, very emotional.
People think of 2008 because I played better that year. [He won Roland Garros without dropping a set and won Wimbledon and clinched the No. 1 ranking]. But that is not one of the years I remember with high emotions, because I won the tournament without suffering that much.
For my mentality, I remember more the tournaments when I suffered when I needed to fight a lot. That year I played so well. So I don’t have an amazing memory.
Of course 2010, after losing in 2009 [to Robin Soderling in the fourth round], was so important.
And 2012 was important too [when he beat Novak after losing to him in the three previous finals], because I almost achieved the Grand Slam of finals. I lost in the Wimbledon and the US Open and Australian Open final, where I lost in six hours. Then I was able to break that momentum here, so that was so important.
Then, of course, 2020 was unexpected [when he won the covid version of the French Open, held in September]. 2022 was probably the toughest in all ways for all the things that happened before and during the tournament. [He extended his record of most Slams in men’s tennis to 22. Roger and Novak each had 20 Slams.]
These are the years that stay in my mind forever, more than the rest.
ON LIFE IN RETIREMENT
I needed to give myself a time of disconnection…I haven’t touched a racket in eight months. But I will at some point when I prepare to play an exhibition….My daily routine is no routine. I am just learning about the next business chapter of my life. I have projects like my academy, the hotel and supplements companies, my foundation and I take care of my family.
I’m discovering what really motivates me for this new life. It’s not easy in terms of choosing your next goal.
For me, it’s so important to have goals, because a life without objectives is more difficult. So I’m discovering what excites me and motivates me to keep going. I’m having fun. I don’t miss tennis much, because I gave all that I had.
I arrived today at the court with the peace that I can’t be on court. My body didn’t allow me to be on court. So that’s all. I am in peace. I did all that I could. Now I’m enjoying this new phase, which I’m sure is going to be less exciting than my tennis career, because the adrenaline that sports gives you is impossible to find in other things in life. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to be less happy. I can be happier with less adrenaline.
I don’t need to compete on high stages. I will tell you something funny. When I retired, for the next few months I lost all my competitive spirit. I don’t know why. When I was playing golf or anything else, I didn’t care if I lost or won, if I play well, if I play bad. It was a strange feeling, and not funny (smiling). I didn’t like to experience that. But that’s past. I’m competitive again. I’m enjoying my daily competitions when I play golf and things.
In business, I probably am going to be motivated to grow things and to learn about these things, because I was a tennis player and because of that I was able to get experience about different facets in life. But now I need to learn a lot of things. I’m in this process and excited about learning and improving.
ON HIS FIRST FRENCH TITLE IN 2005
It was the first tournament I approached with the feeling that something special can happen. I was one of the candidates. So I was nervous 100%. But at the same time, when you are 18, you have plenty of energy, and are less worried. You have this fresh mentality. You are not thinking much about negative things, just thinking about the motivation to play your best. I remember [being] a guy with plenty of energy, with amazing passion for what I was doing.
ON THE POSSIBILITY OF SOMEONE EQUALING HIS MARK OF 14 FRENCH TITLES
That’s going to be difficult…I really feel that if I did it – I don’t consider myself somebody very, very special – another one is going to achieve that, too…[But] a lot of things need to happen. You need a long career, you can’t have a lot of injuries. You need some luck, too. To win 14 times in Roland Garros, that can happen. But it’s going to take a while, at least 30 more years. [Laughter.]
ON HIS APPROACH TO MATCHES
Every time I went on court, I had the feeling that I could lose. I never lost that feeling. In my long career, without a doubt, that was very important.
WOULD HE LIKE RAFA JR. TO PLAY TENNIS?
If my son lives the tennis career the way that I lived it, of course, yes. Yes, there are sacrifices – all the things that you lost to become professional.
[But] I never had the feeling that I did a lot of sacrifices as a youngster, the feeling that I lost a part of my life to become pro. I just was not able to do all the things that my friends were doing every weekend, but I was able to do all the things [to become a pro], and I did it.
When you are doing what you want to do, you are not making sacrifices. You work hard, you push as much as you can, but you do what you want to do. If my son feels that way, I will support him, but I don’t think it will be the case.
The most important thing is when you do something, you don’t have to feel you are losing a lot of things, because if you do, you start from a wrong perspective.
