Roland Garros is about to start and some tennis players have started arriving in Paris to complete his set-up for the second Grand Slam of the season.
This is the case of Rafa Nadal, who showed up at the tournament facilities on Monday. Together with Carlos Moyà, the 14-time champion was received with enthusiasm by the workers and fans who were waiting for him at the door.
“Hi how are things?“, greeted a smiling Nadal to an official camera of the tournament as he got out of a van and put down his training equipment, as Roland Garros showed on his social networks.
All this before heading to the Phillipe Chatrier track to perform your first training session of the week.
After his heavy defeat in the second round of the Rome Masters 1000, the Balearic He assured that he won’t go to Roland Garros if he doesn’t think he has the option “to be competitive”although he noted that if he thought he had a “0.01% chance” he would seek his 15th crown in Paris.
““I don’t want to feel at Roland Garros what I felt at Madrid or Barcelona,The tennis player said in an interview conducted before the tournament in Rome and broadcast on French public television France 2.
Nadal assured that in the clay court Grand Slam he has “some emotions and stories” which would make it “harder on a personal level to play it without being competitive.”
“I mean going out to play in the tournament thinking I’m not going to be at my best, one hundred percent.. If being maximal is not enough to win a game, we have to accept it. But I don’t see myself entering the court knowing I don’t have a choice,” said the Mallorcan, who was eliminated early in Madrid, Barcelona and Roma.
“But if there are 0.01% options, I want to explore them, I’m going to try. If there is 0%, then I prefer to keep another memory of the tournament,” he added.
Nadal made sure that he did not say “one hundred percent” that this will be his last seasonthough deep down he thought about it and pointed out that “you never know what will happen in the future.”
He admitted that his physique “reacted a little more than I expected at the beginning of the season” but now he is “happy with the progress.”
“I’m fine, happy to be on the circuit after a few months of not knowing if I’ll be able to play again. I was very sad that I could not play in Monte Carlo, but I have played in Barcelona, Madrid and Rome, and I hope to play Roland Garros. These are tournaments that have great sportsmanship and sentimental value for me, it’s hard to explain it in words, I hope I can play in all the tournaments where I can be,” he said.
He also reiterated his desire to compete in the Paris Games: “They are something unique in the sport, an atmosphere experienced only during the Games, in sports such as tennis, soccer, basketball, soccer,… the most popular sports. I think they are the essence of sport. This year they are at Roland Garros, a place that is special for me, in Paris, the most important city of my career. We will see, there is a lot of time ahead, I have to do many things first, but I hope to be able to compete in them, I would like to very much.”
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
