Despite the disappointment of a first defeat in the first round of Roland-Garros, Rafael Nadal believes he was competitive enough on Monday against a “very strong” Alexander Zverev not to yet draw a definitive line on his career.
After long months of uncertainty as to his possibility of playing again on his favorite clay court and even of playing again at all, his defeat 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in more than three hours now raises the question of when he’s definitely going to put the rackets away.
One thing seems certain, however: the man who lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires fourteen times on the Philippe-Chatrier court will sacrifice Wimbledon in order to better prepare for the Olympic Games.
. A positive return despite the defeat
“I showed that I was ready for more than a defeat in the first round,” said Nadal, his face tense with disappointment.
Because in view of his match, it is likely that the Spaniard who will celebrate his 38th birthday on June 3 would have passed at least the first round if he had not had to face “a player who is in great shape and who is one of the best players in the world.
But not only did Nadal withstand the shock physically – “I was ready to play a little more”, “I could have played again tomorrow”, he assured -, something he had not been capable of for two years, but having lost none of his combativeness, he even had opportunities to threaten Zverev. He indeed served to equalize at one set everywhere and quickly made the break in the third set.
Compared to the clay court ogre that he was, he notably lacked consistency in the effectiveness of his famous hyper-lifted lasso forehand.
“I could hardly have played better,” he analyzed. “I think I played at a very good level at times but sometimes I missed.” Here again, a notable difference with the great Nadal whose terrible intensity overwhelmed his opponent throughout the match.
Nothing worrying for the Spaniard who even considers this lack of consistency “completely normal” “when we haven’t played this type of match for almost two years”.
. Questions about the future
The accumulation of injuries in recent years and the difficulties in recovering from them have “psychologically destroyed” the champion, to the point that he said to himself “we had to stop all that”.
His performance and his feelings on Monday mean that what has “a great, great chance” of being his last Roland-Garros, may not be.
What he fears is that he will regret, “in a year or a year and a half”, having announced his retirement too early, without having given himself one last chance when he was starting to feel like “a little better physically.”
Initially, his goal is to play the Paris Olympic Games this summer, in singles and doubles with Carlos Alcaraz.
“Then we will have to see how I feel, where my motivation is, how my body behaves, and if continuing to play makes sense given my level,” he noted.
“If I continue to love what I do and I feel competitive and healthy enough to enjoy myself, I want to continue playing for a little while longer,” he added.
. Wimbledon impasse
Clay is the surface on which he wrote his legend, but Nadal also won two of his 22 Grand Slam titles on the grass of Wimbledon.
However, in the current circumstances and because the Olympics will be played at Roland Garros, he should skip the London Major in order to prepare as best as possible for the Games.
“It seems difficult to me to make the transition to grass (to play Wimbledon) then to return to clay with the Olympic Games” two weeks later, he explained.
“I can’t confirm anything, but I don’t think it would be smart after everything that has happened to my body (for two years), he insisted. Today, I think it’s not a good idea.”
