Nadal makes passionate ‘die for it’ statement but comes clean on doubt

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Rafael Nadal made an impassioned statement following his ATP Finals loss to Felix Auger-Aliassime as he vowed he would “die” to return to the level of tennis he desired but admitted he was doubtful he could get back to his best after a “difficult” few months. The world No 2 started the year by winning two Grand Slam titles but has since been struck down by injury, going 3-5 in matches after Wimbledon.

Nadal’s 2022 season has been a tale of two halves as the Spaniard returned from a six-month injury layoff and made history by winning his 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, following it up by winning his 22nd at the French Open. He then tore his abdomen during Wimbledon and was forced to withdraw ahead of his semi-final, and has since played just four tournaments and gone 3-5 in wins and losses.

His only victories have come at the US Open, where he crashed out in the fourth-round after tearing his abdomen for a second time ahead of the tournament. The 36-year-old then took two months off before returning at the Paris Masters, where he lost his opening match and has now lost his first two matches at the ATP Finals.

Following a tough start to his comeback, the 22-time Grand Slam champion has now vowed to keep trying to return to his best level as he admitted he didn’t know if it was possible. “I mean, I don’t think I forget how to play tennis, how to be strong enough mentally,” he said after his 6-3 6-4 loss to Felix Auger-Aliassime on Tuesday.

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“I just need to recover all these positive feelings and all this confidence and all this strong mentality that I need to be at the level that I want to be.” While the Spaniard cast some doubt over whether it was possible to get back to the top of his game he had no uncertainty about how hard he would try as he added: “And I don’t know if I [am] going to reach that level again. But what I don’t have any doubt, that I [am] going to die for it.” 

The world No 2 is already focusing on the 2023 season as his chances of making it through to the semi-finals at the ATP Finals are now hanging by a thread after losing his first two matches. And he said he was both optimistic but doubtful as he explained what he needed to do to be raring to go at January’s Australian Open.

“You can be both ways. I mean, as you said in the question, you can be optimistic and have doubts. Why not?” he said when asked whether he was feeling positive or apprehensive about next season. “For me the doubts, as I said plenty of times, are very good in this world. People who don’t have doubts, probably is because they are too arrogant, from my point of view.

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“If you are not optimistic or positive, it’s impossible that the things [are] going to go the proper way. That’s my point of view and that’s my approach.” Nadal is now hoping to make up for the time that he lost on both the match court and the practice court following his injury woes and remained defiant as he explained his motivation to keep working.

“What can happen in Australia? I don’t know,” he said. “Remain a month and a half. What can I do to give myself a positive chances to have a good season next year? As always, be humble enough to accept that I have a challenge in front, that the last six months have been very difficult for me, and I need to work more and I need to recover things that I lost because I was not able to practise the proper way, I was not able to compete the proper way.

“What I have to do now is come back, work hard, stay positive every single day, accept the challenge, accept that I going to need to suffer a little bit more. If I will be ready to go through all this process, we going to know in a couple of months I have the determination going through that.”

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