Euro 2020 Tennis : Rafael Nadal playing tomorrow

I’m as much a fan of deep thoughts as anyone, so I was disappointed last night at Madison Square Garden when time constraints prevented me from asking Rafael Nadal, “So what, if anything, did you learn about yourself in the seven-plus months that you were off the tour?”

In a way, though, I didn’t really need to ask. At least part of the answer was written all over Nadal’s face during his exhibition match with Juan Martin Del Potro, as well as afterward during his ensuing press conference. The Spaniard is really, really, really happy to be playing tennis again, despite the occasional cloud that briefly skims across his brow when he’s forced to ponder the condition of his left knee.

“For my side, all I can do now is all the right things to be ready,” Nadal said after he was beaten by del Potro, 7-6 (4), 6-4, and asked to look ahead to Indian Wells, where he’s entered to play starting this weekend.

Nadal enthusiastically chewed on the adhesive tape protecting the tips of three fingers on his left hand as he sat there, spitting out the tiny particles as he gnawed them off. Clearly, those fingers were no longer habituated to the work he’s been asking them to do. Neither, for that matter, were his knees. He suggested that the way the knees responded to the stress of playing on hard courts again would determine whether or not he would grind it out to the best of his ability in the desert.

“If the knee is not going well I cannot do anymore. But I really hope that the knee gonna go well. . . to [let me] run with no limitations—that’s a lot. That happened last week in Acapulco, for the first week [since I’ve been back]. That gave me a lot of positive feeling, a lot of confidence on myself. And at the end I am fresh mentally. I really want to keep playing. I enjoy every moment on court, and I hope I can keep doing like this.”

“I know that after seven months for my body, for my knee, for everything—I need to go slow. I’m not practicing two-and-a-half hours every day (anymore). I have to practice less. I had a fantastic week (in Acapulco) and I played one-hour-and-a-half maximum. That’s the most important thing. When you really want to play tennis, practice is important. But if you practice well, one-and-a-half hours is enough.” He smiled, quickly qualifying the thought by adding: “Maybe not when I was a kid, but now. . .”

Read also:

http://en.africatopsports.com/2013/03/06/the-top-10-worlds-highest-paid-female-athletes/

 


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