Rafael Nadal has put a further stamp on his retirement. The King of Clay has divulged that he is happily retired and does not miss the sport of tennis at all. Nadal made the claim after being honored with a Sporting Icon award at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid.
Nadal, 38, had his swansong at Davis Cup in Malaga in November. While the Spaniard departed after winning 22 Grand Slam trophies, his footprints on the game will be marked forever, and he will always he hailed as one of the greatest to ever grace the game.
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Rafael Nadal Does Not Miss Tennis
“The truth is that I don’t miss tennis. Zero. I don’t miss it at all,” Nadal told reporters.
“But not because I finished tired of tennis or fighting against tennis, not at all.
“I finished my career happy and if I could have, I would have carried on, because I loved what I was doing.
“It was my passion and that’s been the case all my life. It’s just that when you realise that physically you can’t do it any more... you try to close that chapter. And I closed it.”
Nadal suffered numerous injuries during his career but resisted retiring as long as possible.
“I delayed making my final decision because I needed time to be sure it was the right one.
“What would have been hard was sitting on my sofa wondering if I should keep trying to play.
“When I saw that my body wasn’t going to recover to the level, I needed to continue enjoying myself on court, then I made the decision to stop.
“That’s why I don’t miss it,” Nadal added. “Because I finished with the peace of mind of knowing that I’d given it my all, and that my body couldn’t give any more.”