“I always hold the passion to keep going,” Rafael Nadal talks about how he motivated himself to continue despite an ailing foot
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Rafael Nadal
Ahead of the 2022 French Open, there were a lot of doubts over Rafael Nadal‘s chances. Just a few days before the tournament, Nadal developed a lot of pain due to his foot condition and as a result, lost in the Round of 16 of the Rome Masters. But against all odds, Nadal won his 14th Roland Garros title by beating Casper Ruud in the final in straight sets 6-3,6-3,6-0.
After the win, Nadal revealed that he played the whole tournament, not at his 100%. He had a lot of trouble with his foot and at a certain point, he wasn’t even to walk in his hotel due to the pain. But having his doctor with him helped him as he played the tournament with numbness in his foot due to injections that gave no sensation whatsoever to his foot.
Apart from the foot, after a dream start to the season, Nadal was ruled out for a month due to a hairline rib fracture. This forced him to miss the initial part of the clay season which meant that he didn’t have a good preparation for the French Open. But despite not winning any title on clay in the lead-up to Roland Garros, he won the French Open for the 14th time.
Also Read: “I want to be the player with most grand slams in history”: Rafael Nadal
‘I always wanted to keep going and that’s why I am in this position’: Rafael Nadal
Talking to CNN, Nadal revealed that something happened to his foot that didn’t enable him to practice well and things got worse with each passing day. He spoke about how he was motivated to keep going and compete at the top level. He said that he always had the fuel and passion to keep going and that is the sole reason why he is in the position with 22 major titles.
“After the pandemic, something happened to my foot. I am not able to manage the pain to play often and even practice,” Nadal said. “The only thing I can say is going through all these challenges, I always hold the passion to keep going and I always hold the love for the game,” he added. I always wanted to keep going. That’s probably why I am in the position that I am today.”
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)