“The time of fighting for number 1 has passed”- Rafael Nadal reveals how he’ll go about planning the rest of the season
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Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal returned to the tour today after his historic win at the Australian Open last month. The Spaniard enters a stacked field of players which include Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev among others at the Mexican Open. He started his campaign in Mexico with a victory over Denis Kudla on Wednesday.
The world No.5 went past close rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer to become the first man to win 21 Grand Slam titles and is now in the lead for most majors won.
Rafael Nadal speaks to the press during time in Mexico
After his round of 32 victory against Denis Kudla, Nadal won against Stefan Kozlov next in a bid to win the title in Mexico. However, in between all this, the Spaniard took some time off to attend a press conference and share some light on his performances so far this year.
The World No. 5 started by speaking about the conditions in Acapulco, labelling it as hot and humid, which makes it tough for a player who sweats as much as he. “It is not something new here. The humidity is very demanding and I am a player who sweats a lot.”– said Nadal.
Moving on to the big talking point, the Spaniard then went on to talk about his opinion on potentially achieving the World No.1 ranking. The 34-year-old made it clear that the time for him to look to target the top rank is gone, and instead, his goals are different now. According to him, he cannot compete in as many events as the younger people as he has to take care of his body too, and thus will focus on coming up with his own balanced schedule and take as many points from it as possible.
“The time of fighting for number 1 has passed for me. Physical problems prevented me from ever finishing number 1. My goals are others and I’m not going to pursue it because it would be a mistake to pursue it. There are many young people who are prepared to play all the events they need to fight for it. I have to select more and I’m not going to make a different schedule to look for more points,” revealed Nadal.
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Akash Mandal
(433 Articles Published)