Contrasting emotions Twelve months after celebrating his 13th French Open triumph in 2020 (left), Rafael Nadal was beaten at Roland Garros by Novak Djokovic (facing page)
of my heart that’s not because I want to have more titles than the others. It’s because I love what I amdoing and I want to keep doing this for as long as possible. “In terms of what can happen in the future, I honestly really don’t care that much. I don’t believe that my future happiness is going to depend onwhether I achieve one more Grand Slam than the others or if the others achieve more Grand Slams thanme. No, I am super satisfied and feel a very lucky person in general for all the things that have happened tome. I have a way to approach life: you can’t always be frustrated if other people, if your neighbour, has a bigger house than you or a better phone or a better anything else. I’mnot going to be frustrated if Novak or Roger finish their career withmore Grand Slams thanme.” While the rib injury is a major setback for Nadal, the enforced period of rest might help with his foot problem, which he says is “impossible to fix”. He is believed to suffer from a degenerative condition that causes a deformity in one of the bones in his left foot. The problemhas affected him at various stage of his professional career and was particularly troublesome last year, possibly as a consequence of inactivity during the lockdown. “Sometimes I went on court and I was able to practise for 20minutes, sometimes for 45 minutes, sometimes not at all,” Nadal said. “When you turn an ankle or when you break your wrist, you have a [recovery] calendar, which is much easier to accept. Every week you do a different thing and
has confirmed that he will nowbe able to play, unless the rules change again before the end of May. Having been able to play only one tournament so far this year – he lost to Jiri Vesely, the world No 123, in the quarter-finals in Dubai - Djokovic will resume competition inMonte Carlo along with nearly all the other leadingmen, though Nadal will be a significant absentee. Nadal insists that the prospect of ending his career with the most Grand Slam titles is not what motivates him. “I just feel happy to
be part of this amazing era of tennis, sharing all these things with two other players,” he said. “In some ways it doesn’t matter if someone achieves one more or one less [Grand Slam title]. I thinkwe have all done amazing things that will be very difficult for anyone else to equal. “I don’t thinkmuch about all this stuff and I don’t hope for anything. I just keep going. I am just enjoying playing tennis, as I have said hundreds of times. Of course I want to keepwinning, but from the bottom
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