It is the big question in sport facing 2024: will Rafael Nadal return to tennis?
A question that not even one of the men who knows him best, Alejandro Ciriza, dares to answer. A journalist specializing in tennis at the Spanish newspaper “El País”, Ciriza is also the author of a recent book, “Vamos, Rafa!” (Conecta, 2023), in which he tells unknown details of the life of the greatest athlete in the history of his country.
Will Nadal return to the circuit? Ciriza is skeptical. “He wouldn’t put his hands in the fire because he was going to come back.”
During the interview with CLAY, Ciriza also addressed the surprising statements in which Nadal compared his sporting ambition to that of Novak Djokovic.
– The recent interview on Movistar Plus+ left more doubts than certainties regarding Nadal’s future, do you agree?
– I think that what in the Nadal interview was more enigmatic than anyone else. In the interview he did nothing more than ask himself rhetorical questions, it was a soliloquy with himself, he constantly asked himself “and yes.” Not even he himself knows what is going to happen, he is testing himself with blank bullets. He is at a point in his rehabilitation in which he is training at a medium level, without risking, in that interview he said that it is in mid-November. December when he will carry out more demanding tests in terms of competition pace. I don’t particularly venture to say anything at all.
– Anything?
– He is a man who has lived from day to day for a long time and who today continues to live from day to day. He would not put his hands in the fire because he was going to return, because he was going to return specifically to Australia. Today Nadal is an absolute field of unknowns. I don’t know what’s going to happen next year. He said in May in Manacor that he wanted to say goodbye to the places that had been special in his career, I have no guarantee at all that he will be able to do so. That even if he wants to do it he can do it. What may happen in Australia is very different from what may happen four months later in Paris, or six in London. They are episodes absolutely independent. The fact that we see it in Australia does not mean that we will see it in Paris, for example. I insist, today I am not putting my hand in the fire because he is going to return. He would decide it on the fly, although not even he himself has the answer. If he doesn’t have it, it will be very difficult for the rest of us to have it.
– How did you take that comment from Nadal in which he talks about his “healthy” competitive ambition and compares himself to a Novak Djokovic who, he says, would have suffered much more by not achieving the record of Grand Slam titles?
– I was surprised, I was a little surprised by the tone of that statement. It was something he clearly intended to say. Being in the reserve since January and in the context of that interview I was surprised. It is true that the three grades have always played their cards and have had their disputes, their dialectical struggles, but it caught my attention because of the context, with Nadal not playing. Of course, Nadal is an absolute competitor. I don’t know if he has more ambition or not than Djokovic, who said that he wants to win everything. I don’t think Nadal’s life is going to change too much in terms of happiness for winning 22, 27 or 30 majors, but knowing him and knowing the competitive streak he has, I’m sure he would love to be the one who wins the most majors and the most successful tennis player. laureate of all time. I was surprised by the tone, the way he brought up the topic.
– That is to say: Nadal doesn’t care about the race for the Grand Slams…
– Not at all. He can’t care less about him as a good competitor and athlete. It’s not the end of him, he usually denies it and I believe him, but on the other hand it seems like a half-truth to me. I am convinced that he did not like Djokovic’s triumphs, that he would pay to have been on the court in 2023 to prevent it, but the decisions were made by his physique for him.
– Did you always plan to write a book about Nadal?
– I received the proposal, I hesitated at first, I was not convinced or sure, but I liked the approach and the approach. The book has a large motivational component. I won’t say didactic, it is motivational, it highlights a series of values that Rafa embodies, with which I very much agree. An attractive project model was combined, plus my experience traveling around the world with this man for more than a decade with many interesting things to contribute that can be rich for the reader.
– After writing a book about Nadal, what headline sums it up?
– Overcoming. I’m not particularly original, but it seems to me that he is a man who responds to the perfect prototype. It is true that there are many athletes who improve themselves day by day, but their disciplines may not be as high-profile and international as tennis. He has fed on adversity. He has had a thousand and one obstacles and he has gotten out of all of them. Today he is about to hang up his racket and even so he will make a penultimate attempt. We don’t know if he’ll turn out well or not, but he’s certainly going to try. I’m leaving, but I’ll try one more time. That is improvement.
– If he returns it is because he believes that he will do well, that he will be able to play well. If not, she doesn’t come back… Is that right?
– There is no doubt there. I think he can’t afford certain luxuries. His physique is at stake for tomorrow. He needs absolute guarantees. This is medicine. He also can’t afford to go to tournaments to play a third or fourth round. If he comes back, it’s to do something big. The greatness of the character requires him to do something great, which I believe is what he has in mind. Will he be able to apply it? I’m not entirely sure.
– And if he comes back and achieves great things, do you think he will keep his word of retiring in 2024 and not try to continue in 2025?
– No, I’m not sure, because knowing Nadal he is capable of taking one last swerve, the umpteenth swerve. But considering what the circumstances are now, I already think it is the definitive end point. I think for him, in fact, if he does something big, it would be the ideal moment. As much as he is an absolutely ambitious guy and has that eternal urge to want to win more and more and more, I think he would be the smartest thing if he can leave him at the top having done something great, it would be the perfect outcome.
– He likes to compete too much…
– What you will have to do, which you surely have already done, is to make a plan for tomorrow in competitive terms, beyond the academy and so on. He probably has golf on his mind or whatever. Or compete in a game of paddle tennis with your friends… You will have to satisfy yourself that way. I don’t think Rafa is going to be a guy who stays on the couch at home watching sports on television.
– Do you see part of these values of Nadal in Alcaraz?
– Man, there are parallels. Inevitably Alcaraz has grown up watching Rafa’s matches, he has had him and several other inspirations as a model: he has traces of Federer in the game, of Djokovic himself. But evidently in Alcaraz’s behavior you can see things about Nadal. I don’t know if it’s a natural or instilled way, but you certainly see winks, right? The respect he has for his profession, how he works, how he approaches games and competition, the respect for his rivals. He has a similar work ethic.
– What does it mean when you don’t know if it is natural or instilled?
– The circumstances when Rafa started playing were different from those of today. Today sport is in the hands of business more than ever, in its maximum expression. So, obviously everyone warned that Alcaraz is an outlier, and that means that he is a gem. From there he has begun to shape it, to set up a structure that is basically very similar to Nadal’s at the team, circle level. From a family point of view, he has a good education, his parents are good people. And also from the IMG perspective, to put it bluntly, he is also guided along a certain path.
– Did Nadal start reading this book?
– Don’t know. I know you have it. He and his uncle have it.
– The uncle wrote a very complimentary prologue.
– Yes. Generous. I have a very good relationship with Toni. The truth is that I wasn’t considering another person to do it, because I think that if anyone has the license to talk about Rafa beyond Rafa, it is Toni Nadal. No one can describe and x-ray the character better than Toni, because in the end Rafa is an extension of him. What Toni couldn’t do, because he didn’t give her the level, his nephew has done. When you hear Rafa speak, you are listening to Toni. He is reproducing a practically identical message: one is another and the other is one. They are one even though they separated professionally a few years ago. At first I asked him to write about Rafa, but he sent me the prologue and I told him “hey Toni, you should write about your nephew, this is a bit overwhelming.” He told me: “No, that’s not what came out, what I wanted to tell.” I’m thankful.
– If Nadal had been trained as a child by someone else, he would be someone completely different, right?
– I would be a worse tennis player if I hadn’t gone so far. He would be a tennis player and a different person. He obviously has a lot of talent. Sometimes the concept that he is work, effort, sacrifice, physicality has been inflated… I believe that he is a very talented tennis player, but of course Toni’s hand is essential. He wouldn’t have covered even a quarter of it. Rafa has said many times that she has faced the natural temptation to give up. Toni has always been there pushing.
– He said that his talent has been undervalued. His energy, his physique, his strength were always highlighted, but paradoxically it was his body that always held him back.
– Rafa Nadal’s story is very contradictory, like what is happening to Alcaraz, keeping his distance due to different ages and periods: his body is his great asset and at the same time his great hindrance. It is a miracle that Nadal is a tennis player because of the body he has. Under normal circumstances he would weigh between 85 and 90 kilos, a very heavy guy, and he is not as tall as the players today. So it is a miracle that he has been able to be a tennis player, have that constitution and be able to move around like he has moved around… he has the body of a soccer player.
– Like the other guy…
– Of course, like Michelangelo, he is very similar to him. He is a real closet.
– Besides, with that physique he has played contradictory tennis: he has to rely a lot on his physique and at the same time his tennis is too demanding for that physique.
– Yes, well, it is his nature, his way of interpreting the game, tennis. Then, obviously over time he has had to learn to play differently. His evolution has been very interesting, because if you see Nadal at 18-20 years old, he was fantastic, right? In terms of how he covered the court, he was all legs, he had brutal strength, pure energy, it was absolute adrenaline. Now we have a mature Nadal who applies intelligence much more to his game. It seems to me that he is one of the smartest guys on a tennis court, and at a strategic level he is the smartest. He interprets matches better than Djokovic, he finds better solutions on the fly than everyone else. By that I mean that he is more than a physique, he has improved practically in everything: his forehand is his masterstroke, he has greatly improved his backhand, he has learned to serve better, to move better, to interpret better. Tennis-wise he is a very important player.
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2023-10-27 21:57:56
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