After his defeat in the first doubles match since his injury at the Australian Open 2023, Rafael Nadal revealed in depth what went through his head during his recovery. The 22-time Grand Slam champion stated that he questioned himself several times in low moments and even contemplated retirement.
Speaking two days before his singles comeback match against Dominic Thiem, Nadal stated that he was worried that he wouldn’t be able to compete with players after his comeback and that the thought of retiring had come to him during this tumultuous time.
When asked if the idea of retiring from the sport had dawned on him, Rafael Nadal said:
“If I thought about retirement during that period of time, of course, yes.
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He explained that during the low moments, negative thoughts crept into his mind as he worried about whether his age and health would let him compete at the top level.
“I went through a lot of things to be back. In the low moments, it is 100 percent human that you put yourself in that position to say.
“All the things that I have to do to get back at 37 years old, knowing probably you will be back and not be healthy enough to compete the way you wanted to compete.”
However, Rafael Nadal stated that at some point he decided to keep going and hasn’t looked back since.
“Something that, of course, I was asking to myself. But at some point, I decided to keep going.”
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