Rafael Nadal has undergone many injuries during his career, but resisted his retirement as long as possible.© AFP
Rafael Nadal insisted on Monday that he did not “miss tennis” after being honored with a sports icon award at Laureus World Sport Awards in Madrid. The 38 -year -old Spaniard, winner of 22 Grand Chelem trophies, including 14 in Roland Garros, retired from the sport after his last match at Davis Cup in Malaga in November. “The truth is that I don’t miss tennis. Zero. I don’t miss it at all,” Nadal told journalists. “But not because I have finished tiring tennis or fighting tennis, not at all.
“I ended my happy career and if I could have been able, I would have continued, because I liked what I was doing.
“It was my passion and it was my whole life. It’s just that when you realize that physically you can no longer do it … you try to close this chapter. And I closed it.”
Nadal has undergone many injuries during his career, but resisted his retirement as long as possible.
“I delayed the making of my final decision because I needed time to be sure it was the right one.
“What would have been difficult was sitting on my sofa asking me if I had to keep trying to play.
“When I saw that my body was not going to recover at the level I needed to continue to take advantage of the court, then I made the decision to stop.
“That’s why I don’t miss it,” added Nadal. “Because I have finished with the peace of mind to know that I had given everything, and that my body could no longer give it.”
(This story has not been published by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a unionized flow.)
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