Analyzing your expectations regarding the Paris Olympic Games after announcing that will not participate in Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal He left the door open for its continuity in 2025.
Despite falling in the first round of Roland Garros in view of Alexander Zverevthe Balearic player found himself with good feelings despite that bad luck he explained he had.
However, even though we can now enjoy some of Rafa’s last ‘tail blows’, his retirement was very close not so long ago.
In fact, during an interview in ‘El País’, Roger Federer He has admitted that he saw Nadal hanging up his racket a long time ago.
“There were signs that made us feel that Rafa was not well and he would not last as long as he has. I didn’t think I could play beyond 37 or 38, and the same for him,” he explained.
The winner of 20 Grand Slams thought the Spaniard was going to retire after his penultimate ‘major’: “But yes, I was worried that Rafa might leave and, in fact, I thought I could do it after beating Medvedev (2022 Australian Open final)”.
“I thought maybe he would do it there or at Roland Garros. I would have been incredibly happy for him, but at the same time It would have been a shock to me.“added Federer about a tournament that Rafa also ended up winning.
“I’m happy to have left first, so that they too have a phase in their careers in which I am not therebecause I had that moment before Rafa, Novak and Andy appeared,” he concluded, surrendering to the other members of the well-known ‘Big Four’.
