Three days after confirming the date and conditions of his return, starting on December 31 at the tournament in Brisbane, Rafael Nadal wanted to go deeper into his decision to return to the courts in a video published this Monday on his social networks. The 37-year-old tennis player missed competitions for almost a year because he sustained an injury to the psoas iliaca and underwent a surgical procedure in which, in addition to repairing this muscle, he also corrected the partially damaged hip. At this time, admits, feeling the pain, logical fears and your own insecurities at every turn. The Mallorcan says he is entering “unexplored” and uncertain territory, although he trusts that everything will go well and that he can say goodbye to his sport as he wishes.
“I have been and have been afraid to announce things because in the end it is a year without competitions and it is a hip operation. But what worries me most is not the hip, but everything else,” the athlete introduced in the video. By this “everything else,” Nadal is essentially referring to the ground lost in the last few months, the difficulty of resuming walking after so long, and how his body will react after this long period of inactivity. But above all, the athlete fears himself and the high standards he has set for himself over the last two decades, in which success has also been accompanied by extreme self-demand and repeated phases of physical and mental suffering.
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“I think I’m ready and I trust and hope that everything goes well to be able to enjoy the track again. In the end, it’s a long time, so I hope to feel those nerves, that excitement, those fears and those doubts. And what do I expect from myself?” Manacor continues, who will play for a few days at his academy headquarters in Kuwait and enjoy Christmas at home before his reappearance in Brisbane; “I hope I don’t actually expect anything. I trust that I have the ability to not demand what I have asked of myself throughout my career. I think I am in a different time, in a situation and in uncharted territory. “You’ve internalized what you’ve done your whole life, which is pushing your limits, and right now I hope you can’t do that.”
From my announcement on Friday… some explanations this week. Here the first one:
👉🏻I am and have been afraid to announce things. It scared me to want to announce something without being 100% sure…
👉🏻 I think I’m prepared and confident and hope that everything goes well and that… pic.twitter.com/vHnDSQzBCx— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) December 4, 2023
That is, in a sense, Nadal will try to get the newest Nadal – the 663rd on the list and against the strongest in the early rounds – to be as kind and forgiving towards himself as possible. Aware that the first part of the comeback feels like a hard journey, having lost the rhythm and his place at the top of the rankings, the tennis player forces himself to go step by step and not to be in a hurry; No matter how much external demands push for results and the fan may imagine holding the Musketeer Cup in his hands again, he still wants to be respectful of time. Therefore, in everyday life, your tolerance for mistakes must increase and reality – unlike in the initial stages that you supposedly fear – must prevail over desires and instincts.
The tennis player thinks out loud: “I hope to be able to accept that it will be very difficult at the beginning and to give myself the time I need and forgive myself if something goes wrong at the beginning, which is a very big possibility.” . But I know that if I maintain the enthusiasm and spirit of the work and the physicist responds to me without a doubt, there may be a change in the not too distant future.”
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