'I was close to…': Rafael Nadal on giving retirement a thought before Wimbledon 2022

Spain’s tennis great Rafael Nadal recently revealed he was on the brink of quitting the sport ahead of the Wimbledon.

Nadal, 35, clinched the season-opening Australian Open and recently won the French Open, and is eyeing a hat-trick of titles.

But knee injury has been troubling Nadal all year. And the southpaw admitted he almost gave Wimbledon a skip.

"A couple of weeks ago I was close to [retirement],” Nadal was quoted as saying by the British tabloid, The Sun. “Now I don't feel that way. That's my philosophy,” he added.

He continued: “I never had fear about that day. I think I am happy that I had a very happy life outside of tennis, even if tennis is a very important part of my life for the last 30 years. I have been happy outside of tennis, without a doubt. I have a lot of things that I like to do away from tennis, so I am not worried about that. But, of course, when that day arrives, going to be a change. All the changes in this life take a while. You need to adapt to the changes.

"But it's normal that people talk about retirement of great athletes because they, even more in more popular sports, become part of the life of so many people. It happens to me the same with some football players, with golf players.

"For example, a person that I love to see playing: Tiger Woods. Now I'm not able to see Tiger Woods playing that often. In some way, that's a change in my life, too. Probably people will think the same like me, as a fan, when Roger [Federer] is not playing, when Novak [Djokovic] is not playing, when I am not playing, or when any football or any sport are not playing.

"They become part of the daily life of the people because they are an inspiration."

Published on: Saturday, July 02, 2022, 05:30 PM IST