Rafael Nadal interview: I want a golf tournament with Federer, Djokovic and Murray
Like many retirees, Rafael Nadal has been freed up to pursue his ambitions as a golfer. Unlike most, he reportedly plays off scratch.
Nadal, a 22-time major champion and the greatest clay-court player of all time, does not miss the tennis court in the slightest. In fact, he has not touched a racket since he ended his career nearly six months ago. But the golf course is a different story, and he is feeling pretty confident about his game.
Asked whether he would ever tee up against the rest of tennis’s “big four”, his answer is instant. “Yes, it could happen, but they have to get training – I have a bit of an advantage in that,” he says, with his trademark eyebrow arch and a glint in his eye. “On the tennis court, there wasn’t that much difference between us, but in this I’m much better than them.”
Good-humoured fighting talk from the Spaniard, on what would be a tantalising prospect. With 69 major titles and two decades of rivalry between Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, people would pay good money to watch that amateur golf tournament.
All four are keen golfers, but they might have to wait until Djokovic is done with tennis. He remains in pursuit of major title No 25, which would make him the most decorated champion in history. When he recruited newly-retired Murray to coach him late last year, Nadal was as taken aback as everybody else.
“It surprised me a bit that, immediately after retiring, Andy wanted to start a project again where he’d be travelling. But I understand that the project to be with Novak is an attractive one, and one he would be passionate about. Also, I understand for Novak to be with one of his rivals – one of his biggest rivals – as his coach must give him a motivation. So I think it’s a good combination. I obviously wish them all the best. I think, in the end, Andy is a real tennis enthusiast and to have this opportunity, he’s taken it.”
By comparison, Nadal does not see coaching in his future. He is busy being a fan of sport. A recent video of him suffering through Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey semi-final went viral, while he says he went through “so many nerves” and was “emotional” watching Rory McIlroy finally win the Masters.
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‘I gave everything I had until the very end’
He has stayed well away from the tennis tour since retiring last November, after an emotional farewell in Malaga at the Davis Cup. Now his absence from tennis is felt more keenly than ever. A clay-court season without Nadal is like a Wimbledon fortnight without rain; it just does not feel quite right. But for the first time in 20 years, Nadal is not preparing for Roland Garros or at least trying to get his body in a fit state to aim for it.
The Madrid Open got under way on Tuesday and Nadal is in town, but far from the Caja Mágica stadium where he won five times. Instead we are sitting in a plush meeting room at the Four Seasons Hotel, for his first sitdown with a UK national since retiring.
Nadal is being honoured with the Laureus Sporting Icon Award, one of many accolades bestowed upon him since retirement. Countless tribute ceremonies were held for him last season as fans, tournament directors, organisers, and broadcasters alike jostled to bid farewell to the undisputed king of clay. A Netflix crew tracked his every move. Video montages tried to spark an emotional reaction from Nadal and relentless retirement questions were fired his way, while he grimly, but politely, resisted.
Everything that had made him tennis’s gladiator – supreme physicality, the emphatic, all-out effort and technique that punctuated each and every shot – eventually was his undoing. His body could not withstand another match. Andy Roddick, the former world No 1 turned podcaster, recently remarked that Nadal, 38, “couldn’t really walk for about a month” after he suffered the final loss of his career last November.
Now, with his new Laureus award in hand and a Roland Garros ceremony scheduled later this month, Nadal says he feels more comfortable with the outpouring of adulation. “Now it’s different. Back then, I hadn’t made my decision yet. It [was] a difficult time emotionally, trying to manage everything you feel, while also trying to give back to the fans all the love and support they give you. But at the same time, you have to find a way to isolate yourself emotionally, so you’re not carried away by the moment. I wanted to be absolutely sure that, when I retired, it was the right move. I would have hated being at home today thinking I should be out there playing tennis. And today, I’m completely at peace with it. I know I gave everything I had until the very end.”
‘I am sure that Sinner is an innocent and moral person’
Nadal admits he has only watched “a few matches” this season, but keeps up with results. Men’s tennis finds itself in a strange moment of transition: Djokovic’s star appears to have waned since his Olympic triumph last summer, Nadal’s compatriot Carlos Alcaraz is only now rediscovering his form on clay after a fallow period, and Jannik Sinner’s dominance was put on hold due to a controversial drug ban.
In February, the world No 1 began a three-month ban, which was agreed with the World Anti-Doping Agency following two failed drugs tests last season. He had originally been cleared of wrongdoing by an independent tribunal last August, but Wada (the World Anti-Doping Agency) challenged the notion that Sinner bore “no fault or negligence”.
The authorities do not dispute Sinner’s explanation, that the trace amounts of clostebol found in his system were inadvertently transferred by his trainer during a massage, but the episode caused significant rifts across tennis. Many players, including Djokovic, questioned the fairness of the process, while Serena Williams said that she would have received a sanction of “20 years” if she had been caught in a similar scenario during her career.
What does Nadal make of it all? “In the end, if I’m not mistaken, he came out of the ruling as innocent,” he says of Sinner. “In this case it’s not been positive for our sport, tennis. But these things happen sometimes, accidents happen, and that’s how I see this because I believe in Jannik. I’m convinced from what I know of Jannik that he never tried to cheat or get an advantage over the rest. I am sure that Jannik is an innocent and moral person.
“From the other side of things, I don’t want to put in doubt the ruling. There are protocols that we’ve all followed for our careers. In this case, the authorities have all of the information – all of it, not what we have, which can be limited and many times subjective. I believe in the ruling. Jannik has accepted these three months of sanction and so: case closed.”
He adds: “After, if we don’t like how the protocols function, then evidently the people involved need to work to improve them. But for me I don’t like to speak badly about our sport. At the end, those protocols are the protocols that we all accepted and signed onto.”
No ‘personal motivation’ to play tennis again
The tennis authorities have a number of fires they are trying to put out, including a legal challenge from the Professional Tennis Players Association over various working condition disputes, a letter signed by the top 20 players demanding more prize money from the grand slam tournaments, as well as the Sinner fallout. Whether Nadal could ever see himself getting involved in tennis governance, he says it is far too soon in his retirement to know. “I don’t know, I just retired six months ago,” he says.
He is not short on work for now. He has a young, growing family. His foundation, which works to give underprivileged children opportunities through sport and education, remains the central point of focus, as does his academy in his hometown of Manacor in Majorca. Just last month, it produced its latest success story as teenager Alexandra Eala – who is from the Philippines but has trained at the academy since she was 12 – made a surprise run to the Miami Open semi-final. Moments like that, Nadal says, are a source of “motivation”.
When it comes to enjoying tennis itself, the sport that he mastered and worked at with obsessive fervour, Nadal has gone cold turkey. “I haven’t yet found the moment in my routine to have that personal motivation to play again,” he says. “Probably in the future, if I feel a personal reason to do it, for an exhibition match or something like that. Then I’ll have that motivation. But for now, that moment hasn’t come yet.”
Rafael Nadal was speaking at the 25th edition of the Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid. For more, visit www.laureus.com
