ARTICLES:
- Nadal Working Hard In Off-season Training | ATP Tour
In the least surprising news of the day, Rafael Nadal is working hard. The Spaniard has been conducting his off-season training at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, where he has been joined by other Top 100 players in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Among the players who are training at the facility are Felix Auger-Aliassime, Emil Ruusuvuori and Lorenzo Sonego.
Nadal’s commitment to travel to Melbourne will come as a significant relief to tournament organisers, given the injury cloud over Federer and the general conjecture about the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Rafa is confirmed he is travelling to Melbourne and playing in the Australian Open,” Nadal’s manager Benito Pérez-Barbadillo told The Age.
- Rafael Nadal: ”Now we have to think about rebuilding everything and recovering our freedom” | Mallorca Caprice
“Of course it is an atypical season, where more than half the year we have been without competing, but, as I say, after all, fortunate compared to other sectors and even sports. But looking at the results, taking everything into account, I think it was a season where I managed to win Roland Garros in very different and complicated circumstances and where I was able to reach the 20 Grand Slams victories. Also very happy for the triumph in Acapulco at the beginning of the season and that it was the last tournament and last point played before the pandemic.”
“When you see a 34-year-old, who has won everything and is still crying with victory, it is really inspiring, to see that he is still hungry from the first day,” Kasatkina told Marca of Nadal.
“The thing is, I feel like I’ve known him for a long time because I’ve followed him since I was an eight-year-old girl, when I was watching his first Roland Garros final in the tank top, those long pants and he already had those muscles. I know all [his] results. If I have to choose an example to follow, I choose Rafa. He has the heart of the true athlete because he always gives everything.”
“I don’t know how long he is going to keep on going,” Nadal said of Federer.
“I think it’s great if you ask me if I’d rather be the one to win the Grand Slam [race], yeah I would. I think it’s also good for tennis that Federer comes back with a fighting spirit, and we have this rivalry. I think that this makes this sport much larger, looking at it from a global point of view, not from my personal point of view. I think it’s entertaining and good for our sport.”
PHOTOS:
VIDEO:
Favourite foods, home workouts and football teams… just a few of the topics that Rafael Nadal discussed with five lucky children from the Rafa Nadal Foundation.
Can’t wait for 2021❤️
l am counting the days to see you playing again and stay safe rafa please.
Rafa regards every moment spent in court while competing, preciously. He never assumes winning, he respects every opponent. And when he makes it and wins, the feelings inside well up whether he’s won it for the first time or the umpteenth time.
Kasatkina’s spot on, on her assessment of oue beloved Champ.
Go Rafa at the Oz Open!
We are waiting to see you on the tennis court in the Australian Open vamosssssss champ we miss you 🥰🎾🥰🎾🥰🎾🥰👍
Thanks for the sharing the interview. Keep up the valuable work with the children-a positive, successful role model is what many need right now. How challenging it must have been to train and win the French Open this year. Pandemic fatigue is a mental and physical result after months of struggle. Kudos to Rafael Nadal for accomplishing an amazing feat under adverse conditions👍💪🤛👏🎾❤️ Enjoy your time with family-stay safe and healthy. AO in Feb.-all the best🥰
Can’t wait to see you back on the court, Rafa!🤗
All the best❤️