Rafa Nadal: “I don’t suffer great pain in my daily life, something that is very important for me since I have suffered a lot for many years”

Rafa Nadal He always insists that he was very clear that he wanted to get away from a sedentary life once he hung up his racket. Being active is part of his daily life, which includes many factors, from taking care of the academy, the foundation or his sponsors to joining the Real Madrid Board of Directors.

“I was always clear that I wanted my post-retirement life to continue being active. Today I am lucky enough to get bored a little,” he comments in a chat with Juan Matjipresident of Cantabria Labs, of which Rafa Nadal has been ambassador since 2019.

“Life is treating me well. I’m enjoying it,” he says at 40 years old, two years after retiring due to a hip injury. He does acknowledge that “I am traveling more than I expected, working more than I thought, but all from a very positive point of view and that I like,” he means in a statement to Reuters on the occasion of the exhibition that will take place in February in vegas.

Rafa Nadal he took up the racket when the Filipina asked him to Alex Ealasince he was a teenager in the academy. He also responded to the call of the Polish Iga Swiatek who showed up in Manacor looking for advice. On the occasion of the center’s tenth anniversary, the Spaniard played with several former teammates in doubles matches.

The hip ailment, which forced him to undergo surgery, prevented professional activity at the high level that Rafa Nadal demanded of himself. It was dependent on whether the pain appeared or not, on how much recovery time was needed between one effort and another.

He has suffered many injuries, especially his knee, but also his wrist, shoulder, abdominals and back. All your joints have complained at some point.

He points out that “sport is very healthy, but highly competitive sport is no longer very healthy.” He pushes his body to the limit. He was worried about whether he would be able to lead a normal life when he left the ATP Tour, he always took care not to mortgage his daily future.

And after a stage of recovery, he doesn’t complain. There were days when he could barely walk normally, but he has been improving. “Now I can say that most of the time I feel fine. I don’t suffer great pain in my daily life, something that is very important for me, since I have suffered a lot for many years,” he means.

At the Manacor commemorative exhibition he joked about his level, which he described as bad. The demand goes with him. In February he will know more about his tennis condition for his commitments as a veteran, perhaps at some point with his colleague Roger Federer.

“It will be a test, it will give me answers about how I am. I am excited to return to the track in front of an incredible audience,” he says. He accepted the Las Vegas challenge on February 28. A scenario that he knows well, he played against Carlos Alcaraz in an exhibition in his day.