Nadal: "I don’t know when I’m going to be able to come back to the practice court, but I’m going to stop for a while"

Rafael Nadal has announced that he will stop playing tennis for a couple of months in order to 'say goodbye' to tournaments while on tour in 2024.

Transcript

00:00 three basic messages that's why I am here today.

00:04 First thing, I'm not going to be able to play in Roland-Garros, as you know.

00:13 I was even working as much as possible every single day for the last four months.

00:19 It had been very difficult months because we were not able to find the solution to the

00:27 problem that I had in Australia.

00:31 So today I'm still in the position that I am not able to feel myself ready to compete

00:39 at the standards that I need to be to play at Roland-Garros.

00:44 I'm not the guy that's going to be in Roland-Garros.

00:48 Just try to be there and put myself in a position that I don't like to be in.

00:53 Second thing, after a couple of years, that of course in terms of results have been very

01:00 positive because I was able to win a couple of Grand Slams and another couple of important

01:10 tournaments.

01:13 The real situation is I was not able to enjoy my diary work.

01:24 After the pandemic, my body was not able to hold the practices and to hold the diary work

01:32 in a good way.

01:36 So I was not able to enjoy the practices and the competition because there were too many

01:44 problems, too many times having to stop for physical issues and too many days of going

01:54 here practicing but with too much pain.

01:57 So after that, I need to stop.

02:01 I need to stop for a while so my decision is to stop.

02:08 I don't know when I'm going to be able to come back to the practice court but I'm going

02:13 to stop for a while, maybe two months, maybe one month and a half, maybe three months,

02:20 maybe four months.

02:21 I don't know.

02:22 I am not the guy who likes to predict a lot of the future so I'm just following my personal

02:31 feelings and just following what I really believe is the right thing to do for my body

02:40 and for my personal happiness.

02:41 So that's the thing.

02:44 I don't want to put myself in a position to say one thing and then do another thing but

02:51 my goal and my ambition is to try to stop, to give myself an opportunity to enjoy next

03:04 year that's probably going to be my last year in a professional tour.

03:11 That's my idea even that I can't say 100% that's going to be like this because you never

03:17 know what can happen.

03:20 My idea and my motivation is to try to enjoy and try to say goodbye of all the tournaments

03:27 that have been important for me in my tennis career during this year and just try to enjoy

03:33 that, being competitive and enjoying being on court, something that today is not possible.

03:42 I really believe that if I keep going now I will not be able to make that happen.

03:46 I don't know if I stop if I will be able to make that happen but I think the chances are

03:51 much higher if I stop.