Paris:
Tennis great Rafael Nadal has cleared the air around his retirement rumors after clinching his 22nd Grand Slam title in France. Nadal clarified that he is no mood to retire as he held the 14ts Roland Garros high in the air, the only man to achieve this feat.
World Number five Nadal put up a dominant show against Casper Ruud of Norway to win the men’s singles final match 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 here at the Court Philippe-Chatrier on Sunday to clinch his record 14th French Open crown and his 22nd grand slam title racing ahead of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Apart from clinching a record-extending French Open crown, the 36-year-old Spaniard also indicated that he is not going to retire anytime soon, rubbishing the rumors and speculations about his chronic foot injury problem during the campaign in Paris.
“I don’t know what can happen in the future. I will keep fighting to try to keep going. For me it is incredible to play here with amazing support from you to me,” Nadal said during an on-court interview after winning his 14th French Open crown.
“For me personally it is very difficult to describe the feelings that I have. It’s something that I for sure never believed, to be here at 36, being competitive again, playing in the most important court of my career one more final,” he said.
“Especially in the very tough moments we went through in terms of injuries if you don’t have great support from the team nothing of this would happen because I would have retired much before,” Nadal added.
Nadal admitted that he needed pain-killing injections in his left foot before every match in Paris and will undergo treatment again in Spain.
“If it works, I keep going. If not, it will be another story and I will ask myself if I am ready to do a major surgery which may not guarantee I will be competitive and may take a long time to be back,” he added.
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