Turbulent times seem to finally end for Spanish tennis great, Rafael Nadal. The 22-time Grand Slam champion has been struggling with injuries for almost the entire 2023 season. However, he has recovered well and is on the verge of a comeback. A few days back, he announced that he would return to Brisbane ahead of the opening Grand Slam tournament of the 2024 season. Hours ago, a new interview dropped of Nadal in which he revealed his true goal.

The Spaniard has constantly kept his fans updated about the status of his comeback of late. His social media handles have been busy with continuous updates from his side. Here’s what he said regarding his future.

Rafael Nadal has a bitter-sweet feeling

The former World Number 1 revealed his disappointment of missing almost the entire season due to injuries. He tried to come back on numerous occasions this year but his injuries got the better of him every time. Recently, he took to his official Instagram handle where he talked about his future prospects.

Nadal said, “It’s been a long year in which I’ve gone through many phases, from trying to get back to compete at the clay season week after week, disappointment after disappointment. Then I had to decide to stop and say “enough” and look for a definite solution, which was the surgery. Since then, everything has been a new horizon, a difficult path, but always with the hope of coming back.”

Further, he went on to add, “I don’t know at what level, I don’t know what to expect, I have no idea, but I don’t care right now. I’m just happy to be back and with great excitement to make the effort that is necessary to have fun and I believe that I will be competitive.”

At 37, time is running out for Nadal to make a successful comeback. Even though he looks to be as competitive as he used to be, there will be a lot of challenges waiting for him. Additionally, his recent confession also hinted at retirement soon.

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Is Rafael Nadal retiring?

Earlier this week in another interview, Nadal sounded down and out while coping with injuries. Although he has had many successful comebacks, he felt low on confidence this time around with age not by his side.

Hinting at retirement, Nadal said, “I expect from myself not to expect anything. This is the truth. And right now what I really hope is to be able to not to do that, not to demand me the maximum, to accept that things are going to be very difficult at the beginning, and to give myself the necessary time and forgive myself if things go wrong at the beginning, which is a very big possibility.”

It’ll be interesting to see if Nadal can repeat his comeback heroics next year. However, he’d like to take it step-by-step, given that he has had a lengthy injury layoff.

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