Former World Number one Maria Sharapova admires Rafael Nadal’s ability to bounce back from injuries and continue to flourish on the professional circuit. The Spaniard has been plagued with injuries throughout career and despite that, he establishes himself as the greatest of all times.

“I’m in awe of his whole career and the process and I think a lot of it is being really smart strategically about his schedule,” Sharapova expressed her thoughts on Nadal.

Nadal’s perseverance on the professional tour

For instance, Rafa suffered from a knee injury this year in Indian Wells and subsequently, he called off his Sunshine Double after withdrawing from the semifinals in California. Later taking some break from tennis he continued to win matches and titles on the ATP tour. With his everlasting perseverance, Nadal concluded the year as World Number one.

“From his point of view, he likes a lot of matches to feel confident, but you need to be healthy in order to do that, so you have to make the right decisions and that’s certainly something that I can learn from him,” she added.

The season 2020 challenge for Sharapova 

This season Maria Sharapova holds an 8-7 win-loss record also she withdrew from numerous tournaments pertaining to injuries. Being triumphant and remaining injury-free in the 2020 season is the next big challenge for her.

“It’s tough to tell, I’ve barely played any events last year. The start and stop was one of the most challenging parts of the year as well, just when you think I got going a little bit I had to tone it down and stop and then just keep training. Although it seems I haven’t played actually I’ve been working a lot,” Sharapova summarised her 2019 season.

She has achieved everything in her career be it Olympic medal, Career Slam, World Number one spot, etc… However, she still feels the sky is the limit for achievements.

“And I think when you have that feeling and you know how special it is, you always want to get there again and feel that joy. But yeah, I’ve won five Grand Slams and in my career have achieved a lot and yet internally there’s a lot more vision for what I can accomplish,” Sharapova mentioned.

Up next on Sharapova’s calendar 

Presently Maria Sharapova is playing the exhibition event at Mudbala World Tennis Championship along with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. She has also confirmed her appearance at the Australian Open 2020.