Rafael Nadal: “The Mind Always Follows the body”

The ‘King of Clay’, Rafael Nadal swept the 12th Roland Garros title as he defeated Dominic Thiem 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 in the finals of the French Open 2019. Rafael Nadal was asked about how Roger Federer and he still manages to stay in the merit after being on the tour for so many years.

Rafael Nadal answered that the passion for the sport is what keeps them on the top. He said, “In the merit, I think that it’s in the desire, the passion, and passion for what we’re doing.”

Rafael Nadal continued, “So I think that in my case, even more than in his case, after all the problems I have faced and, well, what keeps the flame alive is this desire, the desire to play, to be sportive, to play on the main stages where I’ve been playing tennis for all these years, understanding that this won’t last forever.”

“So I want to give myself the maximum chances with my body, with my mind, because the mind always follows the body and the physical shape,” said the 33-year-old.

Rafael Nadal revealed that he is happy doing what he is doing. He added, “So as long as I’ll be happy doing what I’m doing, as long as I’ll wake up with the desire to do as every day what I’m doing, I will continue being here.”

Rafael Nadal further added, “And for the time being, things are rolling well. Everything is running smoothly. So I take advantage, enjoy all these opportunities. And then I have this chance of living special moments in the history of our sport.”

Rafael Nadal suggested that they prepare for big moments on a daily basis. He said, “The fact of playing so many times against Novak two weeks ago in Rome, and the fact of playing again Roger in semifinals, these are moments for which we are working on a daily basis and for which we get prepared to the best we can.”

“Beyond the fact of winning or not, we really want to be competitive and to fight in the most correct way and to enjoy that,” the world no. 2 concluded.