Tennis
Rafa Nadal's joke to his son: "Dad is a potato, since you've almost never won"
The best Spanish athlete in history has opened the new season of El Hormiguero with Pablo Motos.
Is it superstitious off the track?
'People may think I have a lot of superstitions for the things I do on the track, having very marked routines, but honestly there it stays. I don't have many superstitions outside of it.'
His resignation from the US Open
"At a day to make that decision is simpler than before. I'm in a completely different era from the one I was three, four or five years ago. I've had a lot of physical problems and a major hip operation. I had scored this season as a target until the Olympics, I've tried to do things the best possible way out there. Once they were finished, it was already a matter of analyzing how I felt. I saw it all very tight, surface change to five sets...."
Alcaraz, goodbye in New York
'I don't think he's mentally ill. He's a little tired, saturated by everything he's achieved this summer: winning Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Olympics final... There comes a time when the mind also needs a break. I've seen that he said he had some problem, but I see that the calendar with the Olympic year is probably getting tighter."
His comparison with Carlos Alcaraz
"The comparison is not going to hurt you. He's good enough not to affect him. He's gonna keep making his way. It's a nice coincidence that after my career someone like Carlos came out. It's hard to happen in the same country. Alcaraz is going to be one of the best in history."
The Olympic torch and the Seine
"I thanked Paris for giving me that moment. A feeling for the rest of my life at the moment and the place it was. Before I went on stage where Zidane gave me the torch I was excited, I didn't want a tear to fall in the middle. It's something unique, very grateful to France.'
"The Olympic torch is very bearable, but the boat ride was less bearable. He hit us with a major cleft and when you're sailing a little fast it looks like it rains a lot more than it rains.'
Feels very dear in France
"I'm ashamed to be the center of attention. I was very shy as a kid, then logically you evolve, but I haven't lost that point of shyness. Sometimes I don't know very well what to do, but I really appreciate the affection they give me around the world. Spain is out of doubt, but in France and in Paris in particular because it is something very special. People stayed with the first two or three years, which were more complicated for different reasons, but later it has been an impressive story. I felt very loved and supported there."
Double with Alcaraz at the Games
"We never played in doubles. When you play against people who are used to movements, where to cover the track, the speed of reaction... they have it automated. We have to do double. We lost but it was a very nice experience. We didn't have our best day, but you could have won too. In the doubles things change very, very quickly. We had to play with a very big energy to counteract the shortcomings we have."
The Olympic Village
'It's completely different from what we're used to. The quality of the rest is worse, but if you go to an Olympic Games you have to be at the Villa. You're a more awkward pellet, but you really enjoy the Olympics. It's a bit of chaos because there are thousands of people, but you're adapting and you see everything naturally.'
Your possible withdrawal
"I understand you asking me. It's been many years, I've been through a lot of physical problems, especially these last two years. What I've done all this time is give myself a margin to enjoy tennis again after a year and a half off the tracks. I want to enjoy the day to day and let me make my decision when I'm clear. When I'm clear I'll tell you. That's why I said I didn't get the issue of withdrawal every day at every press conference and in each interview. The goals I already had scored have been completed, I haven't achieved what I would have liked to achieve. I was hoping to be healthier than I've ever been. When I came back it cost me, I got to Roland Garros at a good time but I had a not very proper draw. Right now I give myself my time, training every day, of course, but enjoying other things in life."
Your friendship with Federer
'You really have to have been rubbing a lot from younger and if not on a daily basis. Roger is a very good partner, we have done a lot of nice things together, we have also competed for the most important things for most of our careers... and I think people who are normal end up having a great appreciation for their biggest rival. We have understood the sport in a way, and that does not take away an apex of competitiveness, but we have carried that rivalry in an appropriate, sensible and appreciative way."
Sinner's Double positive
"I have a virtue or a deficit - I usually believe in people's good faith. I don't think Sinner wanted to do it. Another thing: in the end, justice is justice. I don't think we just have to like it when it's solved the way we think. I believe in the agencies and I trust that if they have not sanctioned him it is because those who have tried him have seen in a very clear way that he had not been punished. I'm convinced. The opinion of others is also totally respectable."
His paternity
"At the sports level it has changed me drastically. I always tell my son, 'Dad, a potato.' Since he's come into this world we haven't won almost any game. That's changed for me bad. In life, most things have changed me for the better. In the end I lost, I've been injured, but whatever happens to come home and seeing him changes your mood.'
Is he chased by the 'Vamos Rafa'?
"Sometimes. I go into the planes and listen 'Come on, Rafa'. Well, okay" [laughs].
El mejor deportista español de la historia ha abierto la nueva temporada de El Hormiguero junto a Pablo Motos.
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