Nadal ready for a leap of faith: “I need to go for everything. If something happens, it happens”

The Spaniard said he needs to overcome the fear factor associated with returning from injury

Inside / Panoramic

May 9, 2024

Ever since he began his latest comeback to the Tour, in Barcelona last month, Rafael Nadal has been honest about his expectations, cautious about the level of play his body will allow him to produce.

But the 14-time Roland-Garros champion is improving week on week and even if he didn’t play his best in beating Zizou Bergs in the first round of the Italian Open on Thursday, he has been encouraged by the way his body has responded to the demands of playing the best players in the world.

After injuring his hip in Brisbane in January, Nadal had hoped to make the small improvements he needed in time to be ready to hit the ground running in Monte-Carlo, only for an abominable issue to set him back. Now, though, after improving week on week since returning in Barcelona, including a run to the fourth round in Madrid, Nadal says it’s time to take a leap of faith.

“Arrive the moment today that I need to try to play at my 100 percent,” he told reporters in Rome. “Is not easy because I need to lose a little bit of fear that I have in some shots.

“In Brisbane I got a tear on the place that I had the surgery last year. Sometimes important surgery like I had, I had to remove an important part of my psoas tendon, put a lot of muscles around working more than before. It’s about having the right time to adapt all these muscles to this new configuration of the hip. But I don’t have that much time, no? That’s the problem and that’s the (truth).

“I really hoped that I would be able to have this progress (from) the beginning of the season til Monte-Carlo (so) that I was able to start playing at my 100 percent in Monte-Carlo. That was not the case because I had an abdominal thing. I did this progress the last three weeks on the tour. But arrive the moment that I need to try, I need to go for everything. If something happens, something happens. That’s the truth.”

Nadal: “I need to lose this fear”

Not surprisingly, Nadal has been careful not to push himself too far, too soon. But with just over two weeks to go until the start of Roland-Garros, he knows he needs to prove to himself that he’s capable of playing at 100 percent if he’s to be competitive at the place where he has dominated, winning 14 times.

“I have Roland Garros in just two weeks and a half, so… arrive a moment that I need to prove myself if I am able to push my body to the limit that I need to push to feel myself ready for what’s coming.

“I am not talking only about Roland Garros. I am talking about the next match. I need to lose this fear. Matches like today help. Some moments I was moving faster. Some moments not. I need to get used to that, to take that risk. It’s a moment to me that happen. If something wrong happens, we going to accept it. But that’s the moment to push. I feel more ready to try it than before.”

There were times in the match with Bergs that Nadal looked a little slow, but he turned the match around and said there were far more positives than negatives as he looks forward to a second-round clash with Hubert Hurkacz, not least since he has been practising well in Rome.

“I need to accept that my level, it’s a little bit more on and off,” he said. “It’s not like used to be that was very stable everything. I need to find this stability again. Matches like today helps, no?

“I felt myself before the match ready to play at the good level of tennis because I am feeling the ball much better on the practice sessions than what I felt in Barcelona and in Madrid. I feel myself closer to show something probably much more positive that what I showed since the day of today. Then I need to do it. That’s a different story.

“I feel myself closer. That’s why I was on the court even without playing well but telling myself I need to go through and explore the options that I can do it much better the next day because my feelings on the practice are much better than what I had, the level I showed today on court.”

Bergs: If he plays Roland-Garros, he’s going to be ready

Bergs said if Nadal plays at the French Open, then he will be dangerous, as always.

“From time to time today, I definitely saw some flashes where I’m saying, Okay, this is Nadal, this is prime Nadal,” he said.

“Obviously there are some moments where he’s not bringing it consistently. What I remember about the past is sometimes people doubt Nadal about French Open. Every time he plays French Open, he starts winning easy, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1, whatever. I never would question being ready on time. I think if he would play, he’s going to be ready.”