Rafael Nadal said at today’s press conference in Madrid that the last few days have not gone so well and he will come out to play tomorrow only because this tournament means a lot to him.
“It’s always been very nice to play in Madrid, I can hardly compare the support I’ve received here with any other place. I’m coming with an appetite to play here once more. The last week has been good on the one hand, not on the other and so good. I don’t think I’m ready to compete 100%, but I’m preparing to go out on the court tomorrow and that’s the important thing for me.” said Nadal at his press conference in Madrid today.
On whether it will be his last tournament in Madrid, he said: “I think it will be, yes. That’s why I want to enjoy it by going out on the pitch, where I’ve had some great moments.”
For his opponent, just 16-year-old Darwin Blanch: “I haven’t seen him play much. There’s a big age difference. He’s one of the young players, with great potential. What I’m looking forward to is going out there and doing what I have to do: try to have fun in my last moments here, the best way I can. We’ll see how it goes, it’s going to be a bit of an unknown, but hopefully I’ll be ready for this match and have the ability to fight.”
On whether he has spoken with the organization about a ceremony in his honor, since it will be his last tournament in Madrid: “In life things are not black and white. Sometimes people, because I’ve had difficult injuries in the past and managed to come back, think the same will happen now. Ceremony or no ceremony, I’m a pretty calm person, I don’t I’m looking for things like that. Let each organization decide how to handle it. I don’t want anything more than to go out on the court to have fun with it.”
On what an ideal week would be for him at Roland Garros: “I don’t know. It’s hard to talk about ideals right now. The ideal would be to be able to play without major restrictions and see what happens. That would be something positive. This week I didn’t have the best feeling and with based on my mentality, normally I wouldn’t even go out on the court to play, but we’re in Madrid, it means a lot to me emotionally to be here and I want to play purely for personal reasons.
I don’t know what will happen in the next 3 weeks. I will try to fight to do these things that I want to do, to try to play in Paris. If I am the way I am today, then I will not play in Paris. If I was at Roland Garros today, I wouldn’t go out on the court to play tomorrow. I will only play in Paris if I am able to compete well. But it won’t be all over at Roland Garros if I can’t play. There’s still the Olympics (which are also at Roland Garros).”
