El Hormiguero’ started a new season this Monday on Antena 3 in Spain and has done so with the visit of tennis player Rafa Nadal, who has spoken with Pablo Motos about how he experienced his last Olympic Games in Paris and how he is living the last years of a sports career in which he has won more than 100 tournaments, including 22 Grand Slams, five Davis Cups and two Olympic gold medals, the first in Beijing 2008 and the second, in doubles, in Rio de Janeiro 2016.
After welcoming and greeting the first guest of the 19th season, Pablo Motos thanked Rafa Nadal for his presence and praised him. The Spaniard, once the interview has begun, the first thing he made clear is that, despite what fans may believe, he is not superstitious. “No, the truth is that people may believe that I have many superstitions because of what they see me do on the court, where I do have some very noticeable routines, but that’s where they stay. Outside I do have many superstitions, but well, it is an honor to be here in your first program, it makes me very excited. For me also all new seasons are a reason for nerves, there are always the doubts at the beginning, but I think you have everything pretty much under control,” said the Spaniard.
Rafael Nadal explain why he gave up playing the U.S. Open
Pablo Motos said that he called Rafa Nadal when he decided not to partake in the U.S. Open because he did not look 100 percent and wanted to know how it was to make that decision. “Well, today it is simpler than before. Obviously, I’m in a completely different time than I was three, four, five years ago. I’ve come from a long process of many physical problems, including a major hip operation and, well, I had set this season as my goal until the Olympics. I tried to do the best I could until then and once the Olympics were over, it was a matter of analyzing how I felt and I saw everything as very fair. After finishing the Olympics, it was a decision that, as far as possible, I had taken, but one always waits until the end to make it public lest I change my mind,” he said.
The host of ‘El Hormiguero’ referred to the statements made by Carlos Alcaraz last week after being eliminated from the U.S. Open in which he stated that he was not well mentally. “I do not think he is mentally bad, I think he is a little bit tired, a little bit saturated, of everything he has achieved this summer, he has won Roland Garros, he has won Wimbledon and has reached the final of the Olympics. There is a moment when the mind also needs a little rest, but I have seen that he had said he had a problem and I do not see any problem. On the contrary, what I see is that probably the calendar with an Olympic year becomes tighter and at some point he, who has won so much, has had a very hard demand, “explained Rafa Nadal.
Rafa Nadal explains what it felt like to carry the Olympic torch in Paris
Pablo Motos then questioned Rafa Nadal about the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, in which he carried the Olympic torch. “I am very grateful to Paris for having let me live that moment, having given me something that I think is for the rest of my life. And besides, at the time and in the place it was. I enjoyed the moment and I appreciated it because it is something unique that never comes back. The truth is that I am very grateful to France and Paris,” said the Spaniard, who was then asked by the presenter of ‘El Hormiguero’ about the weight of the Olympic torch. “It weighs a little but it is very bearable,” answered the winner of 14 Roland Garros tournaments. “Afterwards, the boat ride was a little less bearable because we were hit by a big storm,” he added.
Rafa Nadal and how being a father has changed his life
Rafa Nadal has also chatted with Pablo Motos about how fatherhood has changed his life. “On a sporting level it has changed me drastically. I always tell my son, who is already starting to do something: ‘Dad, a potato’, because since he has come into this world I have not won almost any match. That has changed me for the worse, sportingly speaking. But in life, in most things, it has changed me for the better, because in the end I have lost, I have been injured, but whatever happens, coming home and seeing him changes my mood,” he said.
