Battling through his chronic foot injury - the Mueller Weiss syndrome, to be more precise - Rafael Nadal bagged to astonishing title wins in Australian Open and French Open. Her came back from the pain to win his first major at Melbourne Park since 2009 and battled through it to extend his record to an unthinkable 14th title at the Roland Garros. Nadal however went through a pulse radiofrequency treatment before he made his return to Wimbledon this year, and has already reached the third round of the tournament. But following his win on Thursday at the Centre Court, Nadal made a massive revelation about his retirement.
Nadal had earlier admitted that he had to take anaesthesia injections during his French Open campaign, but added that he would refrain from using it further and would only arrive at Wimbledon if fit.
Following the win in Paris, Nadal travelled to Barcelona for the treatment. He then spent his time in Mallorca, recovering from the treatment before he practised on grass to gear up for his first Wimbledon appearance in three years.
The Spaniard has so far looked in ominous form having beaten both Francisco Cerundolo and Ricardas Berankis in the first two rounds where he dropped a set each. He will next face No 27 seed Lorenzo Sonego in the third round. Despite his present form, Nadal opened up about his retirement thoughts heading into the third Grand Slam of the year.
"My philosophy is couple of weeks ago I was close to it [retirement]," Nadal said. "Now I don't feel that way (smiling). That's my philosophy, no?
{{/usCountry}}"My philosophy is couple of weeks ago I was close to it [retirement]," Nadal said. "Now I don't feel that way (smiling). That's my philosophy, no?
{{/usCountry}}"It's something that I am not -- I never had fear about that day. I think I am happy that I had a very happy life outside of tennis, even if tennis is a very important part of my life for the last 30 years.
"I have been happy outside of tennis, without a doubt. I have a lot of things that I like to do away from tennis, so I am not worried about that. But, of course, when that day arrives, going to be a change. All the changes in this life takes a while. You need to adapt to the changes, no?
"But it's normal that the people talks about retirement of the great athletes because in some way the athletes that have been for such a long time in the top of the game, even more in more popular sports, become part of the life of so many people. Happens to me the same with some football players, with golf players.
"I mean, for example, person that I love to see, Tiger Woods playing. Now I'm not able to see Tiger Woods playing that often. In some way, that's a change in my life, too.
"Probably people will think the same like me, as a fan, when Roger is not playing, when Novak is not playing, when I am not playing, or when any football or basketball or any sport are not playing, because they become part of the daily life of the people because they are an inspiration."