Rafael Nadal makes surprising self-doubt confession in revealing comments

Kevin Palmer
Rafael Nadal shows his emotions
Rafael Nadal shows his emotions

The true greats of world sport exude confidence that helps to build their aura, but what we see from our heroes doesn’t always reflect their true feelings.

We would never have thought about Tiger Woods experiencing self-doubt when he was in the prime of his career and the same would be true of Lionel Messi, Michael Jordan and Michael Schumacher when they were making winning look so easy.

Yet all the greats would have had moments when they were doubting themselves and that includes the three greatest players in the history of men’s tennis.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic had a vice-like group over their emotions when they were in the heat of battle, but one of the ‘Big 3’ has revealed the image we had of him was not always a reality.

Nadal called time on his career last month after he played for Spain for one last time in the Davis Cup and in an interview with The Players Tribune, he opened up on how his mind was swirling even when he was portraying an image of serenity.

“For 30 years, the image that I was transmitting to the world was not always what I was feeling inside,” said Nadal.

“Honestly, I have been nervous before every match I have ever played — it never leaves you.

“Every night before a match, I went to bed feeling that I could lose (and also when I woke up in the morning!) In tennis, the difference between players is very thin, and between rivals even more.

“When you go out there on the court, anything can happen, so all your senses must be awake, alive.

“That feeling, the inner fire and the nerves, the adrenaline of walking out and seeing a full court, it is a sensation that is very difficult to describe. It is a sensation that only a few can understand, and something that I am sure will never be the same now that I am retiring as a professional.

“There still will be those moments playing exhibitions and maybe other sports, too. I will always compete and try to give the best I can, but it won’t be the same feeling as walking out in front of the fans at any given stadium.”

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Nadal also revealed he considered taking long breaks from tennis to ‘cleanse his mind’, as he offered up a remarkably honest insight into his mindset.

“For most of my career, I was good at controlling these emotions. With one exception,” he added.

“I went through a very difficult moment, mentally, a few years ago. Physical pain I was very used to, but there were times on the court when I had trouble controlling my breathing, and I couldn’t play at the highest level. I don’t have trouble saying it now. After all, we are human beings, not superheroes.

“The person you see at centre court with a trophy is a person. Exhausted, relieved, happy, thankful — but just a person.

“Thankfully, I didn’t get to the point of not being able to control things like anxiety, but there are moments with every player when it’s difficult to control your mind, and when that happens it’s difficult to have total control of your game.

“There were months when I thought about taking a complete break from tennis to cleanse my mind.

“In the end, I worked on it every day to get better. I conquered it by always moving forward, and I slowly became myself again.

“The thing that I’m most proud of is that I may have struggled, but I never quit. I always gave the maximum.”

Tennis will miss the three great players who have given us so much joy over the last two decades, but the legacy they leave will continue as they look back on how they rewrote the record books.

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