Here's Rafael Nadal's Advice to the Next Generation of Athletes
Young tennis hopefuls Stefano Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem all found themselves leaving Wimbledon early this year, along with a handful of other rising stars - and they struggled to hide their disappointment. Metro reports that Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal had some words of wisdom for them about taking the highs with the lows, and they apply just as much to life as they do to sport.
"When you go on court, you can win, you can lose. You need to accept both things," he said. "Maybe you are not able to accept that when you go on court you can win. But you can lose, too. That’s this sport. There is only one winner every single week. The rest of the players lose. Every time that you start the tournament, you know that is difficult that you don’t lose that week because only one not going to lose."
"Knowing that you fight for the victory, you give your best" continued Nadal, who looked like the paragon of professionalism in his recent win against Nick Kyrgios. "At the end of the day, of course, the win is important and special. But personally what I feel is when you try your best, when you do the right things, you come back home knowing that you did as much as you could, you are in peace with yourself."
It looks like Nadal is on a Wimbledon collision course with his longtime rival Roger Federer, who is also full of grace just lately. When asked about Nadal by Vogue during his recent 73 Questions interview, Federer replied magnanimously: "He’s an intense guy on the court... He’s super honest and open off the court, and he’s got a heart of gold."
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