Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal's rivalry dominated the tennis world for the past decade. Now beyond their prime, both athletes are plagued with injuries and struggling to keep their bodies in tact to push beyond their playing years.
Rafael Nadal just announced that he will be making a comeback at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships on December 29 and Federer took note and gave himself the inspiration he needed to heal up. "You've done it a million times, so I can be inspired by the way you made it look so easy when you came back," said Federer to Nadal in an interview on ESPN.
Even if Rafael Nadal is five years younger than Roger Federer, his playing style that uses lightning speed took a lot of toll in his body and resulted to multiple injuries and setbacks throughout his career. The seldom injured Roger Federer is amazed on how Rafael Nadal keeps up and makes a comeback with every career-threatening injury.
"You came back to the world's top 10, top five, even world No 1. That's something that I'm going to be thinking about when I come back to the tour in January," said Roger Federer. With every setback, retirement has always been a question that was raised to the 14-time Grand Slam Champion but Rafael Nadal brushes them off quickly and instead, kept focused to make himself healthy every time. "I am enjoying what I am doing, especially when I am healthy; when I'm not healthy, for sure I don't enjoy it," Rafael Nadal said.
Retirement is something that Rafael Nadal never thought off while healing his injuries. The 30-year-old athlete doesn't even have a timeline on when he will leave the sport of tennis.
"I can't give an answer to questions that I cannot answer to myself. If you start to think about when you're going to retire, then your work is not 100 percent focused on what you want to do. So I can't say and I can't think about it now. I'm not worried about it at all. When it happens, it happens." "When that day arrives I am sure I will know it. It's not a day for which I have to prepare," Rafael Nadal ended.
Both athletes will be entering the 2017 ATP Tour with their injuries healed up. The big question for them - as for every year - could this be their last? Stay tuned to GamenGuide for more Tennis news and updates!