Rafael Nadal and the question of legacy
Rafael Nadal made a stop in Ecuador on his South American exhibition tour with Casper Ruud . And talked about his legacy there.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Nov 28, 2022, 07:33 pm
Without wanting to completely undermine the sporting relevance of the joint exhibition tour by Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud, but: The fact that the Spaniard suffered his first defeat against the Norwegian on Monday will almost certainly be accepted. On the ATP tour, the Mallorcan is of course still undefeated, yes, even without losing a set against the Scandinavian, with whom Nadal has such a good understanding.
The exhibition tour is Nadal and Ruud's way of getting in the best possible groove for the coming season. In January, the first big highlight is the Australian Open. And there it is again for Nadal to further consolidate his status as the player with the most title wins at Grand Slam level. Because with Novak Djokovic's entry certificate to Down Under, there will be powerful direct competition there.
Nadal sees a good world ranking as difficult
If you believe Nadal's statements in Ecuador, the sporting record hunt is secondary for the 36-year-old anyway. "The most important legacy is that all the people I have lived with in these 20 years of my career have a good human memory of me," Nadal explained in Ecuador. "After all, the personal relationship, the upbringing, the respect and affection that you can treat people with, trumps the professional relationship because it's what stands the test of time."
In addition, with Nadal, some goals have become simply unrealistic given the Spaniard's current competition planning: such as the fight for a top position in the world rankings. "It's difficult to maintain such a high level. I play very few tournaments at the moment, so it's difficult to maintain a very high ranking because you have to be very successful in the tournaments you play in," he said the Spaniard, who managed to end the year as world number two despite lengthy breaks.