Mats Wilander has given his verdict on how long Rafael Nadal has left in the sport before retiring, and it is good news for fans of the indomitable Spaniard.
Speaking to Eurosport, Wilander revealed that he thinks the 22-time Grand Slam champion has potentially another three or four years left in his career.
"I would think that after you won your last Grand Slam tournament, there are about three or four years left in you, for sure, especially if you keep your ranking in the top eight", Wilander said.
He went on to say, "If you have just won the Australian Open and the French Open in 2022, I would say you have three or four more years. I don't care about the fact that Rafa turns 40 in four years. I don't think it matters because you are going to have in your mind 'hey, kids, I've done this now since I was 17-18 years old'".
Wilander goes on to explain that staying at the top of the rankings may be tough for Nadal, as he would need to be consistently performing well in most tournaments, but that winning another major is well within his grasp.
"It is five sets, that is a marathon, but if you sprint, you are going to kill yourself, you are going to get too tired, and if you walk, he will be faster than you.I think that keeping his ranking up is going to be very tough. Winning another Grand Slam is going to be easier, much easier, than being in the top three in the world in the rankings because you don't need that".
"You can just try to pinpoint your events to pick at the right time. It is the week before the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open and you can find form and feel it".
While the days of competing at every tournament may be behind Rafa, it would appear he remains as motivated as ever to win the tournaments that mean most to him.
Wilander believes so. "Rafa knows what he is looking for: he knows emotionally what he is looking for; he knows physically what he is looking for".
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