Rafael Nadal was not in the mood to talk about his injuries after losing in the first round of the 2024 Roland Garros to Alexander Zverev.
The Spaniard returned to Roland Garros for a tennis match against Zverev, which he lost. It was a decent showing from Nadal, who had really good moments but was mostly overwhelmed by a better player on that day.
After the match, the 14-time French Open champion was asked about all sorts of things, including how the whole process of coming back and battling injuries unfolded, but he wasn't particularly keen on talking about his injuries too much.
The 37-year-old explained that it was a tough process that unfolded slowly but was satisfactory in the end, and that's why he didn't want to focus on the negatives.
"It has been a tough process in all ways, and I arrived at a moment that I was mentally destroyed, you know, in terms of energy, in terms of personal happiness. That's why I said, okay, I need to stop this."
"I felt that there were big chances that I will never be back on a tennis court again few weeks before Barcelona, no? But then I started to feel a little bit better. At least I was able to play four tournaments. That means a lot to me, and let's see."
He didn't really want to get into the details of his recovery and injuries because he was aware that throughout his career, the positives clearly outweighed the negatives.
He knows how tough the comeback journey was, and we saw some of that struggle in the matches he played, for example when he lost to Hubert Hurkacz at the 2024 Italian Open in Rome.
"It doesn’t matter. I don't need to talk about how tough everything was, because if we put in balance all the things that happened in my tennis career, in my life, the positive moments are incredibly much heavier. You know, I enjoyed everything."
"Because of tennis I lived experiences that I never could imagine without practicing, playing this beautiful sport, and I had much more success than what I ever could dream about it. So I had injuries, yes. I had tough, low moments, yes. But in the other hand I enjoyed incredible emotional and positive moments that I am so grateful and I feel very lucky for all of that."