Rafael Nadal Confesses His True Feelings About Son’s Possible Tennis Career
NewsWednesday, 28 May 2025 at 10:48
Rafael Nadal's emotional send-off at Roland Garros led to a question afterward about how he would feel if his son became a tennis player.
Nadal's 14 titles at Roland Garros are the most extraordinary achievement in tennis history. Six months on from his retirement at the 2025 Davis Cup Finals, the 38-year-old was given a fitting ceremony to celebrate what he achieved at the event.
Many felt that the ceremony given to Nadal at the Davis Cup Finals was underwhelming and not fitting enough for one of the sport's greatest legends. Toni Nadal admitted he did not like the tribute given to his nephew.
Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray appeared at the ceremony at Roland Garros. Nadal also became very emotional when his footprint was put on Philippe-Chatrier, and it will be left there forever to mark what he achieved at the tournament.
How much tennis means to Nadal led to a reporter asking if he would like his son, Rafael Jr., to play the sport professionally. The 22-time Grand Slam champion answered yes and said he never felt like he made sacrifices due to loving tennis.
"If my son leaves the tennis career the way that I left, of course yes. Because as you mentioned about sacrifices, about all the things that you lost to become a professional.. I never had that feeling. I never had the feeling that I made a lot of sacrifices."
"I never had the feeling that I lost a part of my life to become professional. I never lost, in a way, things.. when I was a youngster because of tennis. I just wasn’t able to do all the things my friends were doing every weekend. But I was able to do all the things."
"And I did it. At the same time, when you are doing what you want to do, you are not doing sacrifices. You work hard. You push as much as you can. But you do what you want to do."
Although Nadal would support his son in whatever he wants to do, the former ATP world No. 1 also doubts that Rafael Jr will play tennis in the future, but that remains to be seen.
"Let’s say if my son feels that way, I will support him. I don’t think it’ll be the case. But I will support him in anything he wants to do. Most important thing from my point of view is when you do something, you don’t have to feel that you are losing a lot of things. Because if not, you start from a wrong perspective. That’s my point of view."
Djokovic was also emotional during Nadal's ceremony. The 24-time major winner admitted that watching his former rival being celebrated at the event he dominated made him think about the end of his career.
Nadal's retirement last year means Djokovic is the only one of him. Nadal, Federer, and Murray still playing professionally, but the Serbian admitted that a big part of him has already left the sport since their retirements.
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