Rafael Nadal loves tennis, but he's not willing to sacrifice it all for the sport as he wants to live a normal life after he retires.
It's a similar dilemma to Roger Federer's, who also opted not to push too much with his injuries. His knee issues were so severe that pursuing a serious comeback to tennis could have left him with lasting consequences after he retired, and he wasn't willing to do that.
He wanted to be able to ski and play sports with his kids, which makes perfect sense. Nadal has the same doubts as he wants to lead a normal life like Federer, so he's very careful about not pushing too much.
His issue has been more complicated as the hip isn't a problem that he wants to carry for the rest of his life. We saw him with a crutch for many months after the surgery, and he doesn't want to do that for the rest of his life.
That would be devastating, and ultimately, he just wants to be able to live a normal life once he retires, and that's one of the things he thinks about during this most recent comeback, as he revealed in an interview to LaSexta.
"I have never been very scared by injuries. I am more worried about tomorrow. When I retire, I want to have a normal life and I would like to be able to go play soccer games with my friends tomorrow or with my son."
"I am a sports person. Not just a professional tennis player, I am an athlete. I like to practice sports, not just watch it."
For a very long time, he understood that he was going to leave the sport with some consequences. He's fine with that, but he hopes that, ultimately, he'll be able to do the same thing any regular person would be able to do.
"Since I was 8 I have been training almost like a professional, it is normal for my body to have 'scars', but I hope that when a little time passes the body will readapt and I can have a healthy life."
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