Iga Swiatek has called on people to let her idol Rafael Nadal do things his own way as he has dozens of eyeballs on him amid a comeback attempt.
The Spaniard continued his comeback to tennis at the Madrid Open, and he made a good start by winning his first match with ease. Nadal then also managed to outplay Alex de Minaur, who bested him last week in Barcelona.
There is a lot of media interest surrounding his every move, as the situation is quite tricky. He's equally likely to continue his career in the coming weeks as he is to retire, which makes his every move very polarizing. It's understandable, but fellow player Swiatek wishes everybody would just let him be.
"I just want people to take it easy and let him do it his way. People expect him to do something spectacular, but honestly, Rafa has to take care of himself and I hope he does."
Swiatek grew up idolizing Nadal and is a huge fan of him, which makes how he's treated quite important for her. She declined to comment on the possibility of him retiring anytime soon because, as professional as she is, the Polish player openly admitted to not knowing how she would react if she were in his shoes.
"I don't want to talk about whether this will be Nadal's last match or tournament because it's his decision and it's been hard for him. It's very professional, but I don't know how my brain would respond to knowing that I'm playing my last game."
Ultimately, we'll all have to wait and see what happens. The Spaniard will not be around for much longer, so we should all appreciate him while he's playing and let him decide how long he'll stay in the sport that he loves.
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