Rafael Nadal with his French Open title last year. (Getty Images)
Rafael Nadal is a record 12-time Grand Slam winner at the Roland Garros
Record 12-time winner of French Open, Rafael Nadal, highlighted the conditions needed for his participation in Roland Garros.
Named the ‘King of Clay’ due to his unprecedented success at the clay-court event in Paris, Nadal put out a list of conditions before conforming his participation at this year’s French Open.
The French Tennis Federation had earlier taken the unilateral decision to postpone the French Open 2020 from its original date in May to the last week of September in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
With the deconfinement phase now already in action in some parts of the world including Spain, Nadal had a few suggestions to make before the commencement of this year’s Grand Slam event in Paris.
According to Nadal, the complete safety, health, and well-being of every attached with the sport should be the utmost priority.
He also added that every decision must be taken with complete caution and responsibility during such a crisis.
“If you can compete safely, with the same possibilities for all players, because you have to take into account that it is a world sport and there are players from different parts of the world, and everyone can participate, there I will be,” Nadal spoke to program Stadio 2 on France 3, a public television channel.
“But today you have to go with caution and responsibility and make the right decisions to take care of the health of all of us who make up the world of tennis,” explained a cautious Nadal.
Nadal is the defending champion at the French Open having defeated Dominic Thiem last year.
Meanwhile, Nadal opined that he was fine without playing in front of an audience considering the current situations. However, he did not like the idea of playing in front of the public was an altogether different feeling.
“If you ask me if you can play without an audience, yes, it is what is happening with football. But I do not like it, what you generate playing in front of the public is something very difficult to find,” said Nadal.
The Spanish tennis star also revealed that he looks to the future in a medial way rather than as a tennis professional.
“My reality is that I do not look to the future in a professional way, but in a medical way, to preserve the health of all the workers in the tournaments and also of all the players and their teams. Right now, I see an uncertain, complicated situation, but you never know how things evolve, and I hope this happens quickly and we can play again,” he said.
Nadal last played at the Acapulco ATP 500 tournament in Mexico, where he emerged champion, defeating the American Taylor Fritz in the final on Saturday, February 29.
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