‘The old body requires time and patience’: Nadal on injury recovery and return to tennis

From school runs and bedtime duty to a Las Vegas return, Federer talks, a kinder tour calendar and a ranking-system rethink, the Spaniard covers life after retirement.

Updated : Nov 03, 2026 19:52 IST , ROME - 4 MINS READ

File Photo: Rafael Nadal says life after tennis revolves around his sons, from the school run to bedtime. | Photo Credit: AP

Even 22 Grand Slam titles and a record 14 French Open trophies cannot speed up bedtime for Rafael Nadal.

He joined a video interview from his home in Mallorca around 9 p.m. on a Monday, eight minutes late and slightly frazzled, to promote his upcoming Las Vegas exhibition. The retired star had been putting his two sons to bed.

“Sorry,” Nadal said to open an interview with The Associated Press. “That’s the world of being a dad.”

Nadal still travels for his business interests, foundation and academy, but family comes first at home.

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He takes his kids to school at the Rafa Nadal Academy at 8:30 am, spends the morning at the gym and office, and picks them up at 3:30 pm. “It’s strange to say, but not much golf, not much fishing,” he said. “I have two small kids. I have work to do.”

Nadal, who turned 40 in June, was playing “almost zero” tennis until an exhibition a month ago with Andy Murray and others marking the academy’s 10th anniversary.

Next is “The MGM Slam presented by Capital One” at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Feb. 28, his first U.S. match since retiring two years ago.

He faced Carlos Alcaraz there in 2024. More players and the format will be announced soon, and the event is slated just before Indian Wells.

He was “not in the mood” at first, but said it became an obligation to start practising again. “I’m still hitting the ball quite well, to be honest. The movement is another story.”

He had hand surgery nearly a year ago and was “not able to do much” for four months. “The old body requires time and patience.”

He is doing it for himself, he said. “Almost everything I do, I do it for them. But this, I do it just because I want to enjoy the preparation and then the feeling of playing again tennis in front of a good crowd.”

On a possible exhibition with Roger Federer, who showed he is still sharp at this year’s U.S. Open, Nadal said: “I am open (to it) and I had long conversations with Roger.”

The two are in almost weekly contact, he said, and “if at some point we find the right reason and the right place to do something, you will know, guys.

But I don’t know yet.” Nadal won 24 of their 40 matches. Asked about a “Big Three” chat with Novak Djokovic, he said: “We don’t have a chat at all. Novak is still in competition.”

Nadal said he could not push for more clay and grass events while playing, because people would have thought he was protecting his own dominance on them.

Now, he said, tennis is played mostly on a “very, let’s say, aggressive surface for the body and for the joints. And then we pay the price.”

He renewed his call for a two-year rolling ranking, as in golf, so players have “a little bit more freedom to make better decisions” and more time to recover from injury. He also called extending Masters 1000 events to two weeks “a mistake.”

Asked if he might become a “super coach,” as Murray is with Djokovic and Jack Draper, he said: “Never say never. But not now. I have two small kids and I cannot commit to stay full time with a player.”