Rafael Nadal: I didn't miss out on things rest of my friends did

Spanish tennis superstar Rafael Nadal believes the game is in good hands with the current core of young core players the Tour has. 

This week, Nadal claimed a straight-set win over fellow compatriot and rising Carlos Alcaraz at the Madrid Masters. 

Nadal also played rising Australian star Alexei Popyrin and also won in straight sets. 

"Of course," Nadal said. "But at the same time always the future of tennis is in good hands because always going to be Grand Slam winners, always going to be Masters 1000 winners. That's the thing, no?

"Today is true that there is a lot of young, good players. Is something normal that is happening. And, yeah, I'm excited that at my age I am able to keep playing against all of them. They are good. They are talented. They have a great future, no?

"For me is amazing to be where I am with my age competing with them still."

Nadal has no regrets 

Nadal is one of the most accomplished players in tennis history but he claims he didn't miss out on many things while he was young. 

"Sorry, but honestly I didn't," Nadal said. "I didn't miss the things that the rest of the friends of mine did. I did less times, yes, but I was not the kind of guy or person that I was just focused on tennis, tennis, tennis every single day. I was practicing very hard, yes. I was focused when I was on court 100%. But outside of the court I enjoyed all my life, no?

"I was able to do the things that my friends did, just I was not able to go for party every Friday and Saturday. I was for party one Saturday every few weeks, but I had a lot of parties in my life, too. I went to the beach. I played football. I mean, I went to the cinema a lot of times. I spent time having dinners with the family, with everyone.

"I don't think I missed anything, honestly. The only thing that I can say, if they did 100 or 1,000 times, I did probably 100, that's all."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3vNVM1K