"Let Rafael Nadal play";"Andy Murray was saying the same thing": Fans back Spaniard for shutting down retirement question after loss to Novak Djokovic
Rafael Nadal was once again asked about his retirement following his abject second-round loss to great rival Novak Djokovic at the Paris Olympics. While Nadal has so far answered questions related to the subject in a calm and collected manner, this time around, he expressed his frustration at being quizzed about his retirement again and again. Fans later flocked to back the Spaniard over his response.
Nadal was quite simply outplayed by Djokovic in their second-round encounter at this year's Games on Monday, July 29. The Serb barely allowed the Spaniard any time to settle on Court Phillipe-Chatrier, with the former's aggressive game more often than not seeing the latter on the backfoot, particularly in the first set. Djokovic eventually found himself 6-1, 4-0 up, but Nadal clawed back to level things up in the second before the Serb ultimately closed out the contest with an ace.
After the match, the two-time Olympic gold medalist faced yet another retirement question. Here, Nadal lost his cool, saying that he can't think about retirement regularly. The 22-time Major winner also suggested that a section of the media wants him to retire every day, before asking for "more time" to get back to his best.
"I can't be analyzing every day whether or not it can be my last match. It seems that you want to retire me every day, give me a little more time," Nadal said.
Fans on X (formerly Twitter) were quick to take notice of what Nadal said, and they banded together in his support. One set of them questioned the media for incessantly touching on the retirement subject whenever there's an interaction with the Spaniard.
"Why do they keep asking him, i’m sure he will say when he’s done, he’s still being competitive let the man play," wrote a fan.
"Andy Murray was saying the same thing...about how the press was constantly asking him about retirement. A player plays as long he/ she wants. It's not the reporters who decide," added one more fan, referring to Murray being questioned incessantly about his own retirement earlier this year, which led to the Brit lashing out at the media at one stage.
"If he's not injured and still enjoys playing, let the man play. He still got doubles and I expect to see him live in Berlin in September," another fan commented.
"It must be so exhausting to hear these questions all the time. After all he's given to the game, doesn't he deserve to end on his terms?" a fan asked.
"This is why I said before, and I will die on this hill. This man has never uttered any words about retirement. Everyone else ran with it, and now it's awkward for everyone. Leave it alone," another fan chimed in.
Another set of fans wrote about the positives that could be drawn from Nadal's underwhelming display against Djokovic.
"True. I think he played well considering he has barely played. I don’t want Rafa to retire," a fan wrote.
"There was one good thing for Nadal today: he recovered 2 breaks in the 2nd set to level at 4 all. That will tell him it's worth it to keep going. He said he's not playing like he's practicing. If his practices are going good, then more match play will only help him," another fan weighed in.
"Novak Djokovic was playing very comfortably" - Rafael Nadal's assessment of dire performance against Serb in Paris Olympics 2R
Nadal later shared an honest assessment of his poor outing against Djokovic in Paris, admitting that he got a "beating" from the Serb. The Spaniard went on to congratulate the World No. 2 for the win as well.
"It was a match in which I didn't know if I was ready to play at a certain level and I wasn't. It was a beating for a long time. You have to accept it as such and not hide it. You have to congratulate Novak for the high level he has shown," Nadal told reporters.
The former World No. 1 also lamented the fact that he was unable to put Djokovic in any sort of uncomfortable position for the majority of the one-sided contest.
"He didn't give me a break and I didn't make it difficult for him. I didn't push him back. He was playing very comfortably, in easy positions for him and against a player like Novak I am not able to push him back and I am not able to defend like I did years ago, because you lose like you have lost," Nadal added.
Nadal's Paris Olympics run, though, is still set to continue in doubles alongside World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz. The Spanish duo is slated to play Dutchmen Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof in the men's doubles second round.