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“At this age I thought I’d be retired and be
having a family,” Nadal told Spanish sports newspaper Marca.
Nadal, who retained his world number one ranking following
Sunday's triumph in Paris, is also surprised that he and great
rival Roger Federer, 36, continue to dominate the men’s game.
The duo's careers seemed all but over after both were sidelined
with injuries in 2016 but in the last 18 months, all six majors
have been won by either Federer or Nadal.
When Federer beat Nadal in the 2017 Australian Open final, the
Swiss ended a five-year Grand Slam title drought. Nadal also
thought his glory days were over as he had drawn a blank at the
majors in 2015 and 2016.
“It’s surprising because in 2017 I had gone for two years
without winning a Grand Slam and I think he’d been without one
since 2012, too," added Nadal.
“Of course it’s a surprise because we’re getting on a bit and
when you’ve been such a long time without winning you don’t know
if you’ll ever do so again.”
Nadal’s victory on Sunday earned him a 17th slam, putting him
just three behind Federer's record haul of 20.
However, he insisted he is not putting any pressure on himself
to catch Federer.
“Obviously I’d like to have 20 titles like him – or more – but
that’s not in my head right now, and 17 is an incredible number.
I want to enjoy the moment.
"I can’t be thinking about the next win, that’d drive me crazy.
You can’t drive yourself crazy if someone has more titles.”
(Reporting by Joseph Cassinelli, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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