A frustrated Rafael Nadal has moved to squash retirement talk in the wake of his defeat to Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the United Cup to finish 2022.
The 36-year-old was beaten 3-6 6-3 6-4 by Norrie, who is almost a decade younger, in the United Cup at Sydney’s Olympic tennis centre.
Nadal took exception to a question over whether tennis was getting hard for him at his age, despite the fact he leads the all-time men’s grand slam winner’s list with 22 to his name heading into his Australian Open title defence in January.
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“No, I mean, when arrive the day that is go out on the court and say, that’s getting hard, is the day to say goodbye,” Nadal said.
“I don’t want to and I don’t need to keep playing for no one reason. The only reason that I make sense to keep playing if I really enjoy what I do, and I really feel it.
“If I don’t feel it, I mean, I did much more than what I ever dreamed.
“But either way for me, I lost my match, that’s it, no?”
“Every time that I am coming to a press conference it seems that I have to retire (smiling).
“So, you are very, very interested in my retirement. I mean, that’s, for the moment, is not the case.
“When this day arrives, I’m gonna let you know guys. Don’t keep going with the retirement (questions) because I’m going to keep playing tennis.”
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Norrie had never taken a set off Nadal in their previous meetings and knew he had to be at his best to beat the champion Spaniard.
“That was pretty crazy,” Norrie told Jim Courier courtside.
“I was thinking, just as you said, I’d never won a set before so I wanted to come out and firstly do that and I had to stay super patient.
“It was a super physical match. I really enjoyed it. It was huge to get through that one and finally beat him.
“He’s beaten me easy the last few times. So a great way to end the year for me and end 2022. It was a crazy atmosphere. Thank you guys. It was amazing.”
Norrie took a leaf out of Nadal’s book in his bid to end the Spaniard’s dominance over him.
“I had to match his energy,” Norrie said of Nadal.
“Especially this team event. I had the whole team behind me. Tim (Henman, team captain), he’s giving a lot of chat.
“I had a couple of friends in the crowd. Probably had a few too many beers here and there. They were loving it. They probably needed that. It was a pretty stressful match.
“I’ve had a really good off-season, played a lot of matches, and it’s been good for me.
“I felt like I was finding really good depth on my shots and really dictating the play and wasn’t really letting him do too much damage with his forehand.
“Tactically, I think it was a pretty good match and I served my way out of some trouble.”
