Nadal: "King Juan Carlos may have been wrong, but we must remember what he has done for Spain"

• Interview. Interview with Rafa Nadal: "I have been locked up for 20 days, sad, without being oblivious to the problems of the pandemic"

The Spanish tennis player

has assured that

may have been "wrong" in some of his actions, but that "

", in addition to recognizing that the 'tics' that he has during matches help him "order" his head and silence "the internal voices", and he has appealed to "resist" and "fight" for things more important than tennis during the coronavirus pandemic.

"He may have been wrong, but we must always remember what he has done for Spain," he declared in an interview with the Italian newspaper

, in which he did not want to reveal whether he considers himself more on the left or on the right.

"

" he joked.

In an extensive talk, the Balearic also explained why he

, when he could reside in another country and pay less taxes.

"I am Spanish, and I am happy to be so. Of course,

. But I was lucky enough to be born in a country with many virtues, which gave me a good life," he said.

"I feel deeply Manacor, Mallorcan, Spanish and European. And I feel four times lucky," he added.

Nor did he evade the question of

.

"I do not know, and I do not wonder.

, to help those who need it. I believe in good people. And if God exists, it will be wonderful," he said.

"THE 'TICS' ARE A WAY OF CONCENTRATING ME"

In another vein, Nadal was still surprised to have won his

this year

.

"I don't know either. If it happened to me, it could happen to someone else. I am a normal person, with my uncertainties and my fears," he said, although defeat is not among them.

"Fear of losing, never. But

. I think about it every day, against any rival, and this helps me a lot," he said.

It is also clear to him that

.

"Cultivating enemies tires me. I have never allowed myself to intimidate an opponent," he warned, explaining why he has never destroyed a racket.

"As a child they taught me that this is not done. I am the one who is wrong, not the racket," he recalled.

In addition, the Balearic tennis player revealed the importance of his 'tics' during matches.

"

. I am not even a slave to routine: my life is constantly changing, and competing is very different from training. What people call 'tics' are a way of putting my head in order, I am very disorderly. They are the way to concentrate and silence the internal voices, so as not to hear the voice that tells me that I am going to lose, or that, more dangerously, tells me that I am going to win ", he pointed.

Nadal clarified that he will know how to listen to his body when the withdrawal approaches.

"Tennis is a sport of the mind, it is not mathematics. When the time comes, I will know it," he said.

"

. Our Foundation helps children at risk of social exclusion: it provides food, education, sports ... Then we have the 'More than tennis' project, twenty schools in Spain for children with disabilities. And we work in India to teach English and computers to children, "he said about what he will do when he stops competing.

"WE MUST PREPARE TO RESIST"

Nadal also had words of praise for one of his great adversaries, the Swiss

.

"He is one of the great men in the history of sports," he said.

"He was my great rival, and this has benefited us both, and also a little tennis. In some things we are alike: we care about tranquility, about the family.

We have different characters, cultures and ways of life, "he declared, assured that he was" not "offended by the imitations of the Serbian

.

On the other hand, the manacorí confessed that the crisis he suffered in 2009 coincided with the

, and remembered another hard moment in his early days.

"At 19, I had just won the first Roland Garros and

due to a malformation in my left foot," he revealed.

"The pain was so great that I trained by hitting the ball sitting on a chair in the middle of the field. Then I recovered, thanks to a template that changed the position of the foot, but my knees became swollen," he continued.

However, he was able to overcome it "with a positive mindset, transforming the fragility of the body into mental strength."

"Sooner or later, things will fit together. We must prepare to resist, because there is no other solution than to resist," he said.

He also confessed that he

" after the defeat in the

final

to Roger Federer.

"Sometimes the disappointment is terrible, even if it's just a tennis match. I cried in pain when, in the Australian Open final with Wawrinka in 2014, I injured my back after winning the first set. I lost but completed the match. because you don't withdraw from a 'Grand Slam' final, "he said.

On the

, Nadal was especially concerned for his family.

"I'm still quite young, the physicist continues to respond to me. However,

, my family, my community. It is the most difficult moment of our life. That is why It is time to fight for things much more important than a tennis match. We must cultivate confidence, "he said.

For this reason, he encourages people to overcome the crisis "with respect".

"Towards ourselves, towards our loved ones, towards others. And with responsibility and logic.

. The blow to the economy was very severe. We need to find the balance between health and work, between health and social protection. Safety is paramount, but so are freedom and dignity, "he said, before acknowledging that tennis without an audience is" sad. "

"The colors, the screams, the passion are missing," he concluded.

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Know more

• Rafael Nadal

• Spain

• Novak Djokovic

• sports

• tennis

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