Spanish tennis maestro Rafael Nadal has said that he hopes to avoid any injury issues at the Indian Wells in a bid to remain fit for the claycourt season in his potentially final year on the ATP Tour. Nadal has won 14 out of his total 22 Grand Slams in the French Open, and he has suggested that the end of his playing career could be near given that he missed the Australian Open this year due to a surgically repaired hip.
"For me, the priority is to try to get out of Indian Wells unscathed. Whatever has to be left, leave it in the clay season, which may or may not be the last, I have not decided 100%. At the moment things are going that way," Nadal said in Spanish at a press conference ahead of the Netflix Slam event.
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"I'm not saying goodbye because then I'd say I'm not playing anymore. This is an important point and I don't want to say it because I'm not 100% clear about it. In the last two years, I haven't been able to play. Life is showing you the path," he further mentioned.
Nadal has won the Indian Wells championship thrice and he will be playing his first round fixture in the South California Desert. Earlier, he had said that he aims to play in the French Open and the Paris Olympics this year.
"How did I imagine my farewell? At first, I didn't imagine it because when you start to imagine something, it means that the closer you are to it," he said.
Nadal further said that retirning isn't something that he has had in his mind at the moment. He wishes he bid adieu to the sport well, by being both competitive on court as well as his enjoying his game, but he is not hinging any definite hopes on the same.
