Rafael Nadal showed up in the Wimbledon boardroom this Saturday before the start of the tournament (June 27-July 10) and sent a message of optimism. His left foot, he says, is fine and his feelings during the adaptation process are also positive, so he hopes to land at the start on Tuesday against Argentinian Francisco Cerúndolo in optimal conditions.

“I’m enjoying playing on grass three years later,” said the Mallorcan, who last set foot on grass at La Catedral in 2019, when he lost in the semi-finals to Switzerland’s Roger Federer. “And if I’m here, it’s because things are going well; otherwise, it wouldn’t. I’m happy”, continued the winner of 22 major tournaments, who this season conquered both majors played so far (Australian Open and Roland Garros) and who has lost only three matches.

In any case, the landing of grass requires a plus, both because of the codes that govern the game and the nature of the surface itself, as well as the limited margin that there is in the transition to the green.

“I’m not sure how I got there, because in the end it’s hard to predict. This is probably the tournament where it is the most difficult to make a personal prediction. It’s a difficult surface where you have to spend days on it, and it’s true that in the last three years I haven’t played anything on grass. This makes things a bit more complicated because ultimately memory is important; It’s not just the present moment. When you have a more recent memory on the surface, the adaptation is easier”, declared Nadal, absent during the last two editions; Two seasons ago due to the pandemic – the tournament was canceled – and last year due to chronic foot pain.

“Finally, after three years you forget depending on the kind of thing, what works and what doesn’t, with whom you have to rediscover it”, declared the 2008 and 2010 champion; “I think as far as possible it’s been a logical week, with better and worse times, but clearly with an upline. I’ve trained enough. For example, yesterday morning I had a disaster at training; I woke up with tired eyes, even though I ran well in the afternoon at Hurlingham”.

No “terrible” days

On Wednesday, the 36-year-old Spaniard beat Stanislas Wawrinka with ease (6-2 and 6-3) in the first engagement of the exhibition organized by the club Fulham, and on Friday he lost to Canadian Felix Auger -Aliassime (7-6(6), 4-6 and 1-0(3). However, Nadal considers that if there are no unexpected setbacks and his foot respects him, he can attack the tall Briton with guarantees.

“I can walk normally every day, when I wake up I no longer have the pain I had for a year and a half. In the last few weeks I haven’t had a single one of those days that hurts me terribly… In general I’m positive,” he said; “Today I had a good session training and the most important thing is that the bad times are getting shorter and shorter. It’s a surface in which you can’t chain bad times with your performance; It’s important that you can manage the rest, but not with your service because it penalizes you a lot and with two bad games you can go out”.

And decided: “It’s a daily learning that gives you training and also competition. I was able to play two matches at Hurlingham which went rather well for me and I trained with demanding people. I hope to become competitive; afterwards, what may or may not happen will be seen on the track. Every day that can be won is an important day and I will fight for it”.

You can follow EL PAÍS Sports in Facebook Yes Twitteror sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.