Asked about the rash of injuries, Nadal makes no bones about it: "Players want to make money"

With his first match in Rome scheduled for Thursday, against Zizou Bergs, the Majorcan spoke about the succession of withdrawals, retirements and injuries since Madrid (Sinner, Alcaraz, Medvedev, Lehecka, Berrettini...). In a surprisingly frank tone, 'Rafa' explained that there was, in his opinion, nothing very surprising in seeing so many great players injured: "Injuries have always existed, that's the truth. [...] If we want to know why we get injured, it's very simple: when you push your body to the limit, you get injured. When you play faster and faster, you get injured. When you play most of the year on concrete and harder surfaces with your body, you get injured."

Continuing his explanation, the Manacor bull also highlighted the undeniable impact of money, an element inseparable from any tennis career: "Another world then comes into play, that of tournaments, business, the sport itself. At the end of the day, players want to make money, tournaments want to make money, that's the cycle and we have to accept it. There's no need to talk to me about injuries, I've missed a lot of very important tournaments in my career because of injuries. We can't complain about it. We have to accept it. You have to recover well. They're young, they're going to have plenty of chances to win in Rome, so there's no drama. The tournament will survive even if Jannik and Carlos are very important for all events, especially in Italy, where Jannik represents his country."

At 37 years of age, the Spaniard explains the reality of top-level sport with a great deal of maturity: money and injuries are undeniably part of the equation.