Rafael Nadal spoke on Tuesday of his happiness with how he ended his 2015 season campaign, despite experiencing difficult losses and what he described as a "crisis of confidence".
"It is not right to feel unlucky. I feel very lucky about all the things that happened to me, I still got 14 Grand Slams and an Olympic gold, so I did much more than I ever dreamt," Nadal said.
What could have been
Nadal has had some tough injuries throughout his career, to say the least. One of the most notable was in his early years, when a foot injury almost ended his career before it got going in 2005. This problem was resolved by shoes especially designed to alleviate the pain in his feet.
However, this had the effect of putting the pressure on his knees and back, which have since caused him trouble. In 2012, he had a tendinitis enforced absence after his shock exit to Lukas Rosol in the second round of Wimbledon that took him seven months to recover from. In 2013, things looked better, as he had a magnificent comeback and won two Grand Slams – but again he was prevented from achieving more in 2014 when a back injury hampered him in the Australian Open final and a wrist injury stopped him from defending his title at the US Open.
Nadal himself noted how hard these set backs were for his career. "In 2012, I was playing great, I had a big chance of being number 1 in the world, but I got injured for seven months. In 2014 again, I was No 1 of the race, then I broke my wrist practising in Mallorca."
He also realises his disadvantage compared to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. "I have missed much more important tournaments in my career compared to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer because they didn’t miss nothing during their careers," Nadal said.
Back on track
Although he admits that his 2015 season has been hard on his mental state, something he had never experienced before, he feels that his ending to the season has set him up well for next year. The 29-year-old managed to overcome his on-court nerves after his loss to Fabio Fognini at the US Open, and made the finals of both Beijing and Basel. He also managed to win each of his three round robin matches at the ATP World Tour Finals, defeating Stanislas Wawrinka, David Ferrer and most impressively, Andy Murray. "This year I have been more worried about myself than the opponents for a lot of matches," said the Spaniard.
"Today, I feel free."
After failing to reach anything more than the quarter-finals of any of the four Grand Slams this year, Nadal will hope to improve his results and achieve something more than a title at ATP 500 level in 2016. He will officially begin his year at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha.