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Rafael Nadal has announced that he will not be present at the ATP tournament in Doha, scheduled for the next few days.
The Spanish tennis player must thus postpone his come back to the court and, as the rumors of the last few hours confirmed, his goal is to return to the court for the ATP Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, scheduled for early March.
"I would have really liked to play in Doha where both the organizers and the Qatari fans have always been fantastic and gave me so much support. Unfortunately, however, I am not ready to compete and I will not be able to come to Doha where I really wanted to be and return to play after that unforgettable victory in 2014. I will focus on continuing to work to be ready for the next exhibition in Las Vegas and the Indian Wells tournament," explained Nadal in a statement released on social media.
In the meantime, the Spanish tennis player has opened up to several interesting words and considerations, which concern his family, his life after retiring from tennis and an interesting parallel with Serena Williams.
"If my son wants to play tennis, I will support him. But if he plays another sport, even better. I would prefer my son to play another sport. It pains me to say this with everything that tennis has given me," Nadal told MARCA.
"I want women to earn more than men if they generate more than men"
Regarding his post-retirement life, the Spaniard added, again as reported by MARCA: "Since I was 8 years old I have trained almost like a professional, it is normal for my body to have scars, but I hope that with the passage of time the body will readjust and I can have a healthy life. I have never been very afraid of injuries.
I am more worried about tomorrow. But when I retire, I want to have a normal life and I would like to be able to go and play football tomorrow with my my friends or with my son. I'm a sportsman. Not just a professional tennis player, I'm an athlete. I like playing sports, not just watching them."
Nadal, speaking about equal pay, used a parallel with US legend Serena Williams as an example, explaining why women should have the same opportunities as men.
"The prize money in tennis are practically the same. Because there was the possibility that women's tennis would be liked by the world. Women's tennis is liked by the world, they earn a lot of money.
If women world champions are popular, they fill the stadiums. The more they win, the better, I don't want to earn more than Serena Williams because I'm Rafa Nadal. I want women to earn more than men if they generate more than men," explained Rafa.