Shortly after his first opening-round defeat on Court-Philippe Chatrier, Rafael Nadal arrived at the press conference room in a jovial mood. After a career of dominance at Roland Garros, where he has so often been untouchable even against some of the sport's greatest players, he would have been forgiven for feeling a sense of injustice and frustration with a straight-sets defeat in the first round against Alexander Zverev. Instead, he felt progress. "I was not that far," Nadal said. "That's my feeling."
His demeanour further underlined what has been increasingly clear over the past few weeks. If this really is the end and retirement is imminent it will be because his body made the decision, not his mind. It seems clear that the player who turns 38 next week would love to further elongate his career and he is determined to do everything possible to try.
A month ago, Nadal returned to competition in Barcelona and Madrid still unsure about whether he would even make it to Roland Garros. He had good reason to doubt. After the countless physical issues he has endured, from hip surgery to complications and many unrelated injuries, his ambitions were low. He simply wanted to be sure his body could physically withstand the load of competing at the highest level across the best of five sets.
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