Rafael Nadal stated in an interview nearly five years ago that his family would never have allowed him to break a racket on the court. Reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz was forced to apologize after destroying his racket during his surprise second-round loss at the Cincinnati Masters to Gael Monfils on Friday.
Nadal has participated in 30 Grand Slam finals during his illustrious career and won 22 of them.
But the Spaniard always remained calm on the pitch and did not let his emotions run wild, even in moments of extreme tension.
Nadal was asked in a 2019 interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes how many rackets he had broken, and he signaled the answer by making a zero with his finger and thumb while a beaming smile appeared on his face.
He then explained: “My family would not have allowed me to break a racket. Breaking a racket for me means that I do not have control over my emotions.”
Nadal’s reluctance to show his anger means he may want to offer some advice to his doubles partner at the Paris Olympics, Alcaraz.
The four-time Grand Slam winner destroyed his racket in a rare fit of anger after failing to convert a break point in the third set against Monfils. During his outburst, he slammed his racket on the ground several times and was subsequently charged by the umpire with a rule violation.
Alcaraz, who had won the first set, was ultimately unable to prevail and his opponent won the match 4:6, 7:6, 6:4.
And after the game he explained: “Sometimes I felt like I wanted to break the racket. That had never happened to me before because I was able to control myself in such situations, with such feelings.”
“Most of the time I was able to control myself and things went better in the games or in the situation than I had felt before.
“Today I couldn’t control myself because, as I said, I felt like I wasn’t playing tennis at all. I think some players, many players, can’t control themselves at certain moments during their careers and this was one of those moments for me.”
On Saturday he posted on Instagram: “I would like to apologize for my attitude yesterday, it was not good and something like that should not happen on the pitch. I am only human, the nerves have built up and sometimes it is very difficult to keep this tension under control. I will work to ensure that this does not happen again.”