MADRID.- The Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal believes that Saudi Arabia It is “a country with great potential” and he rejected that his appointment as ambassador of the tennis federation of this country is part of image-washing operations.
“I don’t think that Arabia needs me to wash any image, it is a country that has opened up to the world and it is a country with great potential,” said the tennis player in an interview with La Sexta television that is broadcast on the this Wednesday night.
“So it is logical that the world is going there and the feeling is that everything is bought with money and now Rafa has also sold himself with money,” Nadal added, although he said he understood why people might think like that.
On January 15, the winner of 22 Grand Slams was appointed ambassador of the Saudi Tennis Federation (STF).
“I continue playing tennis because I love that sport. But beyond the game I want to help (tennis) develop around the world, and there is real potential in Saudi Arabia,” the Mallorcan had stated, quoted in a statement from the STF. .
“There are things that today have to be improved, without a doubt, that it is a country that is very behind in many things, which is why the nation has recently opened up,” Nadal admitted to the La Sexta program El Objective.
For Nadal, time will tell:
“If the country does not achieve the evolution that I believe it has to follow in the next 10, 15 years, I will tell you that I was completely wrong,” added the 37-year-old Spanish tennis player.
“I believe that I will have the freedom to be able to work with the values that I believe I have to work on and that they are correct, if later that does not happen, then in the next interview, in a while, I will tell you that I made a mistake and I was wrong,” said Nadal.
After a brief comeback in Brisbane after almost a year without playing due to injury, Nadal, who suffered a muscle problem before the Australian Open, is now looking ahead to the tournaments in Doha and Indian Wells.
Their goal is to arrive in the best possible conditions for the dirt season.
Source: AFP
