"Training without the goal of getting better makes no sense" says Rafael Nadal during presentation in Madrid

The Spaniard saw his 2021 campaign derailed by a flare-up of his chronic foot injury dating back to 2005. In order to find a lasting solution Nadal elected to call time on 2021 season in order to better prepare for the 2022 season which might be a pivotal one for Nadal. During that time, Nadal visited Madrid in order to speak at the enlightED conference in Madrid.

His presentation was that of training and achieving goals and some of the things Nadal said will be presented in this article. He started off by saying:

“There’s no greater personal satisfaction than going home knowing that you’ve done everything possible to achieve your goals. With effort, dedication and humility you always achieve something, which is to make progress toward your objectives."

Nadal has always been known as a hard worker and his quote as a teenager of going back to practice after winning an event remains a fan favourite among tennis fans. Nadal also highlighted the importance of striving to improve:

"Mentally, that really helps you to be alert and active. I don’t understand life any other way. Working and training for the sake of training, without any goal to get better … makes no sense. It’s boring.”

Finally, Nadal underlined the importance of surrounding yourself with great people and that is something everyone should adopt in every aspect of their life. He said:

“If you surround yourself with great people, it will be much easier to succeed. The best decision I have made in my career is to have people by my side who tell me things as they are, without thinking too much about how or when they should tell me.”