‘An important part of my life is leaving too,’ says emotional Rafael Nadal as he and wife Kimyla describe their time in Spain’s capital. ‘It’s always something you’ve dreamed about. There’s always something you want to do but it’s not always possible.’
The year is 2018 when Nadal finally gets to move his entire family to Spain – including his two children – for what will be a year he believes will be the best. Nadal’s wife Kimyla and their two children have travelled to Valencia on the advice of their son, who says he doesn’t want them to go alone because he fears they won’t be able to cope without him. Nadal was forced to return to the US due to a wrist injury and he’s since made up his mind to make the move to Spain. He said: ‘I hope the whole family can get along in Madrid. In the morning that’s what I said but they are like, “Are you crazy? We can’t afford for your family to stay by yourself,” so that’s not going to happen. ‘I think they get a lot by having to do something that they normally wouldn’t have to do by themselves and they can really feel the country.’ He was speaking at the launch of the ATP World Tour Finals in Tenerife. Nadal’s hopes of winning a title for the first time in his career have been boosted following his first round victory over Juan Monaco of Spain on Tuesday. He has qualified for an ATP World Tour Finals event for the first time in his career, and in a bid to stay in touch with his roots is trying to help the Spanish government fund a tennis academy. But the Spaniard was also speaking emotionally, about the time in Spain and how some of his family – his mum, step-mother and two sisters – weren’t able to come to the city because of his choice to live in the US. Nadal said: ‘You have to be like, “Alright, we are going to be here. Be strong now. Have faith and believe in yourself. It’s going to work out. You can do it. Don’t worry about it. It is going to work out,”‘ Nadal says he made a very difficult decision to move to Spain