{"id":32455,"date":"2025-03-12T04:02:36","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T04:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455"},"modified":"2025-03-12T04:02:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T04:02:43","slug":"i-started-to-cry-rafael-nadal-reveals-truth-behind-his-unforgettable-paris-olympics-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455","title":{"rendered":"“I started to cry” – Rafael Nadal reveals truth behind his unforgettable Paris Olympics act"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"Opening
Rafael Nadal at the Opening Ceremony – Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 0 – Source: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n

Rafael Nadal\u00a0recently unveiled getting heavily emotional owing to the opportunity that he received during the\u00a0Paris Olympics 2024. The former ATP pro mentioned how the moment that he shared alongside\u00a0Serena Williams\u00a0overwhelmed him, leading to tears flowing from his eyes.<\/p>\n

Rafael Nadal had the honor of carrying the Olympic torch at the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony. This symbolized his remarkable career and contributions to the world of sports. Nadal achieved Olympic success by winning a gold medal in singles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and another in doubles at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.<\/p>\n

Rafael Nadal recently reflected on the overflow of emotions he experienced at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. Minutes before boarding the glorious boat on the River Seine, the ATP star was overwhelmed. He made this admission during the recent conversation with former American pro\u00a0Andy Roddick\u00a0at the Served Podcast.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
Jessica Pegula explains why she would train $70M-worth Bills star quarterback Josh Allen in tennis<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI was nervous because I don’t know what’s going to be, but for me, when, because when we, when we see the image, I going up stairs, going to the stage to, to pick up the torch. So in that moment I had like two minutes of waiting there. So when I realized the moment, I started to cry a little bit before,” he said (23:45).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

He also mentioned getting hit with instant self-realisation at the moment. The 22-time Grand Slam champion explained that he convinced himself to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime experience.<\/p>\n

“When I start to cry, I say, shut up, man. Stop it. It’s not the moment to cry. It’s the moment to enjoy. So I say, boom, boom, try to not be too emotional. Just enjoy the moment. Let’s do the thing. And yeah, let’s, let’s have fun,” he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Following the opening ceremony, Nadal also participated in the event. Although he managed to surpass the opening challenge against M\u00e1rton Fucsovics, he couldn’t triumph over\u00a0Novak Djokovic\u00a0in his second matchup.<\/p>\n

\n

Rafael Nadal unveils his suitable surface while facing Novak Djokovic<\/h2>\n
\"Rafael
Rafael Nadal at the Next Gen ATP Finals Presented By PIF – Day 4 – Source: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rafael Nadal recently addressed the on-court rivalry between him and Novak Djokovic. The Spaniard talked about how surfaces played a key role during his showdowns against the Serb. Along with that, the ex-pro also picked one surface that he feels he was better at against Djokovic.<\/p>\n

In the aforementioned podcast with Andy Roddick, Nadal mentioned how grass courts gave him a slight edge over hard courts against the 24-time Grand Slam champion.<\/p>\n

“Of course my game adapts well naturally to the clay but I love playing on fast courts. It\u2019s true that I finished my winning with a couple of US Open titles, but my second best surface was grass. Honestly I prefer to play against Novak on grass than on hard courts,” he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While Nadal marked an end to his professional career, Novak Djokovic still continues to exist as a tough contender. However, the Serb currently appears to be derailed as his campaign at Indian Wells ended with a round of 64 defeat against Botic Van de Zandschulp.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
Was<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Rafael Nadal at the Opening Ceremony – Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 0 – Source: Getty Rafael Nadal\u00a0recently unveiled getting heavily emotional owing to the opportunity… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"\n"I started to cry" - Rafael Nadal reveals truth behind his unforgettable Paris Olympics act - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""I started to cry" - Rafael Nadal reveals truth behind his unforgettable Paris Olympics act - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Rafael Nadal at the Opening Ceremony – Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 0 – Source: Getty Rafael Nadal\u00a0recently unveiled getting heavily emotional owing to the opportunity...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-12T04:02:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-12T04:02:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2-56.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455\",\"name\":\"\\\"I started to cry\\\" - Rafael Nadal reveals truth behind his unforgettable Paris Olympics act - 24\/7 News America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2-56.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-12T04:02:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-12T04:02:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2-56.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2-56.jpg\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1350},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“I started to cry” – Rafael Nadal reveals truth behind his unforgettable Paris Olympics act\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"24\/7 News America\",\"description\":\"Breaking Stories, Real Insights"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"I started to cry\" - Rafael Nadal reveals truth behind his unforgettable Paris Olympics act - 24\/7 News America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"I started to cry\" - Rafael Nadal reveals truth behind his unforgettable Paris Olympics act - 24\/7 News America","og_description":"  Rafael Nadal at the Opening Ceremony – Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 0 – Source: Getty Rafael Nadal\u00a0recently unveiled getting heavily emotional owing to the opportunity...","og_url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455","og_site_name":"24\/7 News America","article_published_time":"2025-03-12T04:02:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-12T04:02:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1350,"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2-56.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455","name":"\"I started to cry\" - Rafael Nadal reveals truth behind his unforgettable Paris Olympics act - 24\/7 News America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2-56.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-12T04:02:36+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-12T04:02:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2-56.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2-56.jpg","width":1080,"height":1350},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32455#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“I started to cry” – Rafael Nadal reveals truth behind his unforgettable Paris Olympics act"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/","name":"24\/7 News America","description":"Breaking Stories, Real Insights"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32455"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32458,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32455\/revisions\/32458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}