Spanish ‘Person of the Year’ Rafael Nadal uncertain over tennis future

Rafael Nadal, who was honored in Madrid on Monday as Person of the Year by the Spanish edition of Vanity Fair, has said he isn't sure how long he would continue playing professional tennis after missing out on the London Games and the US Open with a knee injury.

The injured 26-year-old began the summer on a high note by capturing a record seventh French Open title with a victory over then-world No.1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the final.

However, the No.4 ranked Nadal has not played since his shocking second-round loss at Wimbledon.

Nadal said in an interview published on Monday that he was not sure how long he would keep playing tennis and that he was enjoying one of the best seasons of his career until the knee injury.

"I don't know how long I will keep playing tennis. I'll be 31 in five years and taking into account the fact that I started at 16 - - Perhaps stopping now will help extend my career a little bit more," the Herald Sun quoted Nadal, as saying in the interview.

"Until I had the problems with the knee again, the final at Roland Garros, had been one of the best seasons of my life. I felt able to win any competition. Complicated times came later," he added.

"Success is not the victory, it's what you've done to win. The knowledge that you've done everything in your power to achieve what you wanted. That feeling makes me very happy. This year I lost the final in Australia and I didn't like it, but I was happy in some ways. It was a success to have lost like that," he said.

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