Rafael Nadal talks about retirement fears and the ability to have a 'winning feeling' going into the season

Rafael Nadal revealed that he has no fear when it comes to retirement and made it clear that he does not think that far ahead.

The Spaniard, who is 31-years-old at the moment, is keen to enjoy the present rather than speculate if he will be playing in five years' time.

Nadal is coming off of a phenomenal 2017 season where he picked up six titles including two Grand Slams – the French Open and the US Open – and ended the year as the world number one for the fourth time in his career. The Spaniard battled with his long-time rival Roger Federer throughout the campaign with the 36-year-old finishing just over 1000-points behind as the number two ranked player in men's tennis.

The 16-time men's singles Grand Slam champion has been backed to add more majors to his kitty and challenge the Swiss ace's record of 19 major titles.

Questions were raised about his future in the game after the Spaniard struggled with injury once again in 2016. He won just two titles and ended his season early owing to a wrist injury. Nadal silenced his critics with a dominant performance in 2017 and revealed that he is keen to enjoy the present rather than speculate about his participation when he is 37.

"If you ask me if I see myself playing at 37, I would say no, we will enjoy these moments that we know are finite, when the time comes to say goodbye, it will come in. I have no fear," Nadal told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser.

Nadal dominated the clay court season winning in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid and Roland Garros. Despite the hard courts not being his favourite, he won the US Open, made it to the finals at the Australian Open and the Shanghai Masters.

The Spaniard admitted that more than winning titles, he takes more joy in being competitive on a consistent basis. After the first few months of the 2017 campaign, he was installed as one of the favourites to end the year as the world number one along with Federer. The Spaniard delivered with consistent performances throughout the season.

"That's the priority, then you win or lose, but the best thing is that practically every week that I've been in tournaments I've felt with the feeling of being able to win," the ten time French Open champion added.