RAFAELNADALATAGLANCE
Born in Manacor, Mallorca in 1986 Coached by his uncle Toni from early childhood Beat World No 1 Roger Federer at the Miami Masters when he was 18 Became the youngest player to chalk up a singles victory in the Davis Cup
Wimbledon history
Is very closely supported by his family
On court, he is a hero. At home, he is an ordinary man, who needs his world to be a particular way. He relies heavily on his family and worries about his sister
Yet, with all of this intensity on the court, Rafael is
believe, but he doesn’t like the dark, preferring to sleep with the lights on, and he is deeply reliant on his family. His mother describes his driving as ”cautious,” while his sister calls it ”terrible” because he is so nervous. He is also afraid of animals. As a child his friends had to lock their dogs away before he would visit them. On tour in South Africa, when others went to see and handle tame lion cubs, he would not go. He doesn’t, he says, ”trust the motives” of animals. Nadal’s is a tightly controlled and extreme world.
It is this attitude that Rafael has brought to the game as
an adult. Combined with his capacity for endurance, it is an unstoppable mixture. Rafael says of himself that, unlike Federer, who appears to be
a ”natural” on the court, he has had to work at everything he does. much he had to have an injection in the sole to anaesthetise it. championship. Rather than withdraw, he played on, and took the title.
foot, no doubt exacerbated by all the hard work he put into tennis as a child. He has a weakness in the staphoid tarsal bone that sits directly over the arch, causing him excruciating pain. At the age of 19, when the weakness came to light and nearly crippled him, he was faced with having to give up tennis after one of the world’s leading experts on the condition told him he would never be able to play again. It was perhaps his darkest time. Then, since he was already sponsored by Nike, Rafael
approached them to design an inner sole to his shoe that would problems with other muscles and tendons as the weight in his foot was subtly shifted, but he began to play again. He admits now that he ”plays through the pain” every day. The change to the sole of his trainers is what he describes as a ”work in progress”. Because of this, there is a sense of urgency in Rafael’s play. He
his mind is the idea that the shot he is now playing may be his last. Of course, all athletes have this, but it has been hammered home to a greater extent to Rafael than to many others, making him aware that every day and every minute of every game must count in the most intense of ways.
On court, he is a hero. At home, he is an ordinary man, who needs his world to be a very particular way. He relies heavily on his extended family and worries about his sister to a level bordering on neurosis, calling her two or three times a day when he is away on tour. There will come a day when Nadal is no longer playing tennis at a world class level. Perhaps then it will be time for him to relax and learn a little more about the other things in his life that his tight, controlled view of the world has not yet allowed him. Yet perhaps his achievements have been so great so far precisely because of that very need for control. b
THIS PAGE
Rafael's girlfriend, Maria, attends a match between Djokovic and Nadal
WWW.THEBESTYOUMAGAZINE.CO | 11
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72