W
ith his famous chiselled features and his
mop of dark hair, Rafael Nadal is every inch the 21st Century photogenic sporting hero. His intensity before matches is legendary, and on the court he maintains an extraordinary focus on winning.
Describing his mental state during his 2008 Wimbledon win, Nadal says:
”What I battle hardest to do in a tennis match is to quiet the voices in my head, to shut everyting out of my mind but the contest itself, and concentrate every atom of my being on the point I am playing.”
About Wimbledon, he says
”the cathedral hush of Centre Court is good for my game.” And just as if he really is in
a cathedral, Nadal is a man of rituals. Before matches, he runs routines” that awaken the world-class sportsman in his soul.
If he is about to play after lunch, he eats the same pasta dish – ”no sauce, nothing that could possibly cause indigestion – with olive oil and salt, and straight, simple piece Then, an hour before
play, he goes deeper into the routine. ”I stop being the ordinary me when a game is on. I try and become a tennis machine, even if the task is ultimately impossible. I am not a robot.”
He bottles up all his normal
feelings. Doubts, hopes, He begins to think only in the moment. match, Nadal takes an ice cold shower. ”Under the shower, I enter a new space in which I feel my power and resilience activated,” he says, talking moment in which a sportsman
MAIN PICTURE
Rafael Nadal poses for a Nike campaign
ABOVE
Nadal puts in a lot of energy on the court
no longer thinks about his game, but enters a trance-like state of heightened consciousness. The rituals continue. Be they receiving a massage, putting in his hair band with a kind of automated absence, or having his hand strapped to prevent the skin tearing when he takes the powerful shots he is famed for. He talks of it with extraordinary precision. And though he claims not to be a ”tennis machine”, this ritual of focus certainly seems to take away the ordinary Nadal from the equation. Nadal on the court is intimidating, fast, strong and
powerful. Standing at 1.85 metres (6 feet 1 inch) tall, he exudes invulnerability – perhaps even arrogance.
Cautious, even neurotic and vulnerable, Nadal’s rise to fame is not one of the all-conquering individual rising to world dominance driven solely by his sporting genius. While individual brilliance is an element of his success, his life
and his personality tell a far more complex story, revealing how much he is the product of a tight-knit family and community. Born in 1986, Nadal grew up in Mancora on the Spanish island
He started to play tennis at the age of four, when he saw his uncle Toni Nadal, a former tennis player, teaching a group of boys and decided to join in.
of Mallorca. He remembers his childhood days fondly. ”It was a fairytale childhood,” he says, recalling how he used to spend time with his grandparents and other adults, staying out till late as a boy. He loved football best of all. Playing on the streets with the
other boys was a delight for him, and he played whenever he could, loving the team ethos.
He started to play tennis at the age of four, when he saw his
uncle Toni Nadal, a former professional tennis player, teaching a group of boys and decided to join in. Described as a ”severe man from another era” by some who have met him, Toni saw Rafael’s talent and decided he had the potential to be a superstar. Rafael’s father, Sebastian, operated a glass manufacturer selling
trinkets for the growing tourist trade in Mallorca. He arranged for Toni to look after Rafael’s coaching in return for a partnership in the business, and the coaching started in earnest. ”Toni was tough on me right from the start, tougher than the
other children,” Rafael remembers. He used ”rough language” wandered. Toni made him clear up the balls from the court and sweep it after the sessions, something none of the other boys had to do. Little Rafael would sometimes come home from training
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