Body, mind, spirit and sociability in harmony, is what makes Rafael Nadal great, great. Twice big, on and off the tennis court. His latest feat, reaching victory at the 14th Roland Garros tournament in Paris, has increased my admiration, and that of many, both in his tennis facet and in his human and civic aspect.
The world has bowed down to the greatest tennis player of all time, Rafa Nadal, with 22 Grand Slam titles to his credit. A dazzling sports record that has not been achieved only with technique, skill and strength. Nadal is a thinker, a philosopher, who moves and moves with his humility, courage in the face of adversity, capacity for suffering, mental strength, knowing how to win and knowing how to lose. That is what makes him great in the game of the track and outside of it in the sociable.
When he won the first major tournament in 2005, he already had a great tennis career, but nobody could imagine that he would get to where he has come, despite the fact that his long career has been marked by an injury that he has been suffering in private.
Nadal’s words explaining how he had to compete in this Roland Garros tournament magnify his legend: “I played without feeling my foot, my foot was completely asleep, it was the only way I could play… I played with an infiltration in the foot nerve. In the next Wimbledon tournament he will undergo another treatment: «If it works I will continue playing, if not, it will be another story… Life is more important than another title. My career has been my priority all my life, but it is not above my happiness. If I’m still happy, I’ll continue, if not, I’ll do something else, “said Rafael Nadal. A philosophy of life that puts the value of happiness at the highest.
The wear and tear, both physical and emotional, that the injury entails does not seem to compensate the champion, although he, with the nobility that characterizes him, states: «I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I will continue fighting to keep trying»
In finals matches, and especially in the big tournaments, the interest of the public is focused more on the possible winner than on the game that is made. For the player who is on the court, the rival in front of him and the tactic to follow is anxiety. At Roland Garros 2022, Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic in a tough duel, then saw how Zverev had to withdraw due to a significant injury. Against the first, we saw an aggressive Nadal, looking for the winning point with his down the line drive. The tactic against the Norwegian Casper Ruud was very different, more conservative, charging the game on the opponent’s backhand, looking for and causing the other’s mistake. He had before him the clay specialist who had won the most wins on clay this year. The tactic worked out for Nadal, proof of this is that he scored the last 11 games of the match consecutively. Both players, Nadal and Ruud, knew each other perfectly, although they had never faced each other, but the Scandinavian has been trained at the Rafa Nadal Academy (in Mallorca), and this is his idol.
The already recognized as the best tennis player in history won the final in 2005 in his first participation at Roland Garros, at the age of 19. In 2006 he had his first duel with Roger Federer. In 2007 he beat Djokovic in the semi-finals and Federer in the final. The victories on the Parisian track kept happening until in 2022 Nadal made history again by winning his 14th Roland Garros title, the Musketeers Cup, against Casper Ruud, 23 years old and eighth in the international ranking of the world tennis. Thus adding the 22nd Grand Slam of his sports career and which places him as the most successful tennis player of all time, for the achievements in first category championships, with two more than Federer and Djokovic.
Rafael Nadal has marked an era in Spanish and world sport. He has done it despite the prolonged ordeal due to numerous physical problems and suffering 22 injuries in 19 years of sports career that have weighed down his effort and suffering on the track. Since adolescence he has had a chronic problem, derived from the disease known as Müller Weiss syndrome, a deformation of the scaphoid bone of the foot that causes severe pain.
Talking about great athletes is talking about money, a lot of money. Roland Garros is one of the first-class tennis tournaments with the most money available for international tennis players who participate in clay court circuits. For the fact of having won Roland Garros 2022, Rafael Nadal takes 2,200,000 million euros as a monetary prize of recognition for his worth. In addition to adding 2,000 points in the ranking of the best tennis players, which allows him to go from the fifth position in which he was to the third position.
But Rafa Nadal is interested in the bottom of his heart and his humanity, more than the economic aspects. When he was 15 years old he beat the Australian Pat Cash and at 16, in 2003 in Hamburg against Carlos Moya, who was his idol, former number 1 in the world in 1999. At the end of the match, dead of shame, I whispered “I’m sorry ”, later, in the locker room, Nadal burst into tears, confessing to his uncle Toni Nadal “Uncle, I’m sorry I beat him” Rafa’s nobility and greatness.
The scriptwriter of the meteoric career of the greatest tennis player of all time is Rafael Nadal himself. The legend of him begins to take dyes of singularity. Since he began to win 21 years ago, he has beaten his teachers, his contemporaries and now, at 36 years old, towards the end of time, he beats the teachers of the future, sports sons own of him.
“But this is not about being the best in history or records,” the tennis player clarifies. “I play because I like to play tennis. What motivates me to continue is not the competition to see who is the best, but the passion for the game, having moments that will be with me forever” That is the great Nadal, uplifting, an example to follow.
I leave you with Nach en Grande
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcO3QStdJ2g
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© Francisco Aguadero Fernandez, June 10,
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