Happy Birthday Rafa! Nadal celebrates his 34th birthday
Tennis star Rafael Nadal turns 34 today. To celebrate the day, let’s take a closer look at the Spaniard’s impressive career full of titles and records.
03.06.2020
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Usually, Sand King Rafael Nadal flies over the squares in Roland Garros on his birthday and cannot be stopped by anything – with a few exceptions.
While Rafael Nadal is normally playing his favorite tournament in Paris these days, the corona pandemic is lull this early summer. The French Open should not be rescheduled until September, and no other competitions will take place until August. And so the Spaniard should find an unusual amount of time today on Wednesday to celebrate his 34th birthday.
In any case, it should be much quieter than on the day of his 20th birthday. At that time, the Spaniard, who had already triumphed a year earlier when he took part in the French Open for the first time, met the locals Paul-Henri Mathieu as defending champions. For once, the undisputed Sand King is struggling in his living room.
Because Mathieu has a very good day, snatches the first sentence away from the favorite and then moves at eye level with the favorite. It is difficult for Nadal to equalize in the second set before he can turn the games and take the lead in the third set with a break. But on this day it wasn’t just his opponent that made life difficult for him.
A break from treatment for a banana
When Nadal serves to win the third sentence, the Spaniard turns from nowhere to the chair umpire and asks for a doctor. He tries to gesticulate to his trainer and uncle, Toni Nadal, what is going on. But neither the opponent nor the audience suspect what or where the problem is. No wonder, the cause of Nadal’s injury break is very unusual.
The trigger is a banana that Nadal consumes the previous time he switched sides. A little bit seems to have gotten stuck in his windpipe. “I didn’t want to stop because I was worried that it might look bad and people think I’m doing it on purpose,” said Nadal afterwards.
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“But after a while it started to bother me. I got nervous and scared. It was a strange feeling. » Ultimately, he decides to take a break from treatment – before the problem takes on serious proportions. The birthday child can not be confused by the time out, or at least not as an opponent Mathieu. He confidently serves the third set home and wins the contested game a little later with 5: 7, 6: 4, 6: 4 and 6: 4. The celebration is saved.
After that, the Spaniard is unstoppable, in the final he also brings Roger Federer to his knees and wins his second French Open title in a row. As is well known, this is just the beginning. Today, the 34-year-old has 12 French Open titles, with 15 appearances he only loses three games: in 2009 he is sensationally eliminated by Robin Söderling, in 2015 he is defeated by Novak Djokovic and in 2016 he has to pass injured in the third round. The bull from Manacor never has to be stopped by a banana.
Had to overcome unorthodox problems at the French Open 2006: Rafael Nadal.
