Rafael Nadal opens up about his fitness, his anxiety and his triumphs over his 2 decade career in the new Netflix documentary “Rafa”.
Each week I evaluate the big tennis stories for blog inspiration. The most prominent story last week, of course, was Alexander Zverev’s first Slam title at the French Open. It’s a notable event with angles to explore and depths to plumb. But I am going to do none of those things. I don’t care about angles and depths and I refuse to discuss the possibility of another “Big Three”. I just don’t want to. I don’t want to talk about Zverev or his success.
Don’t misunderstand me. There are plenty of things I’d like to say about him – but since articulating them have gotten other respected journalists sued, I’ve decided to keep Ricky and our publication from becoming embroiled in a German defamation case. So I’m going to ignore it. I’ll just say this. I take credible accusations of abuse seriously. Settling out of court tells me everything I need to know. Now with that out of the way…
Let’s talk about “Rafa”, the inspiring, emotional Netflix documentary. I followed Nadal’s entire career over what I am now convinced will be considered the golden age of tennis. I remember his first win over Roger Federer in Miami in 2004. My immediate thought was that he looked scary (not my finest moment, but that’s the honest truth). Obviously I was responding to his intensity. Knowing little about him except the few matches I’d seen earlier that season, I decided that he looked dangerous. And raw. A laughable and ridiculous take, given what we learned about his disposition.
Over the 20 years of his career, I had occasion to meet, speak and interact with Rafa many times. And I thought I understood him as an athlete. I was mistaken. I did not know, you see, how compromised his body was. Did I know he was frequently injured? Of course. Nobody who loves winning (and hates losing) as much as he does would miss as many tournaments as he did unless he was not able to compete.
What I didn’t know is how often he played while he was falling apart physically. He often spoke about the fact that great champions need to suffer. I thought I knew what he meant, but I was wrong about that too. He did not just suffer, he was dangerously close to torturing himself for the sake of competing.
In one notable moment of the documentary, he says matter-of-factly, “In my career, I’ve had to make decisions regarding my health where you are right on the edge of what’s right and what’s wrong. The line is thin, but if I hadn’t explored it, maybe I would have 10 fewer Grand Slams today. I’m not telling you one or two, I’m telling you maybe 12.”
Physical fitness is an important part of the GOAT discussion. Playing the “what if” game is an exercise in futility. It is to Djokovic’s credit that he only missed 3 majors in his career and he should be applauded for his life-long fitness. But Nadal missed 15 (!!) and he still managed to bag 22 Slam titles.
The tennis fan in me is grateful. What he sacrificed gave us probably 3 of the top 5 tennis matches of all time. I realize this is subjective, but Nadal being who and what he is, it’s not a coincidence that he features so prominently. I speak specifically of the Wimbledon 2008 final, the 2012 Australian Open final, and my personal pick for GOAT, the 2009 Australian Open semifinal against Fernando Verdasco. There are others, too. These just happen to be the first ones I think of.
But even as I’m grateful, I am full of sympathy for what he obviously felt compelled to do to himself. If you have not yet done so, make time to watch it. You won’t be disappointed.