Back at his best level, the Spaniard once again represents a menace for Roger Federer In Roland Garros. The player is as dangerous as ever, but the man has changed. Marked by life.
By Laurent Favre, L’Illustré (an online French magazine)
A dream for some, a nightmare for others, was the year 2008 but a dream for Roger Federer and Nadal? The men from Basel and Mallorca are taking part in the French Open and you can hear the first shots at Roland Garros as if nothing really happened since a year.
Federer is the title holder but Nadal is the indisputable tournament favorite, having won it four times consecutively. Just as usual, just like before. Having won the three main events in a row in preparation for the clay court (Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid), Rafael Nadal seems out of reach for a Roger Federer whose goal is to at least reach the semi-final and set a new record on top of the world ranking.
The best player in the world against the best player in Paris, the greatest player in the history of tennis against the greatest champion in the history of clay, just like old times. As nothing happened in a year then?
From the Madrid 2009 final, won by Federer against an injured Nadal, to the Madrid 2010 final, lost to a fresh Nadal with exactly one year in between. A year during which both men didn’t confront each other but only crossed paths in the elevator with Federer going up and Nadal going down.
But if we can learn one lesson from a tennis season, it is that we don’t erase a year in life just like that. The Rafael Nadal who presents himself at Porte d’Auteuil is no longer the same man. His body had to undergo changes, for starters. Worn-down prematurely, his knees begged for mercy. Diminished at Roland Garros, he withdrew in Wimbledon and he retired in the Australian Open quarter final. An ordeal for him. “It’s very hard for me to abandon. I don’t like it, not for the public, not for my opponent and not for me. I was distraught in the locker room, I have cried a bit.”
Nadal who, since his early infancy, fought for every ball as if his life depended on it, has learned to economize. “I train in a more relaxed way, with less intensity”, he admits. He’s also loosened up his schedule, by withdrawing from the Barcelona tournament where he insisted on taking part in it even though even Federer no longer goes to Gstaad since five years. Raging Bull, the puncher, has become Sitting Bull, the zen warrior.
In the shadow of doping
In 2009, Rafael Nadal also discovered unpopularity. At Roland Garros, the very changeable Parisian public takes up support for Robin Söderling. Eliminated, the Catalan gets an ovation but that doesn’t stop everybody in the stadium from wishing his defeat. His uncle Toni Nadal is furious. Rafa tries to understand it. “I imagine that they wanted to see somebody else win it…But it made me sad. This is the most important tournament of my career and it’s not pleasant to feel that the public wants to see me defeated.”
What is also not pleasant is being the target of doping suspicions. In France, Guy Forget and Fabrice Santoro do not hesitate to target the Spaniard with thinly veiled attacks.
L’Illustré will echo this. Our question “what if Nadal is doping?” lands in the hands of the Nadal clan. Once again, Toni is mad with anger, once again the gentle disappointment of Rafa: “I can understand that people don’t like me but this…this is terrible…”
What makes matters worse is that his private life is not going smoothly. When he returns home after being defeated in Paris, Nadal finds his home in ruins. “My mother wasn’t well, my father wasn’t doing well either…” His parents are in the middle of a divorce. A shock for this young man who is very much family oriented, who adores eating with many around the table, who loves to have a big entourage around him during the big tournaments. Well, that’s life. Life, but also death. At the funeral of Juan Antonio Samaranch, last month, the Olympic champion in Beijing was one of the pallbearers of the former president of the IOC.
Metamorphosis
All this happened to Rafael Nadal in the last twelve months. He swallowed and digested it and he came out of it more mature, more concentrated and more detached at the same time. His metamorphosis is reflected in his new look. Gone is the pirate style, the three quarter pants that emphasized his thighs and the sleeveless shirt that showed off his biceps. The sleeves are longer, the shorts shorter. He’s no longer a kid who fights on court. Rafa la Rafale is a young man who will soon celebrate his 24th birthday during the tournament (June 3). From now on, a luxury watch adorns his wrist. Nadal has left the Spanish watch maker Time Force for Richard Mille and his RM027 Tourbillon, presented as the lightest luxury watch in the world (20 gr). There are only 50 in existence, each sold for half a million francs. The contract and its value have been a big talking point but not as much as the clip, very olé olé, the Spaniard made with Shakira. The Columbian singer and the tennis player appear almost nude in rather provocative situations. Nothing more was needed to heat up the Internet. The two stars, who also dined together in a restaurant in Barcelona, are said to be nothing more than “good friends” is the official message.
The truth is that Nadal never ceases to surprise us. We wanted to nail him to the baseline of the glamorous court, we wanted to present him as the cro-magnon versus Federer, the renaissance prince. But of course, this is too simple, too simplistic. Do you know that his grandfather was the conductor of an orchestra?
Polite and well brought up
Do we actually know him well? “He’s like the rest of the family, generous and very sensible.” The man who’s talking about Rafa is from Lausanne. Former international umpire, Milan Sterba has known a very young Nadal. He has always followed him and he has loved him from the start. “I love his kindness and his politeness. He’s a very well brought up young man. He has never smashed a racket ». With that last line, he aims at Roger Federer. Milan Sterba belongs to one of the few Roman Swiss who prefer Nadal to Federer and sometimes, he writes to us in defence of his favorite. “When Roger cried in Australia (editor: 2009 final), Rafa took him by the shoulder and consoled him. But when Federer won Roland Garros, regained his number one spot in Wimbledon where Rafa had to withdraw, there was not a word for his rival.” Milan Sterba plans to go and support Nadal in Paris. The Spaniard could well use a bit of support in the crowd but not necessarily consolement at the end of these two weeks…
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