FEATURE:   

A Special Kind of Man

"Section and I was beside myself"

Nadal, Roland Garros champion after injuring both knees, reflects on his ability to overcome

Does Rafael Nadal, seven time Grand Slam Champion, five of Roland Garros, believe in destiny? Does the Number One tennis player in the world, the best tennis player on the planet, believe that everything in life is written and preordained, that free will is a drop of water in the sea? Is the Mallorcan lefty but a leaf in the wind, or while overcoming problems – now an injury in the left foot (2005 and 2006), tomorrow various pains in his knee (2007-2010) – did he believe in his ability to change things, that with determination he could guide, with a firm hand, his life and choose his own road?

“One makes his own choices,” he answers flatly, this Mallorcan who will mount an assault on the Wimbledon title on June 21. “There are things that don’t depend on oneself, that clearly one can’t control and that life holds in store,” he continues, gesturing reflectively.

Exactly a year ago, in the middle of summer 2009, it was customarily hot, the beaches filled with tourists , and Nadal was a tennis player in dry dock. He had been eliminated at Roland Garros in the quarterfinals, beaten by the game of Robin (Mad Dog) Soderling. His knees, painful from tendinitis and swelling, were being subjected to a thousand and one treatments (meso-therapy, physical therapy, magneto therapy) with the objective of enabling him to defend his title at Wimbledon. The world number one was suffering. Number one risked losing his exalted position without so much as setting foot on court. And, the best tennis player on earth, finally, had to renounce the defense of his crowns at Queens and Wimbledon; he saw how the Swiss, Roger Federer, returned to dominate the tennis circuit after a great final in London, and he closed himself off in his own world, foreign to the reality of sports, strange to all that wasn’t Mallorcan, his family, his friends, and of course the constant daily work that would allow his knees to recuperate. A very hard blow.

A year later, Nadal has just finished winning Roland Garros without dropping a single set on the way. A year later, Nadal has completed a perfect journey on clay, 22 matches won out of 22 played, titles from Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid and Paris, never done before. And a year later, Nadal returns to Number One in the world by defeating Soderling in the Paris final, pure poetic justice -- granted, he slipped up a bit by losing to Feliciano in Queens -- but what occurred that Nadal managed to overcome such a difficult time? What was the worst moment in his fight to recuperate and return to being the same as before? What were the bitterest times, the most unpleasant days, the ones that demanded more from him in his struggle to defy the odds?


“When I lose in Paris,” responds the 24-year-old Mallorcan while toying wit some extremely white surfer shades……”And the two following weeks, for being at Wimbledon, for having gone there, trying it and not feeling well,” he continues. “They were hard weeks,” he admits. “I was isolated. I didn’t look at my cellphone or answer messages. I was outside myself, living a period that wasn’t simple, but luckily I was in Mallorca where I have my friends, my family and many things that make me forget everything else.”

That’s how Nadal recuperated. He spends a few hours daily in the pool where he exercises to soften the impact of the floor on his joints. He sweats in the ultramodern gym that he’s had installed in an attic in his house. He sleeps while his leg is rolled up in the cord of one of the machines that he uses, because he gets treatment even at night. And he gets a massage on the special massage table, on which he occasionally naps…..The situation requires special mental fortitude. Since becoming a major player in tennis, Nadal has not lived a single season without some kind of setback.

Barcelona. January 2006. Two players share aching track. They are Gustavo Kuerten, Rafael Nadal and Kuerten. The Spaniard, "desperate, from doctor to doctor," according to a Chronicle account phenomenon, Jaume Pujol-Galceran and Manel Serras, visited and consultations of the doctors Cotorro, Borrell, and Maceira Viladot until it travels United States, where he made a special template to solve his injury: a crack in the scaphoid of his left foot. Guga and Nadal are trained. Nadal Guga and talk about their painful experiences. Guga measured and understand why Nadal wins, wins why, why is always outgrown.

“Rafael has worked a lot with pain, he has a tremendous capacity for suffering, that amazes me and he conquers whatever adverse situation comes along,” says Toni Nadal, his uncle and trainer, in Sirve Nadal, responded Socrates; del filosofo clasico al deportists de elite, the book that he’s written with Pere Mas. “It’s difficult to know when to stop when you’re working with him, because he can take everything. He enjoys plaiyng so much that he forgets fatigue and the knee pain. But the pain that he had at the end of 2008 and during the following spring had been different; for the first time the pain impeded his play, he couldn’t even flex to serve. The injuries have the added effect of loss of confidence that some tennis players never get over. It was right not to go to Wimbledon although it was very sad to not be able to defend the championship , and the return to competition has come along according to the most optimistic prognoses. This is the reason I tell myself, and of course I tell Rafa, that happiness is found on the road to a final, not in the final itself, although the final is indeed part of the road.”

Nadal doesn’t live by himself during these first days of the long road to recuperation, two months of down time full of doubts ad the necessity for patience and rest as important as working piecemeal. The champion is in permanent contact with Dr Cotorro, his personal physicial and that of the Spanish Tenni Federation. They begin to design a plan for getting better, first absolute rest at home, later hours and hours of exercise a day helped by Rafael Maymo and Joan Forcades., Toni Nadal and Francisco Roig. Always in the atmosphere the same idea – My desire has always been to be better, but not better than the rest; rather, better than what I’ve been,” says the tennis player.
“Suffering a major injury,” continues the Mallorcan coach in Sirve Nadal, “is when one puts everything learned over the years to the test.” For a sportsman, the biggest test he can overcome is a long period of injury; to substitute training and competition for rest and treatment is the biggest sacrifice that can be required of a sportsman.. It’s so Important to accept the limitations imposed by the injury and to know how to work toward healing the body and not losing confidence that one can once again attain the highest level of performance.”

And so it was that Nadal always believed that it possible to return to his highest level. Now and always. An example.

Barcelona, January 2006. Two tennis players in pain share a court. They are Gustavo “Guga” Kuerten and Rafael Nadal. The Mallorcan, “desperate, from doctor to doctor,” according to Cronica de un fenomeno, by Jaume Pujol-Galceran and Manel Serras, has already visited the offices of doctors Cotorro, Borrell, Vilados and Maceira until he travels to the USA where inserts have been made to resolve the injury, a fissure in his left foot. Guga and Nadal train. They talk about their painful experiences. Guga considers Nadal and understands why he wins, why he conquers, why he always overcomes all odds.

“Over the years I have trained with him many times,” recalls the ex-Number One from Brazil, three-time champion of Roland Garros. “It’s sad that I haven’t had the opportunity to play against him or even to have trained with him when I was feeling well physically. How would his game have fit mine? He’s stronger than anyone on clay. It’s a dream imagining how I would have played against him because I’m sure that he would have pushed me to find solutions and that my game would have enticed him to find new options. Thanks to him, I would have played better.”

This is what Nadal does. Like a chameleon, his game and objectives adapt themselves to his rival and to life’s misfortunes. If Nadal is competing, he’s competing with everything he’s got. If he’s training, he’s training completely. And if he’s recuperating from an injury, he’s doing that 100 percent, as well, like a year ago, when he traveled to Wimbledon toting various machines in order to get treatment 24/7, a last-ditch attempt to save himself from having to lose the tournament.

“I think that Rafa is a passionate man, but when he play he is aggressive” says the Brazilian ex-tenista. “He must be serious in order for his game to function. Sometimes, this image isn’t interpreted accurately by the public. The opposition is Roger Federer, who is like Pete Sampras, his idol. He is more conservative, he doesn’t show emotion. He needs to do this to be successful. Both, however, have a lot of character, they’re both charismatic.”

It’ s not possible to understand Roger Federer without Rafael Nadal. It’s not possible to understand Rafael Nadal without Roger Federer. Did the Spaniard hear anything from the Swiss during the entire dark period of 2009? Did Federer make contact with him to find out how he was doing?

“Roger has always been courteous with me,” answers the Spaniard, who from his Mallorcan refuge in 2009 didn’t forget to congratulate Federer on h his titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. “He sent me a supportive message,” continues Nadal. It was a difficult time for me. I was trying to keep to myself; I had long hours of mending for my knees and I was taking advantage of this to do things differently than usual.” These are words of a strong guy. Expressions from a man with a will of iron. The sentences of a tennis player with stony determination, completely impervious to the pitfalls on Fate’s journey. Is it possible to teach a child to be like this? Is it possible to sculpt such character, as though it were modeling clay???

“Everything can be taught,” argues the Number One. “Of course, one has to be born with aptitude, because without it, it’s impossible,” he adds. “Let’s be realistic. One can’t be Number One or Number Two or even Three or Four just by working. There has to be something more, something you’re born with. If you have that extra something, without working, neither can you get there. With talent, you can attain certain numbers but with work and talent, you can go much higher. It’s true that with normal talent and by working well, you can reach the heights.”

Nadal does not believe that destiny makes his road. T do that,” he says, “there is work, training, talent and the wish to be better every day.” Also, when problems arise, when the dynamic of success is broken by pain, you need the mentality of Number One.