Dragon Ball inspiration
Islander charm
Fan adoration
Rafael Nadal reveals a childhood love of the anime series during the Japan Open tennis tournament while Kei Nishikori is philosophical after his defeats
When Rafael Nadal was a young boy on the Spanish island of Majorca, he used to run home from school to watch his favorite Japanese anime -- "Dragon Ball."
The Toei Animation cartoon, adapted from a 1980s manga by Akira Toriyama, must have made an indelible impression on the young Nadal.
Like Dragon Ball’s hero Goku, a martial arts student who came from an extraterrestrial race called Saiyans, Nadal has also come to conquer the world, or at least the tennis world, with an unorthodox style that he seemed to learn on another planet.
In fact, Spanish astronomers have even named an asteroid belt after him.
Rocketing across the court, twisting to hit winners from impossible angles, Nadal sometimes even looks like Goku, with his mouth open in a grunt that is both ugly and sexy for millions of his worldwide fans.
“It’s my favorite cartoon,” Nadal tells journalists in Japan who ask him about "Dragon Ball" after his opening round victory at his first ever Japan Open.
“I have all the DVDs, from the first one to the last one.”
A superhero with a hulking physique and intimidating glare, the feisty Spaniard is more raging bull than matador on the court.
As a Wimbledon commentator once said, Nadal is simply out to beat you on every point.
But off the court, Rafa has a simple islander charm in stark contrast to his friend and arch-rival Roger Federer, the sophisticated and multilingual cultural ambassador who wowed fans at the Japan Open in 2006.
Coming into the Ariake tennis center press room after his first round victory, the 24-year old Nadal, who has won more than $30 million on tour, apologizes like a schoolboy, “Sorry, I was a little bit late.”
He works hard to communicate clearly, and uses new words he has just learned, such as "cartoon."
While the former vegetarian Federer talked about Zen philosophy, Japanese proverbs, and playing tennis at the Imperial Palace, Nadal says stuff like “I don’t like shopping.”
On his off-day Wednesday, he played a few holes of golf but otherwise hung around the hotel trying to rest from a relentless year of touring which saw him win the French, Wimbledon and U.S. titles.
“Japan is one of the places you definitely want to know and hopefully I will be able to come back. The Japanese people are giving me a lot of presents. I’m just enjoying these days, on this very nice center court atmosphere,” he says.
For tennis fans, who consider the Nadal-Federer rivalry to be among the greatest ever in sports, it’s amazing to hear Nadal say he doesn’t know if Federer is currently ranked number two or number three.
"It's very difficult to always be at the top," he says of Federer.
"What he did is very, very difficult. For me, I don’t think there’s a big difference being number one or number two in the world. My life doesn’t change. I’m still with my family at home. It’s a really normal life for me," he says.
"The best thing is not being number one in the world, it’s being healthy and being able to enjoy my life,” he adds.
0 comments