3 June 2005—Rafael Nadal celebrates his 19th birthday in style, entering his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over a stunned Roger Federer.
Rafa doesn’t know it yet, but I am in love. It doesn’t matter that I am only one of a few hundred million who fell in love all over again that night. It doesn’t matter that for the first time in our married life, my wife and I are in love with the same man. It doesn’t matter that the object of my affection will remain on the wrong side of a television screen for the length of our romance.
This love is not just about Rafa’s tennis. Yes, it is about a racquet and a spinning ball that rotates an incredible 4,000 times a minute on its way to its opponent. It is also about anticipation and skill beyond the imagined. But it goes far deeper than that.
It is about his deep respect for each and every opponent on the court and the fans outside it. It is about a heart that beats for the sport every single minute, a mind that treats the body and its frailties with disdain, and a spirit that limits the boundaries of impossibility well beyond the markings of the tennis court.
3 June 2022—Paris. A lot of water has flowed under the Pont Neuf since that day 17 years ago. But some things have not changed. Standing on the court waiting to be interviewed on his 36th birthday is Rafael Nadal. He has just entered his 14th French Open final.
A few minutes before, Alexander Zverev has hobbled onto Court Philippe Chartrier on crutches to concede the semi-final after suffering a horrific-looking on-court injury. Walking by his side is Rafael Nadal—concern writ large on his face. Once the formalities are done, pictures of Nadal’s long warm embrace and the words of comfort in the young man’s ears will go viral on social media. The gesture is genuine, warm and spontaneous, and stems from a place of real anguish.
Nadal is a man who knows all about injuries and living through the pain. His own left foot has been anaesthetised before every match these past two weeks to allow him relief from the incessant pain that has been his constant companion for years, and allow him, perhaps, this final chance to compete on the court that belongs to him in all but name.
Also Read: ‘I wasn’t perfect. I love loud music, smoked, drank, bowled a bit of leg spin’: Warne on himself
How did we get here with Nadal?
Nadal’s has been a journey of highs and lows, triumphs and heartbreaks, ecstasy and agony. But above all, for two long decades, it’s been the greatest display of human resilience ever witnessed in sport.
In 2004, a year before my love affair with Nadal started, he was diagnosed with the extremely rare Mueller-Weiss syndrome in his left foot. It is a chronic, degenerative injury that weakens the navicular bone, making it impossible to have surgery performed on if you want to maintain the mobility that elite sport demands. It is a condition that can cause pain even while you are at rest, and worsens with physical exercise.
After the diagnosis, four months of rest was advised to recover from the debilitating pain of the stress fracture that had caused Nadal to approach a doctor in the first place. That year, he could not make his debut at the Roland Garros, play his second Wimbledon, or represent Spain at the Athens Olympics.
Less than a year later, he was a Grand Slam champion, and four years on, he had brought back the Olympic gold for his nation. And that is a pattern that the world would learn to associate with Rafael Nadal.
In a career spanning 18 full seasons, Nadal has been injured 16 times. It is a statistic that reflects the impact his hard, uncompromising style of play has had on the chronic issues that plagued him. The 22-time winner has missed 11 Grand Slam events in his career in the bargain. What is incredible, however, is that on 14 of 16 occasions, when Nadal has been forced to go away for months to recover, he has won at least one Grand Slam event within a year of his comeback.
Also Read: John Woodcock, his India connect and how he handled the ‘Sachin vs Bradman’ question
The phoenix of tennis
It is easy to underestimate how serious his injuries have been when one looks at what he has achieved.
Last year, he spent six months away from the court and until a few days before leaving for Melbourne this January, he did not know if he would ever play again. Not only did he play, but won his 21st Grand Slam title at Melbourne Park and proceeded to build up a 20-0 streak of victories for the year. And then, as is the pattern, a fractured rib derailed him once again in Rome.
Last week, Nadal sat down in front of the cameras after limping visibly on his way to a post-match press conference. “I imagine there will come a time when my head says: enough,” he said. “Pain takes away your happiness, not only in tennis but in life. My problem is that I live many days with too much pain.”
After his fourth-round match, he spoke about the next one being perhaps his last on the court which has defined his legacy to a significant extent. His next opponent was defending champion and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. But that day, Nadal raised his game to what he himself admitted was an ‘unbelievable level’. Djokovic lay vanquished in four sets.
And this is why Nadal is Nadal. When the body cannot cope, the mind takes over. Years ago Vijay Amritraj told me, tapping the area above his own two ears—‘It is within these six inches that the real genius of Nadal lies. It is where he plays his tennis.’
Every time injuries have struck him down, the hopes of a billion Nadal fans have turned to ashes. And from those ashes, like a phoenix, has risen Rafael Nadal. For two decades this pattern has been repeated.
But two decades is a long time to live with pain, and now it sounds like he has had enough. Unless the surgery on his foot is successful in the coming months, Nadal might never again step onto a tennis court. The heart may not want to accept it, but the head knows the final ride into the sunset is nigh.
This may well be the last time we have seen Rafael Nadal’s sweat drench the red clay of Paris and turn it darker than the metaphorical blood he has shed. It could be the final occasion when two bottles have been placed with such precision without the help of engineering tools. Never again may soiled towels boast creases his careful folding has imparted them.
And if this has indeed been Nadal’s final dance at Roland Garros, we couldn’t have wished for a better final memory than the 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 demolition of the supremely talented Caspar Rudd to lift La Coupe des Mousquetaires for the 14th time.
But then again, perhaps there is more that awaits us. This is Nadal after all, and on 4 June 2024, we might just be writing his sporting obituary all over again. The entreating melody of ‘vamos Rafa’ cries could still be echoing on Philippe Chatrier, signaling that the journey of agony and ecstasy with Rafael Nadal is not over yet.
Anindya Dutta @Cric_Writer is a sports columnist and author of Wizards: The Story of Indian Spin Bowling, and Advantage India: The Story of Indian Tennis. Views are personal.
(Edited by Srinjoy Dey)