He was a ten year old boy when he transferred the tennis racket to his weaker left hand once and for all. That’s when the phenomenon named Rafael Nadal began to emerge. A man who was declared left-handed and couldn’t even tie his shoelaces has conquered the world of sports. The 36-year-old Spaniard won his twenty-second Grand Slam title of the weekend, his fourteenth on clay in Paris.
He must have made himself comfortable in the company of the most admired athlete of all time. Although his brilliantly launched career should have ended in failure, it was very premature and painful, according to doctors.
He flew quickly upwards. At the age of nineteen, he ruled Roland Garros for the first time. Again in a year. And then again. He was wrongly accused of doping. The doctors predicted an early end for him. Due to his strong playing style, terrible dose of training, and over-developed muscles for a tennis player, they predict that Nadal’s joints will soon weaken.
He wasn’t supposed to play until he was thirty. But the natives of Mallorca turned his fortunes around.
“Everyone says something and look. Now he is 36 years old and in brutal conditions. He defied all expectations. His career has been phenomenal,” shook his head Jiří Novák, a former Czech tennis player who faced young Nadal twice in 2004, once two years later . He beat the future icon once, at Brno in the Davis Cup.
“He got my attention right after he came onto the circuit. One year he was skinny, the next year he was full of muscle. His training sessions were amazing. He was also unique in that he was retrained as a left-handed player,” Novak recalled.
In recent weeks, he has watched in awe on television as the sport’s aging veteran once again unstoppably rushes to another record-breaking title.
Despite the circumstances that put him in an unusual role as an outsider: health issues, few matches were played before the tournament and the feared challenger was led by arch-rival Novak Djokovic.
“The bookies may have Djokovic as favourite, I don’t see it that way. In Nadal’s living room, there is no other favorite than himself. He is at home there. Maybe someone was surprised that he did, but no. me,” claimed the former world number five.
He considers the quarter-final match between Djokovic and Nadal as a preliminary final. “When Rafa did, I knew he would win again. Even though he was badly beaten by Alexander Zverev in the semifinals before he was seriously injured.”
If, at the end of last year, Czech experts put Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer on the same level and hoped they would all end up with 20 Grand Slams won, because of the debate over the GOATS (Greatest of All Time – the best) in history, car records) was deemed undecidable, Nadal is now forcing him to change his mind.
“I thought it would be fair because they are all and absolutely amazing. But Nadal has changed that this year. What he did was pure science fiction to me. He did something amazing in Australia and now again. For me he is the best player in history,” admitted Novák.
Currently, because he himself supplies. The race is not over, although even the Czech tennis legend is clear: 40-year-old Federer will no longer participate in it.
“But be careful. It’s possible that Djokovic won three or four more Grand Slams. In a year we could have a completely different time again,” he recounted the never-ending golden era of world tennis.
The days when Pete Sampras of America was the undefeated king with fourteen titles from the top four tournaments are long gone.
“I said back then that no one could surpass him. Look now. Nadal still only has the title from Roland Garros. For me, this is a number that even I don’t understand,” said Novák.
In addition, according to him, the French Open clay is definitely the most difficult tournament in the world.
“You have to know how to play tennis there. You can’t just beat him or just run. You have to have everything. There you have to be a big animal. A gladiator. And that’s Rafa Nadal,” added the man whose favorite surface during his career was dirt. clay, although her biggest Grand Slam achievement was the semi-finals of the 2002 Australian Open.
Before and during the tournament, the Spanish champion’s health issues were discussed. In Paris, he even received numbing injections into his completely “broken” left leg.
“During the match, however, there were no visible injuries to him. He flew on the field for four hours, always with the same brutal speed,” says Novák, and he rejects the occasional criticism of the injections.
“It’s a completely normal thing for a top athlete, I wouldn’t condemn him at all. On the contrary. He did everything to win. You try not to let injuries stop you. Look at the NHL, it happens all the time with hockey players. can’t imagine if someone there broke a rib and didn’t play in the Stanley Cup final because of it. The same cyclist in the Tour de France. It’s an event you coach all year round. For me, that’s okay,” explained Jiří Novák .
He considered speculation about the end of Nadal’s career which was getting closer to being misguided.
“When I see how he moves, how he plays… I can’t imagine him ending. He’s in great form and he’s going to keep fighting. He won the last two grand slams, you can’t give up in that situation. him to continue,” concluded the 47-year-old coach.
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