Almost career-ending, incurable injury, yet Nadal is in the final. Why is he one of the greatest athletes in history?

Rafael Nadal is a role model for young children, both in tennis and in life. Life has thrown a lot of sticks in his way in the form of severe injuries, but the Spaniard never gave up and always fought. For every ball, for every game, for every set, for every return to the courts. And although he has the hallmark of the best tennis player in history within his grasp, he remains just as humble and appreciative of everything life has to offer.

It was June 2021, and Nadal had unexpectedly lost in the semi-finals to Novak Djokovic at his French Open, where he had won a record 13 Grand Slam titles. For the clay king, it was only the fourth defeat of his career at Roland-Garros.

But the worse news for Nadal’s fans came afterwards. The Spanish tennis player prematurely ended his season due to an unspecified injury to his left leg, and the extent was even so serious that Nadal didn’t even know if he would ever return to tennis again. In his own words, he had no thoughts of ending his career, but it was certainly not out of the question.

Cut to, we’re in January 2022 and Nadal is in the final of the Australian Open. And yet, at the end of December, he didn’t know if he would even compete in the first Grand Slam of the season. After returning from the Dubai tournament, he had a coronavirus, which he said had taken quite a toll on him.

Nobody knew in what condition Nadal would be in Melbourne. Whether the recent illness will take its toll on him or how he will move after the injury to his left leg. This, by the way, is incurable, as Nadal himself described, playing with pain, which he is trying to suppress by all different means.

No one has seen Nadal on the court for almost half a year, so experts have been reluctant to predict how far he will go at the Australian Open. But “El toro” has once again shown everyone what a fighter he is. He returned to the tennis courts with absolute grace, elegance and fighting spirit. For example, in the first two sets in the semi-final against Berretti, he resembled a version of himself ten years younger.

Although he will celebrate his 36th birthday in June, the Mallorca native has not aged. What is particularly admirable about Nadal is his psyche. He doesn’t have the best serve in the world, nor the best backhand, nor is he perhaps the fastest. Yet in sum, he is the best at everything. He has it set in his mind that he is unstoppable. He goes for it, in every exchange, he never lets anything go and it bears fruit.

He’s a model for small tennis players in his behaviour. He plays with humility until he wins, you will almost never see him smash his racket on the court, he always has great respect for his opponent and when he loses he makes no excuses. Some people are annoyed by his lengthy rituals, but he does not harm his opponents, he is just used to them and if it is allowed by the rules, no one can forbid him.

At the same time, it is amazing to notice his “smoothness”. For a tennis player who has won everything he can, you probably wouldn’t expect the kind of emotion that Nadal is currently showing in Australia. In the fourth round against Khachan, for example, he was clearly in control of the entire match, yet when he got the break in the fourth set, he knelt on the floor and his celebratory “Siiiiiiiiiiiii” rang out throughout Rod Laver Arena.

It also shows how much success means to Nadal. After advancing to the final, he even shed a tear while changing at the bench, and he was soft in the interview afterwards. The Spanish tennis player simply appreciates the things that come his way and takes nothing for granted.

If he makes it to the last step, he will become the greatest tennis player in history, at least for a while. He would win a record 21 Grand Slams, a mark that has never been reached before. But did it make any difference to Nadal? No way. “I’m so grateful to be here. Anyone who hasn’t experienced it all with me doesn’t know how much it means to me,” the Balearic Islands native said modestly after the semifinals.

Nadal may be the best Spanish athlete in history, but his behaviour is absolutely unaffected. On the contrary, it seems that the older he gets, the more he appreciates success and the more modest he is. So he certainly deserves all his success.

For all the fans of world tennis, it can be a matter of pride to utter the sentence

Source: Australian Open, Livesport