Tennis

Thank you, Rafa, for an unbelievable career

October 10, 2024
<a href="https://revsportz.in/author/boria/" rel="author" class="url fn n" itemprop="url"><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e660b408ca5a915f1c718d0cd98a879b?s=32&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e660b408ca5a915f1c718d0cd98a879b?s=64&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-32 photo' height='32' width='32' decoding='async'/> <span class="" itemprop="name">Boria Majumdar</span></a>

 

Boria Majumdar with Rafael Nadal ( Source RevSportz and Rafael Nadal Insta)

It was back in 2015 that I asked Rafael Nadal this. 

“You have been plagued by many injuries in recent times. Have you ever thought that had it not been for injuries, where you would be today? Perhaps a few more Grand Slams, perhaps a higher ranking?”

His answer was straight up and candid. 

“Injuries are part and parcel of a sportsman’s life,” he said. “They will happen. Having said that, I don’t always think about them or about what could have been. It doesn’t work like that. I have missed key tournaments because of injuries this year, but I am finishing the year as world No. 5. That, for me, is a reasonable achievement. I am not No. 50. But there is no question that I will definitely try to go higher and keep playing well.”

When we think back today to one of the greatest careers that sport has seen, one is left to wonder what it would have been like had he not battled injury the last few years. But then, on World Mental Health Day, it is fair to say that we were all privileged to see Nadal play for us. He enriched the sport, and enriched us all. 

Had it not been for tennis, what could it have been, I had asked. 

‘You were a reasonable football player while growing up in Mallorca. But was tennis always going to be your first love?’

Yet again, Nadal was decisive like he had always been with his strokes. 

“Yes, I was a good football player,” he told me. “But I wasn’t unbelievable.Not that I was an unbelievable tennis player either. But definitely, Iwas a better tennis player than I was a football player. But I still love all sports and watch all sports. I am a Real Madrid fan, and watch football when I am back home in Spain.”

Let’s just say that he was wrong. He was indeed an unbelievable tennis player, one of the greatest to have played the sport. 

Happy retirement,Rafa. Go well.

 

 

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