ARTICLES:
- Rafael Nadal helped me maintain a connection to my ailing father – Reem Abulleil – The National
When my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, watching Nadal with him became my favourite activity. I could ignore all the ways his brain was changing, and just enjoy our common love for the sport and our admiration for its fiercest competitor. … He started forgetting the meaning of terms like ‘deuce’ and ‘tiebreak’, but bizarrely never forgot the name ‘Nadal’. He stopped understanding what I did for a living, but for a long time remembered it had something to do with tennis, and the first question he always asked me was: “Did Nadal win?” … My father passed away 13 months ago, and in his last few years, he wasn’t able to communicate much. We’d watch the occasional tennis match – just a few games – months and months apart, and all I wanted was for him to ask me about Nadal. Instead, it was my mum who was the one asking. And my sisters. And everyone close to me. What started as a bonding experience for two, mushroomed into a community of appreciation for a sporting legend.
- There Will Never Be Another Tennis Player Like Rafael Nadal – Jason Gay – The Wall Street Journal
Tennis is a game of fluidity and grace, but the teenage Spaniard played it like he was moving a piano by himself. Nadal didn’t hit. He heaved. He didn’t run—he charged. He hit a semi-Western grip forehand with a wild spin, finishing with a lasso-like flourish, and his backhand was a deep, grunting scoop. His high-effort talent was a marvel, great enough to win the French Open at age 19, but it couldn’t last. It lasted. Longer than anyone imagined. “More than I ever believed possible,” Nadal said Tuesday in Spain, finally stepping away from the sport at age 38, after a Davis Cup singles loss.
- Rafael Nadal Changed Tennis by Showing us how much he Loved It – Steve Tignor – tennisconnected.com
Still, it’s the emotion that is his greatest gift to tennis. Twenty years ago, Nadal upset the ATP apple cart and made fans take sides between him and Federer—most took Federer’s at first. On Tuesday, after his final Davis Cup match in Malaga, the love for him around the game was universal. It came not just from the Spanish fans in the building, but from the fans of their Dutch opponents as well. The spectators in orange sang for “Ra-fa” just as loudly as the spectators in red. Together, they were celebrating a 22-time Grand Slam champion. But they were also celebrating a champion who had showed us everything he felt, who never gave the paying customers anything but his best, who cared enough that he made us care back. Rafa let the emotional genie out of the bottle in tennis. His legacy will be the passion that we’ll continue to see, and the adrenaline we’ll continue to feel, from the greats who follow in his footsteps.
VIDEO: Rafael Nadal Post Match Full Press Conference | 2024 Davis Cup Finals Malaga
Social media related to Rafa:
Farewell, my hero, my humble king!
There will never be a player as exciting to watch as Rafa Nadal. A true gentleman of the sport.
So touching!