Rafael Nadal once famously said he wants to be the next president of Real Madrid. As and when it happens, even Florentino Perez shouldn’t mind it — the Spanish Matador is undoubtedly the greatest non-playing ambassador the club ever had.
Rafa’s uncle Miguel Angel was a Barcelona star of the 1990s and wanted his football-loving nephew to grow up as a fan of the Catalan giants.There were pictures of him in Barcelona kits as well in his younger days, but there was something that kept little Rafa in the Real camp.
It’s not a surprise that an European tennis player is deeply associated with football — we have seen Roger Federer turning up for an FC Basel game a day after losing in a Grand Slam or Matteo Berrettini shaking off his Wimbledon final disappointment to cheer for Italy in the Euro final at Wembley within hours. But where Rafa’s fandom stands out is the spirit that he used to bring to court, somewhere deep down one felt he and Real Madrid were one and the same.
Being the counter-point: Despite all the success that the club and the legend have had over the last decade and a half, both haven’t exactly been the high-priests of their respective sports. While Roger Federer has been the reference point of anything beautiful in tennis, artistry in football has been the domain of Barcelona. Result was a mere afterthought when it was Federer or Messi’s Barcelona. And it had its reasons too — Barcelona of Pep and Federer of the 2000s could make the sport look so ridiculously simple that the result seemed a foregone conclusion.
That’s where Rafa and Real came in. Both knew that ‘killing them softly’ wasn’t exactly their area of strength. It always had to be the ability to counter-punch, to turn defence into attack — that’s what is going to win them matches. For these two sporting entities, the result was the ultimate benchmark, winning ugly if necessary was pretty much par for the course. There was no shame in being aesthetically second-best if the final outcome went in their favour.
Never say die: There have been innumerable instances of incredible comebacks by these two giants, but let’s take up two recent successes of Rafa and Real Madrid — the 2022 Champions League and the Australian Open the same year. Playing against Medvedev in the final, Rafa was getting hammered — he was two sets down and the discussion was how soon it would be over. But the deep pockets of resolve saw the man fighting back in the third after being a point away from being broken and then he conjured up incredible magic to win the next three sets and his 21st Slam.
A few months later, Real were being taken apart by Manchester City in the semifinals over two legs. Over 179 minutes, they were two goals down and the world felt that the last nail had already been put in their coffin. Till Madrid found their inner Rafa, scored two in injury-time and one in extra-time to win the game at Bernabeu. It was ironic that in a few weeks’ time in Paris, Madrid won their 14th Champions League title and Rafa his 14th French. While Rafa was there to celebrate Real’s triumph, members of the Real Madrid contingent didn’t forget to be part of their superfan’s Roland Garros celebration.
Creating a fortress: Nadal knew if he had to match (or surpass) the achievements of his magnificent contemporaries, he had to make one Slam his fortress. Nadal just couldn’t be beaten at Roland Garros, his record on the surface is an unreal 112-3. For years and years, the opponents turned up knowing the result, it was a matter of making it look respectable.
What Roland Garros was to Rafa, Bernabeu is to Madrid. “90 minutes in the Bernabeu is a very long time,” Juanito, a famous Madrid star of the 1980s, once said. It has been proven time and time again over different competitions he wasn’t too wrong — the last time Madrid was defeated at home was in April 2023.
In a month’s time, Rafa will be done with his tennis career. Probably he will be a more frequent visitor at Bernabeu — we saw a few days ago Kylian Mbappe handing over his debut Champions League shirt for the club to the tennis master. But will the new crop at the club inherit Nadal’s incredible fighting instincts? We will see…
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