Published on November 15, 2024 at 9:24 p.m. / Modified on November 15, 2024 at 9:28 p.m.
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Of the three members of what was the “Big 3”, Rafael Nadal was undoubtedly the least interesting at a press conference, but he is the one who leaves the densest philosophical legacy
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He always focused on the process rather than the end result, preferring to “fight to win rather than win”
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All of Nadal’s thought is written in books and taught at the academy he founded in Manacor, but can we really take inspiration from him? Stan Wawrina is not sure
From the ending reign of an oligarchy that was called the “Big Three”, there remains for Roger Federer an image – the perfection of style on a court – and for Novak Djokovic records – the most fabulous track record in history men’s tennis. Rafael Nadal, who finishes next week in Malaga where the eight-man final of the Davis Cup is being contested (from November 19 to 24), has marked his sport and his era in another way, which surprises us, since the announcement on October 10 of his upcoming retirement encourages us to think about the results, to consider it as “intellectual”. Nadal is an attitude, an ethic, but above all it is a method. Thus, the one of the three who seemed to have the least to say, who was the least interesting at a press conference, is ultimately the one who leaves the most speech.
There is of course his famous “Vamos!” (“Come on!”), now released, shouted, implored, screamed, on all fields, in all sports, at all levels, and even passed into everyday language. This encouragement to oneself is the summary in five letters of an entire philosophy. We realize this by visiting the immense complex that he had built in 2016, the Rafa Nadal Academy, at his home in Manacor: what Nadal has to sell to aspiring racquet champions who come from all over the world to try to tap into the source of success is above all a state of mind.
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