Is Rafa Nadal the best Spanish athlete in history?
Don Rafael Nadal Parera. For some, for many, the best athlete in Spanish history. No one disputes that the tennis player from Manacor deserves a place on the Olympus of national sport, although it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine whether Nadal is better or worse than other great athletes who have engraved their name in golden letters in Spanish sport, such as Pau Gasol, Miguel Indurain or Severiano Ballesteros. Three examples of many that populate the recurring debate about the nation’s “GOAT”. Who’s the best? We analyze the advantages and disadvantages of Nadal, who took this unofficial honor.
Palmares
The first factor cannot be other than the sporting success of Rafael Nadal. This is the most objective measure when comparing athletes. No one disputed Raymund Poulidor’s cycling credentials, but he will always be remembered as the eternal “second runner-up” and being on the cusp of success doesn’t factor into the selection of the best. The best will always be first. Win, win, win and win again, as he said. There is no other. And Nadal won a lot. As much as anyone holding a racket in Spain, and on the international tennis stage he was only surpassed by a Serb named Novak.
Rafa’s 22 Grand Slam titles, 14 of them at Roland Garros, where he set an all-time record, are testament to a career full of success (he won a total of 92 ATP titles). His victories are almost innumerable and Watching Nadal win became a routine similar to the one that marks the life of Tony Bowe.the athlete with the most World Cups wins. The driver won his first world championship in 2007 and has not stopped to this day. He has a whopping 36 World Trials Championships to his name, 18 outdoors and 18 indoors, all in a row.
How is the difference in the value of success in a particular sport calculated? The versatility of the sport and the resulting higher competition could tip the balance, in this case towards Nadal. Is there any Spanish athlete who could emulate Nadal’s success in so-called grassroots sports? Nadal’s level of success seems comparable only to success Miguel Indurain, winner of five Tourslike the great cyclists in history, or Pau Gasol, who, in addition to numerous successes in Spain, achieved two NBA rings.an almost Martian achievement not long ago by a Spanish basketball player.
This debate, in addition to Indurain, Gasol or Tony Bowe himself, will include legendary names of the national sport such as Angel Nieto and his 12+1, five “Greats” Severiano Ballesteros or Javier Gomez Noah and his five world championships triathlon, etc.
Popularity
In addition to outright victories, being the most popular in the class will make you more memorable and earn points among the fans. AND Nadal, in addition to victories, is also an extremely popular athlete. His breathtaking production and his undying belief in himself have made “Vamos Rafa” a rallying cry that transcends his sport. By today’s standards, Nadal is also widely followed on social media, with over 21 million followers on Instagram. However, despite practicing one of the most universal sports, In Spain she has excellent “rivals” in this category: football players. There is nothing more popular than the Spanish sport, and the great idols of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa are also vying for the throne of the best Spanish athlete in history.
How to forget about Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta or Iker Casillas. Winners of all tournaments for the Spanish men’s national team and their clubs, they are regularly included in the lists of the best, and many would not hesitate to give the crown to any of them. When passion comes into play, football in Spain is always a notch higher, even though the best footballers in our history are not among the best all-round footballers in history. At this same level we find Alexia Putellas or Aitana Bonmatihead of the Spanish women’s national team, world champion and two-time winner of the Ballon d’Or.
In this regard, we could also talk again about Miguel Indurain, the great idol of Spanish sports of the nineties, capable of keeping his country awake in mid-July during its nap.. Cycling is another great accumulator of passions and a generator of idols.as Perico Delgado or Federico Martin Bajamontes would have done before Miguelon. Two other athletes who, due to their performance, could well be considered high on the list of the best Spanish athletes in history.
International media influence
To appreciate the importance of an athlete in his country, it is useful to zoom out and see his influence in the rest of the world. With Nadal we are faced with a problem again. one of the leading sports on the entire planet. The Mallorcan’s career has gained international significance from the very beginning. His influence in the media, a combination of sporting success and popularity, reached a very high level, and despite the initial contradiction with most of the purist critics devoted – for obvious reasons – to the tennis of Roger Federer, it ultimately proved convincing through tenacity, play and titles. .
However, he had no shortage of famous “haters”, such as David Foster Wallace with his memorable article on the 2006 Wimbledon final, in which he turned Nadal into a pure physical beast, a far cry from Federer’s melodic tennis. Be that as it may, in this factor Rafa Nadal has no rival in the Spanish sports arena, which leaves Pau Gasol or Fernando Alonso in the second stage, two of our most international athletes. While the basketball player has increased his already important global influence achieved on the court through his association with NBA megastar Kobe Bryant, Fernando Alonso has earned recognition behind the wheel in the Formula 1 circus, where he is regularly named as one of the best Formula 1 drivers and a renewed interest to this sport in Spain.
Pioneers in their sport
If there is one evaluative element that Nadal does not lead, which in itself is newsworthy, it is the pioneers of his sport. In this aspect A man from Manacor is a sportsman whose “father” in Spain was Manolo Santana.the first Spaniard to leave the ground with a racket. Back in the 1960s, Santana was the biggest figure in Spanish sport and won four Grand Slams, putting a sport on the Spanish map that had not enjoyed much popularity until then. Like him, Spain has other great pioneers who are also among the best Spanish athletes in history, among them the already mentioned Severiano Ballesteros, Angel Nieto or Fernando Alonso himself.
The most recent is Carolina Marin, badminton flag in our country. Being an absolute minority in Spain and throughout Europe, he managed to reach the top and become the best in a sport with absolute dominance in Asia. Rio 2016 Olympic champion Marin also deserves a place in the fight for the Spanish GOAT.
Javi Fernandezanother Spanish “rara avis” with his international successes in figure skating, Lydia Valentinworld leader in weightlifting, Fernandez Ochoa brothers skiing or even Fernando Martinthe first Spanish basketball player to play in the NBA, with their illustrious sports career in places where no one expected them, they earned the stripes to sit at the table of the best in history. Athletes like Joan Somarribathree-time winner of the Tour de France or Amaya Valdemorothree-time WNBA basketball champions, successful pioneers of the sport whose women’s uniform didn’t make the impact it deserved.
Individual titles vs. teams
Another of the biggest debates when deciding who is the best athlete in history usually revolves around What weighs more, an individual title or a collective one? What is more important is a successful career in an individual sport or the ability to succeed in a team sport. Regarding individual sports, Spain has excellent guidelines not yet mentioned in this text: Mireya BelmonteOlympic swimming champion; Carlos Sainztwo-time world rally champion and four-time winner of the Dakar Rally; Fermin Cacholegendary Olympic champion in athletics; Mark Marquezeight-time world champion in motorsports; Gervasio DeferreDuring her career as a gymnast, she won two Olympic golds and one silver; or Arantxa Sanchez Vicariowinner of six Grand Slam tournaments in tennis, the sport we are considering, Rafa Nadal.
On the other hand, collective sport has always been a safe bet for Spanish sport, given the success of our teams from which the already named ones have emerged. Xavi, Iniesta, Casillas, Putellas or Bonmati in football; or Fernando Martin, Pau and Marc Gasol, Amaya Valdemoro or Alba Torrens in basketball. Also Manel Estiarte or Jennifer Pareja in water polo or Rafa Pascual in volleyball. Many names of outstanding representatives of their teams who contributed to collective success with their individual contributions.
Olympic achievements
The Olympics are an important moment for the world’s great athletes and many of us see their careers, despite their extremely illustrious careers, only receive accolades when they achieve Olympic success. This is the case with Spanish athletes such as David Cal or Saul Craviotto in canoeing, Joan Llaneras in track cycling, Ona Carbonell in synchronized swimming or Teresa Perales in swimming. Great Olympic champions and winners of many medals for our country.
Nadal, in this case, also has an impeccable Olympic resume. Two gold medals: one individual in Beijing in 2008 and one in doubles with Mark Lopez in Rio 2016. They further strengthened the brilliant career of the Spanish tennis player, who, including in this section, once again claims the throne of the best Spanish athlete in history. This? You judge.