phrase summarizing Nadal’s philosophy of pain and effort | Relief

“It’s the ischium!” Rafael Nadal when the quarterfinal match of the Australian Open had just begun. It’s January 2011 and the Spaniard is dating David Ferrer, who is a real rock. And Nadal suffered a hamstring injury to his left leg shortly after jumping into the Rod Laver Arena.

“I probably had a muscle tear,” Nadal adds, looking at the bench. On his first visit to the chair, with the score 2-1 on the scoreboard, the then number one takes a pill and goes to the locker room to have doctors bandage his thigh. He wants to continue, he wants to try. In those minutes that the bandage is held on, Toni Nadal snorts in the stands and shakes his head. You can’t believe it: injury again, again at a crucial moment.

Some time later, Nadal returns to the court through the tunnel with an unfriendly face. You know it He is unwell and understands that with such a leg it will be almost impossible to defeat Ferrer.. When the clock shows the 50th minute of the match and the score is 5-2 down in the first set, Nadal approaches the corner where his box should leave the towel, and His uncle tells him to leave. “Tony, I’m in the quarterfinals of Australia and I’m not going to give up at all,” Nadal replies.

in Mallorca.

This phrase is a good summary of Nadal’s philosophy. its culture of effort and your pain tolerance. Always try, no matter what, to compete and fight. Give up only when there is no other choice, when all the doors are closed. Logically, Nadal would end up losing this duel with scores of 6-4, 6-2 and 6-3. and medical tests he later underwent in Melbourne confirmed what he already knew: a fibrillary hamstring rupture.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion suffered from countless injuries throughout his life. In total, he abandoned nine games in his career and failed to even compete six more times. Of those 15 withdrawals, five came at Grand Slams and seven at Masters 1000 events. What doesn’t show up in the stats is the number of times Nadal finished a match injured..

One of them is Australia versus Ferrer. Another Wimbledon 2022 quarterfinal against Fritz.a duel which he won in five sets despite tearing his abdomen in the second set. Tony was no longer on the bench that day, but his father, sister and agent told him the same thing: resign. But no: he continued and won, although the next day, a few hours before the semi-final, he had to withdraw. Another example is the 2014 Australian final against Wawrinka, to whom he scored a set while barely being able to serve. Or the Roland Garros 2022 tournament, which he played and won, from the first round to the final, with his leg locked..

Criticism of Ivan Ferreiro: “He is a piece of crap”

This ode to resilience helped raise his legend several notches.: The athlete that comes to almost everyone’s mind when it comes to overcoming injuries, falling and getting back up, and not giving up. It is true that tennis is a sport that is very taxing on the body, and it is rare that a player completes a tournament without discomfort. But Nadal always went one step further. “Since 2005, he has not been able to play a Grand Slam without taking painkillers.”

Tony Nadal, the man who shaped him since childhood, said recently.

However, Nadal For this attitude, he not only received praise and applause. He also became the target of harsh criticism. The most famous is this is the singer Ivan Ferreiro, who in an interview with Esquire accused Nadal of being “an example of crap for children.”.

“I’m very worried, for the worse, about Rafa Nadal (…) the shitty example he’s setting by going to play a match in ruins. And everyone says: “What a good example for children!” Well, I think this is an example of crap. It took us many years to ensure that when we feel sick, we don’t have to go to work to This millionaire, in order to have a medal, tells us that he had a broken leg.“these words of the musician went viral in April 2023.

Nadal’s answer

In just a month, Nadal responded to him during the famous press conference he gave at his academy announce that he is leaving Roland Garros and that he would have hip surgery. This was not a direct response, as neither the journalist nor the tennis player was named Ivan Ferreiro, but given recent criticism, it was assumed that it was a response to the musician’s words.

“A person should do things the way you feel them. I don’t work or do anything exemplary in my daily life and I don’t pretend to be exemplary. I do what I think is right from the point of view of my ethics. And ethics is not the same for you as it is for me.“,” the 22-time Grand Slam champion began, before delivering a detailed speech about leading by example and mental health.

“If we move on to being an example, I also don’t want to be an example that might stop too early. If I need to be an example in something, I prefer to stop later than earlier, because in the end, I think we become mentally weak.

“Said Manacori, who went through a major anxiety problem between 2015 and 2016. “Without a doubt, we need to provide medications when a person has mental problems, when they have depression, when they have illnesses. These are very serious things. “When you have mental health problems, you should certainly work with professionals to resolve them.”

“Mental health is vital, but mental health needs to be trained. Apart from illnesses, we must train him. If at least something doesn’t work out for us, we stop because we can’t burn out; in my opinion, we will untrain our psyche. and disappointment in training. And if we are disappointed at the first opportunity, we become even more unhappy. Of course, there is a point when you can no longer tolerate it, when it’s fair to stop, but for me, before making this decision, you need to give yourself a lot of opportunities, and I believe that this is the right thing to do. “