Rafael Nadal, now, has already retired. He has not done it to his liking or ours because Spain fell in the Davis Cup in Malaga in a strange, almost cursed way, against the Netherlands. The decisive point was the doubles and although the scoreboard reflected great equality (double 7-6 for the visitors), there was a feeling of rowing against the current in vain. At the mercy of an adverse fate to the goodbye of the best Spanish athlete of all time. Everything in this life is what could have been and wasn’t, even this bittersweet but easily digestible goodbye.
From the early morning goodbye, I am left with two things: Nadal’s recognition of family as a pillar in life and his desire to be remembered as a good kid from a town in Mallorca, that island that is neither what it was nor it will cease to be. Mallorcans are small enough to think that they can lose their identity no matter how many tourists come to them. Family and righteousness, not bad.
About goodbye, two details: the recognition of the family and the desire to be remembered as a good town boy
Spain is a country very much its own. As we said about another tennis great, Juan Gisbert: capable of the best and the worst. The same country that makes an out-of-place rant about a tragedy –see Valencia–, at the same time offers a popular example of altruism, solidarity and kindness. On this landscape, Nadal has built an exceptional sporting career: twenty years of good news. Twenty years showing values to the world that Spain as a country has not always been able to transmit. Because in the world, without discussions, in New York, Paris or Hong Kong, everything is about naming Rafael Nadal and listening to praise.
Memory cannot be fooled. That is why Alzheimer’s is such a cruel disease: it strips human beings of what distinguishes them from a penguin, a cockatoo or those lazy pandas. Nadal has managed, like no one before, to share his successes with everyone, perhaps because he won a Grand Slam when he just turned 19. Far from settling in – you are only young once – he always wanted to improve, knowing the price, which has been none other than sacrifice, dedication and daily training. Anything but resting on one’s laurels. I don’t know so many Spaniards like that. And between “let’s go!” and “let’s go!” –already a universal expression–, we saw him mature and challenge the fear that one day he would fail us. Who can forget the Wimbledon final won against Roger Federer on July 6, 2008?
And when leaving, a kiss and a flower, as that one would sing. Rafael Nadal has come this far, as far as his body has endured and he leaves us the consolation of having shared his passion and commitment to tennis, work, family, Mallorca and the mother who gave birth to us. Come on, yes, but Nadal stays.
#Nadal #stays #Joaquín #Luna
