After 11 years, Rafael Nadal is back in Colombia. The Spanish tennis player, who does not need a letter of introduction, returns to Bogotá for a new exhibition match, but with a different reality from his previous visit.
In March 2011, a ‘Rafa’ with lush hair and a less busy body appeared on the hard court that was planted in the now non-existent El Campín Coliseum to face Novak Djokovic, who was months away from his worldwide consolidation.
The then number one in the world, motivated by his drive to win – which is still intact, but which was then tied to the desire for revenge in the final that he had lost hours earlier against the Serbian in Indian Wells – won the match by 7- 6 and 6-3.
After trying to dance salsa, posing with his sombrero turned upside down and wearing a backpack woven by indigenous Colombians, the 25-year-old Spanish tennis player traveled directly to Miami to play the local Masters. There, again, he lost to Djokovic in the final, but as time would show, he would have plenty of rematches with him.
For this opportunity, Nadal arrives in the country in a different situation. The tennis player with the most grand slams to date, as his 22 crowns show, comes from one of the most intense years of his life. This, mainly due to the factor that not even gladiators like him can stop: Over time.
(We recommend: Rafael Nadal: the Roland Garros gladiator who beats even his own body).
Nadal’s 2022
After ending the 2021 season prematurely due to Müller-Weiss syndrome, a rare hopeless condition that causes his left foot to cause “permanent pain” as a result of a tarsal alteration, his foot problems, Rafael Nadal starred in a brilliant run of 20 games without losing at the start of the year.
A pain in the pectoral, added to an imposing Taylor Fritz in Indian Wells, ended the streak and sowed doubts for the start of the brick dust tour, in which Nadal is the quintessential host.
The elimination before a lad Carlos Alcaraz In the third round of the Masters 1000 in Madrid, Spain was seen as the meeting between the past, the present and the future of local tennis. Then, Nadal fell to the also young Denis Shapovalov in the second round of the Rome Masters and a flow never seen before was unleashed when a reporter muttered: “It seems that you are injured.”
“I have not been injured. I am a player who lives with an injury. The pain is permanent. Pain takes away your happiness, and not just to play, but to live (…) there will come a day when my head will say ‘enough’”, an injured Nadal said then.
Pain takes away your happiness, and not just to play, but to live (…) there will come a day when my head will say ‘enough
Then 10 days later, as he has done so many times in his career, Nadal was reborn. And he did it by taking title number 14 in his favorite arena, Roland Garros.
then with goodbye to Roger Federerhis partner in a thousand battles, in the middle of the hard court tour, another breaking point arrived.
And then another shocking piece of news: the birth of ‘Rafa’, his first child with the businesswoman Mery Perelló. With him, the beginning of a reality that, although he has been describing it for a decade, now seems to be more relevant than ever: “There is life beyond tennis”.
Visit with an air of goodbye
Today, Rafael Nadal, who is months away from 37 years old, who is number two in the world, and who continues to have fun playing tennis despite the pain, will face Norwegian Casper Ruud, a 23-year-old tennis player, at the Live Coliseum in Bogotá. years that he finished forging himself in his academy and that is now his rival.
He won his last title so far, that of Roland Garros. He was also defeated in his last official outing of the season during the Masters Tournament, in Turin.
He has been sharing his exhibition tour with him since November 23. So far, after the games in Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador, Nadal has only lost one of these theoretical friendlies. Now, in Bogotá, the penultimate stop of the tour with what may be his last game in Colombia as an active tennis player. It’s the safest.
ANDRES FELIPE BALAGUERA SARMIENTO
SPORTS JOURNALIST EL TIEMPO
Networking: @balagueraaa
The three of Nadal vs. ruud
Colombia present
As a prelude to the duel between the European athletes, scheduled for 7 pm, four of the most outstanding Colombian tennis players of the moment will face each other in a mixed doubles match: Juan Sebastián Cabal, Robert Farah, Camila Osorio and Yuliana Lizarazo
little talents
Those in charge of being the caddies for today’s matches are the 16 winners of the tournament that the organizers of the event prepared for 150 young tennis players in the categories of 12, 14, 16 and 18 years. They, the little talents, will live the experience with Nada up close
The time
At 7 pm it is time for the match between Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud at the Coliseo Live.
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