Rafael Nadal will be proposed as Honorary Doctor of the University of Salamanca

The Governing Council of the University of Salamanca has included in the agenda of the session to be held this Wednesday, the 18th, the proposal to name Rafael Nadal as an Honoris Causa doctor. “It is more than likely” that the proposal will have the support of the Governing Council, given his “excellent” sporting record, which includes his 92 ATP titles, including 22 Grand Slams, two Olympic golds and five Davis Cups.

Rafael Nadal, recently retired, has also been recognized in the past with the Prince of Asturias Sports Award in 2008, as well as the National Sports Award for Best Athlete, on three occasions, and the Grand Cross of Sports Merit.

Furthermore, the USAL proposal highlights his “example of values, humility and simplicity” to be proposed by the Governing Council as a new honoris causa, the most important honorary title of the university. Once the proposal is voted on in the Governing Council, it will reach the Senate of Doctors in January 2025 and, over the next year, the Mallorcan tennis player would receive the recognition in the USAL Auditorium.

Toni Nadal, the most influential man in his career

Nadal announced his retirement last October, when he confirmed that the 2024 Davis Cup finals would be his last tournament as a professional tennis player. “They have been two difficult years in which I have not been able to play without limitations. “It is a difficult decision and it has taken me a while to make it, but in this life everything has a beginning and an end and it is the right time to put an end to a long and much more successful career than I could have ever imagined,” Nadal confessed in a video.

For 27 years, his uncle Toni Nadal has been the most influential man in his career and, in fact, his role was crucial in achieving the greatest successes achieved by the Mallorcan tennis player. Under his tutelage he won the title in 76 tournaments, 16 of them Grand Slams (ten Roland Garros, three US Opens, two Wimbledons and one Australian Open).

Focused on his nephew’s sports training since he was four years old, Antonio Nadal Homar (Manacor, February 22, 1961) was clear that, among other values, he wanted to instill in him those of daily work, effort, constant improvement and, above all, effective management of adversity. “I have always based myself on universal principles that have worked throughout my life and, therefore, for me they have always been the most logical. My way of working is simple and straightforward. “I am not the owner of great theories nor the executor of many complications,” he asserts, in fact, in his book Everything is learned to train.

Throughout his career he did not take his eyes off Rafa Nadal for a second and the way he behaves on the court, to the point of acknowledging that he is “very tough”, both “in words” and “in presence”. “I have always made sure that Rafael felt my pressure on the court. When we are training, even today, I stand very close to him because I want him to feel my pressure. I continually correct him, and I am rarely satisfied, even if I am,” he acknowledged in his book, published in 2015.