Imagine doing the same thing for 30 years or so, doing it better than anyone who has ever lived, and then one day it becomes something completely new.
And the same goes for Rafael Nadal in this Spring Behind the Glass. For years, no place felt more like home than the red clay courts. He sometimes lost matches. He does it all. But he rarely played poorly.
He could leave some guts on the court with an effort that would keep most of the population from walking for weeks. That way, he could wake up in the morning and start preparing to start all over again within a few hours. And sometimes he would really do it all over again.
Those days are over and will probably never return. A year and a half after a debilitating hip injury, a year since major surgery to repair it, and two years since becoming a mainstay on the Pro Tour, every day of play has become an experiment and a mystery for Nadal. teeth.
How far can he push? How far can he go? How does his body feel when he opens his eyes for the first time every morning, when he rolls out of bed, when he picks up his 18-month-old son, Rafa, when he steps onto the court to warm up? -Stroke the ball for the first time in an up session?
The latest test came Tuesday night against Jiri Rehekka, a talented young Czech with a flexible physique and nimble power that the ever-brutalist Nadal never possessed. But this match had nothing to do with the contrast or the scores he and Nadal showed.
That was Nadal's latest experiment.
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A little more than 24 hours before Nadal and Reheca took to the court, Nadal had played three sets and more than three hours against Pedro Cachin of Argentina. In both games The most important number on the scoreboard was counting elapsed time. How much rolling backhands and bullwhip forehands can Nadal endure, or even want to endure, at Roland Garros, his roadster that begins in 26 days?
Nadal balances fitness and pride for final season (Mateo Villalba/Getty Images)
The first set lasted 57 minutes, with Rehekka overcoming three tough service holds and taking advantage of Nadal's mistake in the 11th game before breaking. Rehekka then broke Nadal's serve in the first game of the second set. Nadal's balls flew long without bothering him too much and began to pierce the net. I couldn't help but think about how Nadal had explained his game plan moving forward after his three-hour fistfight with Kachin the night before.
“Don't be crazy, but try,” he said. That was the end result for Rehekka's 7-5, 6-4 victory, which lasted just over two hours.
Under the circumstances, the third set and another hour could have been considered crazy.
A 29-year-old journeyman who knows his way around on clay, Kachin gave Nadal all he could handle and more than anyone expected, locking him into a long battle for points and putting Nadal on base. He scrambled over the line. A few years ago, this would have been a sure day for Nadal. He knew by a close margin what version of himself he would be on the court for the clay court, for the win, for the next game.
Instead, he walked down the halls of Caja Magica on Monday night, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head, telling everyone who would listen that he had no idea what was going to happen.
“I've never had such a bad recovery after a tough match, even when I was 36 or 35,” said Nadal, now nearly 38. “Today was completely different. It wasn't just the injury. First of all, the injury. Second…I had never missed a tennis tournament in almost two years.”
We all know what this means for Nadal – wondering if it's worth putting his name in the French Open draw. He has won this tournament 14 times, and his record at Roland Garros is a ridiculous 112 wins. -3. He's not just going to get applause and bouquets of flowers, and he's not going to go to admire his nine-foot-tall statue outside the court of Philippe Chatrier.
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He knows his tennis is there, but he's only going to go if he believes his body is there too. This is a five-set tennis game played on clay courts, with matches typically lasting close to three hours and sometimes longer. His current serve is slowed down due to a midsection injury and does not allow him to win many quick and easy points. Almost everything he acquires has to be earned through hard work. Late in the second set on Tuesday night, 40 percent of Rehekka's serves went unreturned and he sped up his already difficult serve hold, hearing “Rafa, Rafa, Rafa” in his ears every time he stood up. I was able to break through. This line. Asked how he coped with them, the Czech world number 31 could only puff out his cheeks and reply, “I don't know.”
Nadal's number was 6 percent.
Nadal ultimately couldn't impose himself on Rehekka (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Unlike the 24-hour turnaround from Katyn to Rehechka, Roland Garros means you'll have a day off between matches, but the past few days in Madrid have nonetheless been a grind, recovery, and recovery that feels like an eternity. , my first experience with a grind routine. What sports demand.
He wasn't able to do that 10 days ago in Barcelona, ​​winning the match but essentially folding after losing the first set in two seconds. Had he pushed harder in that moment, he might have been back to where he was in January at the tune-up tournament in Brisbane ahead of the Australian Open. So in his third game he pushed too early. He made some adjustments and went to sleep. An MRI scan in the morning revealed that he had a tear. Recovery took three months and many more moments of doubt followed.
Maybe it was this? He could swing a racket, but there was no way he could try to recreate the intensity of a top-level match. So are intense 3-hour training sessions. He just wasn't strong enough.
Madrid was different. His strength is back, but it's not something you can chart. He still has no idea what will happen from one day to the next.
“It's unpredictable, that's all. Today we have to accept the unpredictability,” he said earlier this week. “You have to accept that.”
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In a sense, Nadal has been preparing for this moment for more than 20 years, ever since doctors discovered he had a congenital defect in his foot that nearly put him at risk even before his career began. is. He had to accept a very uncertain future. Everything that followed was a kind of gift.
This experience marked the beginning of Zen Rafa. A few years ago, he compared his opponent's ace to rain, but he couldn't control it and just accepted it. Now he's back where it all started, and not just because Madrid is where he first felt he could compete at the highest level back in 2003.
Surely Nadal would have liked to win again in this packed metal band box, in front of 12,000 people who love him. He is one of the greatest sporting heroes this country has ever produced, and legendary Real Madrid and Spain striker Raul González Blanco knows it all too well. There he watched the match against Kachin.
But Nadal knew he had already won by being able to answer the gong against Rehekka. He only wished he could do that the night before when he closed his eyes. He marked another victory by picking up some easy points on his serve. The classic combination of looping one ball and crushing his next one, the quick bend of the short-hop winner, the perfect slice as he chased his serve and hit the net midway through the second set. Volley and win, win, win.
The moment he sprinted from his chair toward the baseline, one game away from defeat, and the 12,000-strong crowd rose to its feet and cheered, rattling around the metal building – perhaps the biggest moment. It may have been a victory. He did it again on match point and screamed his name as he sprayed his final backhand wide in what was likely his last match in the city.
Madrid's tribute to Nadal after defeat (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
He described the night as “very positive in many ways, not just sportingly but emotionally.”
“Spending 21 years here has been a gift,” Nadal told the crowd during the post-match on-court celebration. “The emotions I had when I played in Madrid and played on this court will stay with me forever.”
Still, Nadal is embracing the uncertainty of his future, basking in love and making plans. He is now trying to improve his form and pass the test in all matches and can dream of magic not only at Roland Garros but also beyond.
The Olympics will be held at Roland Garros. He hopes to at least play doubles there with Carlos Alcaraz, who is poised to succeed Nadal in Spanish tennis. Last week, he committed to play in the Laver Cup, a competition between European teams and world teams created by his friend and rival Roger Federer. That was in September.
Madrid played four matches in six days. Assuming his body survives all of this, he is scheduled to head to Rome for next week's Italian Open for another series of tests. Next comes the decision regarding the French Open.
It is both imminent and still far in the future. Nadal, despite his greatness, still somehow always manages to act like a normal guy, living his days just like we all do, as the saying goes. .
(Top photo: Manuel Queimadelos/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
