Nadal, the man
Portugal has a strong passion for football and a big beef with Spain.
Maybe that's why people seem surprised when I say that my favorite sportsman ever is not Cristiano Ronaldo, a fellow countryman, but Rafael Nadal, a Spaniard.
It gets even crazier when people realize that, before 2021, the only thing I knew about Nadal was that he played tennis and was good at it. That was the full spectrum of my knowledge about him.
Last year, I felt drawn to Tennis and it was rather easy to develop this interest in Rafa once I started to see different tournaments and players.
Even without knowing much about his story, there were things that quickly made me crown him as the greatest player in the game. Or at least, my favorite.
First, his grit.
When I started watching Tournaments and Grand Slams (thanks to my friend Daniel), I was surprised by his willingness to always try to get the ball, to respond to the shot. Where others resigned, he attempted.
I watched opponents getting mentally crushed by his presence and attitude, and by all the phenomenal shots that were "impossible" to hit.
Alongside his grit, there's this passion for the sport, a love for the game.
Even though Rafa is the only player to ever win 21 Grand Slams, every time he plays, it feels like you're watching the underdog and a gentleman at the same time. It shines through his overall attitude. You see it through the lack of smiles until the final point is won. It doesn't matter the advantage, he plays like at any moment, everything can change.
However, even though he keeps this extremely competitive mindset, he never fails to keep composure. While other players break racquets or scream at the empire (the tennis referee), Nadal never broke a racquet in his whole career, showing that stoicism is an inherent part of his character.
Not only that but he is known for applauding the greatest shots by his adversaries. The beauty in the game is, to Rafa, a reason to undergo a small break in a battle between two competitive people.
I am a sucker for passion and grit. Watching Rafa run like a madman and try to bring his best game against a player that, technically, doesn't have a chance against him, reminds me of one word: mastery. Some players could "ease off" and step on the breaks. Nadal doesn't lay back.
I remember the exact moment he became my favorite sportsman.
January 30th of 2022, the Australian Open finals.
His opponent was Dani Medvedev, a Russian player that was on a roll. He had beaten Djokovic in the US Open finals and was expecting to win against Rafa, beating 2 out of the 3 greatest tennis players in Grand Slam finnals (Federer being the missing one).
Except for bathroom breaks, I didn't leave the room for 5 hours and 24 minutes, eyes glued to the screen, flabbergasted with the game.
Just to give you some context, Rafa was not in his peak health.
He caught Covid a few weeks before the tournament and was almost "unable to move" for at least 2 days. Not only that but, throughout the tournament, his fixed injury on the left foot posed some challenges.
Medvedev, on the other hand, was cruising through the tournament, with a high momentum behind him. Once again, the Spaniard was considered the underdog.
In the first two sets, it was mostly Medvedev. I was messaging Daniel and we both agree that Rafa was having a hard time dealing with the Russian player. The second set finished with the clock barely showing 2 hours and I felt sad. To win, Nadal would have to win 3 consecutive sets against a player forcing his own impetus in the game. I knew he was strong, but even to him, that looked impossible.
What I've since learned is that, after a certain point, tennis is purely mental. And I had underestimated Nadal's mental game.
In the 3 hours that followed, Nadal was able to completely shift the momentum of the game, winning 3 consecutive sets (unprecedented in the history of the tournament finals) and becoming the first player to win 21 Grand Slams.
I remember opening my Roam Research while watching the game and writing:
I’m enjoying watching Rafa giving everything he got. I want to be like that in whatever I do. If Nadal wins this game, my motto will be: “If rafa did it, I’ll do it as well.”
After 2 hours, I had a new motto.
From that moment on, I knew I was witnessing a true master play.
That's why I started to follow him, researching his story, background and overall life. That led me to his autobiography "Rafa", the basis of this essay.
This piece is a mere homage to Nadal in the form of my own notes about his mindset and personal story.
The greatest match in Tennis History
The beautiful thing about the game of Tennis is that no shot is equal. There are tiny differences in the ball, the body...There's always something changing.
Even so, there are games that are just too different. Rafa and John Carlin, his co-writer, spend most of this book talking about one of these.
Considered by many the greatest tennis match of all time, most of the book takes us through the 2008 Wimbledon finals, when Nadal faced Federer for the third year in a row.
He had lost the previous 2 matches. The 2007 final was particularly hard for Nadal since he felt his mental game had failed him miserably. It had such a negative impact on him that he ended up spending the hour after the match sobbing in the shower. The whole family was worried about him as the 2008 final approached.
Pain was one of the biggest drivers behind this particular game.
It had been so for the whole year after the 2007 final and, this time, Nadal felt differently about the match. In the previous 2 games, Federer was the favorite, no doubt about it. However, in 2008, Rafa felt that it could go both ways and that was enough.
Before the greatest match of all time, Nadal slept 5 hours. The adrenaline was enough to wake him up and prepare him for the biggest challenge in his career so far.
He had a game plan and followed it for the first 2 sets, increasing his confidence with every play.
In the third set, they went to a tie-break where Nadal kept his momentum. Everything was going according to plan. And then he made a mistake.
"I thought I deserved to be where I was and that I was on the brink of conquering Wimbledon. Dumb. Really dumb. It was one of the very, very few moments in my entire career in which I thought I’d won, before I’d won."
That was enough for him to let his guard down and Federer, being one of the greatest players of all time, took advantage of that and won the third set. Not only that but Federer actually built enough momentum to win the fourth set, recovering from a precarious position and showing everyone why he was number 1.
The odds weren't in Nadal's favor. Facing the number 1 player, with full momentum behind it, in a tournament where he was considered the golden boy.
Not only that but, in the 5th set, the match was delayed due to rain. Those 30 minutes would, technically, favor Federer. Everyone was expecting Nadal to dwell on his mistakes on the 3rd and 4th sets, even Toni Nadal, his uncle and coach.
In fact, Toni didn't believe Nadal was going to make it. He struggled with words, something rare in his career as coach. However, both his uncle and father were surprised by the way they found Rafa in the locker room. Focused and composed instead of confused or defeated.
Everyone was operating based on an old narrative, the one that made him lose in the previous years. This time, Nadal believed he could win and was ready to make anything needed in order to bring that trophy home.
The rain stopped, the match returned and Rafael Nadal won.
Later that year, he became number 1 in the world for the first time.
He credits this (and all his achievements) to his mental game and family.
Principles for a great mental game
I consider myself a full-time learner.
This means that every time I read a book (even if it's an autobiography), I try to focus on, not only memorizing interesting stories but also trying to apply the ideas to my own life.
In this case, my starting question was: How can I develop a mindset that's closer to Nadal?
I’m happy to report that I’ve learned a few things.
The first lesson is that voices inside your head pose the biggest obstacle to personal mastery. Champions focus on shutting everything down and focusing only on the present moment.
Understanding this gives you both a prescription (focus on the present moment) and some relief by understanding that even champions have to deal with the resistance that springs from internal voices.
The capacity to carefully select which voices are you going to hear is a trait of champions and something one should aim to aspire to as well.
The question then becomes: How does he do it?
Leaving it to phenomena like "chance" or "willpower" is not the solution, that's why Nadal developed a set of structures that allow him to increase the chances of positioning himself in the game the best way possible: Rituals.
When everything else is falling apart and beyond your control, the best way to maintain order within is to force structure outside.
Rituals are highly structured due to their rigidity, repetition and redundancy. In other words, they're predictable. Coping with the anxiety that springs from living in a world filled with chaos can be done by having a set of rituals. Maybe that's why people resist change, right? Keeping painful rituals is better than embracing the anxiety that may come from new, better ones. But I derail...
The main point is to use Rituals as a way to make sure that, regardless of what's happening in the match (or life) , you're able to keep your composure and have some feeling of order and control.
Now, another element that's very present in the way Nadal approaches tennis, training and life is endurance. In his own words: "the acceptance of the present moment as it is, not as you wish it to be, looking ahead, not behind".
This applies at all levels. Physical and mental, regarding himself and the opponent. Endurance is the cornerstone of Nadal's philosophy. It was instilled by his uncle while he was young and became a tenet, a practice that he keeps.
In terms of physical pain, this principle has come in handy.
Nadal points out that pain is the mind. This means that if you're able to control the mind, you can control the body. And he's someone who actually practices this principle, having played a bunch of games while being injured.
Broken fingers, a problem in his ribs, leg and foot injuries...Nadal played through all of these while practicing this principle. And, even though we usually think about this related to physical pain, this principle of endurance, also helps with mental games.
While playing Federer and Djokovic, he had to face moments of "pure genius", when they entered a flow state, creating extreme conditions against him.
In those moments, Rafa's confidence rested on the belief that is was impossible for anyone to keep that level forever.
But how can you actually believe that? Well, once again, we’re back to the voices.
Look, we can try to apply this principle in our own lives.
What are your voices saying? Maybe they're trying to sabotage your current endeavor, whatever that is. A voice that says that you can't do it, that's your Shadow manifested in your life.
Conquering that Shadow is the only way to beat whatever challenge you have in front of you. Nadal talks about increasing aggression against the parts that no longer serve you.
"I had to beat myself to beat Federer". Isn't this life-changing?
The proof of ultimate ownership, showing that the true challenge is the conquest that happens within.
A Shadow may take different forms, demanding different challenges, and various struggles. Overconfident people will see it manifested in a much different way than someone who's used to being an underdog.
To the latter, "fighting" and "surviving" is a natural way, and letting go of that, rationally sounds good, but creates emotional discomfort.
The biggest challenge for anyone who thinks of himself as the underdog is to actually go through the identity shift that allows victory to be an option.
Once you conquer yourself, things become easier. You're no longer stuck to a specific identity, controlling your mental game. You're able to create the conditions to either win or have your opponent lose.
The commitment to get to this level, both physically and mentally , is high.
Mastery is always a tradeoff.
You have to be willing to let go of something in order to gain the prize of being a master. Think about areas such as sports or music. These are great things for you to practice, contributing to your happiness and fulfillment. However, doing it at a high level, in a masterful way, makes a toil on you.
The truth, though, is that most of these masters embrace the painful side because they're obsessed. Pursuing greatness involves, almost always, a degree of focus, perseverance and obsession around a specific idea or craft. This is not something you can turn "on" and "off", sometimes leaking into other areas of one's life.
In Nadal's case, his obsession comes from fear. Projecting control and order into a world of chaos and randomness, trying to prevent every negative thing that can happen, is his fuel.
Since the amount of control is so little in his general life, he overcompensates it with extreme control in another area, tennis, hence the rituals while playing.
This is called "compensatory control model", making Nadal, "the tennis player" a form of escapism out of the cold reality that Nadal, “the human”, lives in a world filled with unexpected chaos.
Rafa cares a lot about what he does, about his actions. Because of it, he developed a weird relationship with the notion of identity.
Identity is this rather abstract concept, used to convey a specific idea about ourselves. It dictates part of our values, beliefs, abilities, behaviors and results. However, because it relates to the sense of self it can be...ephemeral. Actions, on the other hand, are concrete things that happen in the outside world.
Nadal cares much more about the latter. He doesn't like to think about himself based on who he is, but on what he does. He understands that any opportunity that appears in his life, is based on his actions. Once you take that away, the identity itself is meaningless, lacking a stable foundation to be built upon.
That makes him a down-to-earth person, never allowing his feats to overthrow his humility. And maybe that's why I like him so much.
Because, at the end of the day, Nadal is an example of a gentleman, a true sportsman, focused on improving himself and devoted to his art. Always humble and respectful, a true master and an inspiration.
Regardless of what he does in the future, I'm happy that I witnessed him play and feel compelled to apply some of these principles in my own life.
In his words: Vamos!