In just over a week, the tennis world will get a never-before-seen insight into the life of Rafael Nadal.<\/p>\n
The 22-time major winner has teamed up with Netflix for a four-part documentary series that will air from May 29.<\/p>\n
The fly-on-the-wall show, titled \u2018Rafa\u2019, will follow his journey from childhood, right up until his final season on the ATP Tour in 2024.<\/p>\n
Although Nadal<\/a> has been retired for nearly two years now, the 39-year-old is still a massive draw card in the sport, with fans eager to hear about his latest developments.<\/p>\n Ahead of that becoming a reality,\u00a0Tennis365<\/strong> has made some takeaways from the Rafa Netflix trailer<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rafael Nadal responds when asked if anyone can win more French Open titles than him<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n French Open men\u2019s draw: Djokovic dealt early hurdles, as Sinner & Zverev lead way<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as\u00a0<\/span>a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for tennis coverage you can trust<\/strong><\/p>\n Athletes are often shaped by the opposition they face. Indeed, Nadal was arguably part of the greatest era ever to grace tennis.<\/p>\n Between Novak Djokovic<\/a>, Roger Federer, and himself, the Big Three won a remarkable 66 Grand Slams, as they dominated the sport for decades.<\/p>\n So, what better people to comment on Nadal as a tennis player than Djokovic and Federer<\/a>? The trailer had brief snippets of the Serb and the Swiss stating what it was like to face the King of Clay.<\/p>\n The former said that every match is \u201clive or die\u201d with Nadal, and the latter said you had to play at \u201csuperhuman\u201d levels to beat him. John McEnroe also features in a stellar line-up.<\/p>\n When Nadal burst onto the scene in the mid noughties, many thought his high-octane, uber-physical style would see him burn out in his 20s.<\/p>\n In fact, in 2005, when he was just 19, Nadal was informed he would never play again due to a congenital bone issue in his foot.<\/p>\n But somehow, the Spaniard won 22 majors and played until he was 38. One thing this trailer does not shy away from was his litany of injuries.<\/p>\n Footage shows him getting various scans and ultrasounds on a number of issues and ailments. For many Nadal fans, his injury issues are a case of what might have been in the \u2018Greatest of all time\u2019 debate.<\/p>\n Nadal spent much of his glittering career with Toni Nadal in his coaching corner. The duo enjoyed a huge amount of success but it came at a cost.<\/p>\n As mentioned above, the former world No 1 had a multitude of different injuries in his career, as his physical style took its toll on his body. And in one line, Uncle Toni summed up the mantra that his nephew lived and died by on the court.<\/p>\n \u201cI never told Rafael it would be easy, but he got used to suffering,\u201d before later adding, \u201cEndure one more ball\u201d.<\/p>\n If there was ever a sportsman to embody that attitude, it was Nadal \u2013 who had an iron will, a never-say-die attitude, and perhaps unrivalled mental strength.<\/p>\n 4) The Last Dance vibes<\/strong><\/p>\n Akin to Michael Jordan\u2019s hugely popular Netflix documentary, The Last Dance, this Rafa show will closely follow the 6ft 1in player\u2019s final season.<\/p>\n The trailer highlights how back in 2024, he had fallen to 652nd in the world rankings, his last tournament win was 18 months ago (the 2022 French Open), and he was not far off 40.<\/p>\n In that season, he played just 20 matches, winning 12 and losing eight. The year prior, he had stepped onto the court on just four occasions.<\/p>\n Nadal had become a part-time player at that point and now this documentary is set to show just how much the great man was struggling before hanging up his racket.<\/p>\n 5) Family<\/strong><\/p>\n Going by comments Nadal has made after his career, he does not miss tennis.<\/p>\n His body was broken and now his priorities are his family, including his wife Maria Perello and their children: Rafael Jr and Miquel.<\/p>\n And during the trailer, Nadal admitted he was \u201cliving with constant pain\u201d. There is only so much a human being can take.<\/p>\n As Maria summed it up, \u201cIt was very clear, his body could not give anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n All of this and more will be explored across the four episodes of Rafa, which will be released midway through the French Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Rafael Nadal opens up on mental health struggles and medication during slump<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post \u2018Every match is live or die\u2019 \u2013 Five things we learned from upcoming Rafael Nadal Netflix show<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In just over a week, the tennis world will get a never-before-seen insight into the life of Rafael Nadal. The 22-time major winner has teamed up with Netflix for a four-part documentary series that will air from May 29. The fly-on-the-wall show, titled \u2018Rafa\u2019, will follow his journey from childhood, right up until his final […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More Tennis News<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1) Big Three feature<\/strong><\/h4>\n
2) Injuries<\/h4>\n
3) Indomitable spirit<\/strong><\/h4>\n