US Open 2019: Rafael Nadal's drive, dynamism and perpetual quest for greatness fuel second coming as tennis' all-time great

At 33, Rafael Nadal is playing arguably some of the best tennis of his career. The leanest and fittest he has been in some time, the current World No 2 has won more Grand Slams in the last decade than any of the other Big 3. Now, having won his 19th Major with an edge-of-the-seat battle against a resilient Daniil Medvedev, Nadal is only one short of Federer’s all-time record — and looks primed to overtake the Swiss great. And somehow for him, it has seemed almost effortless. But make no mistake, more effort has gone into making it look that way. And while surgeries and strategic scheduling, physiotherapists and sports science have played a major role, they will still never be the biggest reason for Rafael Nadal’s longevity. That reason has been, and will always be Rafael Nadal himself. [caption id=“attachment_7310411” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rafael Nadal’s resilience has been the cornerstone of his long career. Reuters[/caption] The Spaniard has always been one of the fittest players on Tour, but the second coming of Nadal has been fitness of a different kind. This is the kind of fitness that comes when you need to balance all the injuries you have accumulated over the immensely successful half of your career. Injury management is as big a part of tennis as anything else, and Nadal’s list of injuries reads like his body has fallen apart and then, somehow, miraculously come back together. If there’s a body part that’s involved in tennis, Nadal has injured it. Wrists. Hips. Back. Knees. And still, he hasn’t just lived to tell the tale — he has thrived. From being the definitive claycourt magician to being on the cusp of equalling an all-time record, past few years have been transformative in Nadal’s return. There were some years, of course, if you’ll excuse the pun, when he looked a bit Rafa round the edges. He has not been entirely injury-free this year, either: He withdrew from Brisbane, and then Indian Wells and Miami due to injury-related issues. He also withdrew from Cincinnati ahead of the US Open this year, openly telling people it was for “no other reason than personally taking care of (my) body and trying to keep as healthy as I feel now.” Nadal went pro at the age of 15, in 2001. He won his first ATP Tour-level match only months shy of his 16th birthday — only the ninth person to win a match on the tour under 16. For context, Eminem’s Lose Yourself was released just six months later. In today’s terms, that was definitely a different time. Almost a different era. Players who tend to peak as early as Nadal did, particularly with his immense success in his teens, tend also to fade away just as quickly in no small part due to the immense stress the game puts on their bodies. It is not an easy sport mentally either, as so many young talents on Tour have displayed quite early in their careers. To give you even more context, the man who has been Nadal’s coach since 2016 — the former World No 1 Carlos Moya — was one of Nadal’s biggest early conquests on the court. The two met with Nadal entering the 2003 Hamburg Open as a qualifier and going on to topple Moya, the tournament’s second seed, in straight sets in the second round. But it was not always like this. Only four years ago, Nadal was struggling with what were perhaps the worst injuries of his career. His game has always been one that is particularly heavy on the knees, and 2014 and 2015 were especially bad, with his knee struggles combining with a hip injury, a back injury and wrist struggles. Many may not have written Nadal off, perhaps, but at the very least doubted his longevity under the ever-growing strain of his body refusing to cooperate with his mind. And few players have been consigned to retirement in the press as much as Nadal has. Particularly following his 2015 and 2016 seasons — riddled with injuries, withdrawals, and early losses to young claimants of his French Open throne — many expected Nadal to call it a day with his struggling body. After his 2015 US Open loss to old foe, Fabio Fognini, many expected Nadal to draw the curtains. Much was written about it, and Nadal himself looked downcast, exhausted in body and spirit. Given how much he had already achieved by then, few would have blamed him even for deciding to retire. But far from it, Nadal has come right back onto stage and stolen the limelight. Changing his serve and stance, Nadal has been perhaps the best example of tennis longevity we have seen after Federer. Some might argue that Nadal has more of a claim to that longevity title now. Adapting his physical game, particularly his serve, not just to the quicker surfaces, but also to the needs of a body that is neither as young nor as pliable as he would like it to be, Nadal has also, crucially, adopted the advice of a team that knows exactly how he can do that. Only a few years ago, Nadal said that his success was largely due to taking the advice of a team that “really knows what they are doing.” Far from stagnating, Nadal has made changes in his support staff when he needed them most, particularly the inspired hiring of Moya. A lot has been said, and will continue to be said, about the advancement of medicine and science, of an understanding of pain and pain management, but the reality is still that no matter how small or large the pain is, its recurrence can be soul-crushing. For someone with the career consistency and immense success of Nadal, the toll that tennis has taken on his body is clear. In the last year, Nadal has adapted his body to manage the many injuries he has accumulated over his career. But whatever his knees may have said to him, the fire in Nadal’s belly says another thing. Whether you watch a match from 2003, or one from 2019, the game may have changed, but the focus in his eyes has stayed the same. Other claimants to Rafael Nadal’s throne have come and gone, like Lucas Pouille. Some have lingered, like Dominic Thiem. His rivals from then to now — Roger Federer, who is four years older (perhaps an eternity in tennis years), Novak Djokovic and more — have had their own injuries, but for Nadal, spanning generations has seemed almost like child’s play. As his competitors grow younger and younger, Nadal has somehow, still managed to cope phenomenally with almost every style of play that comes his way. His opponents have tried to find his weaknesses — Fabio Fognini, and then, his younger compatriot Matteo Berrettini, in particular — using drop shots to their advantage against the Spaniard. But each time, Nadal has managed to physically — and mentally — adapt to a dynamically shifting group of opponents all too happy to exploit even the smallest weakness in his game. Could Nadal have even closed out today’s Medvedev match faster than he did? Perhaps. But in a match that lasted five hours and sapped even those watching it, to observe Nadal move around the court, chase his shots, and keep his returns too low for the 6'6" Medvedev was akin to watching at a master tactician at play. Did Nadal tire during the longer rallies? Yes; but players much younger, and much less injured than Nadal has been, have done so. Nadal’s knees may give out, but his mind never will. To watch Nadal from 2001 to now is to truly experience greatness — not just in a sporting sense, but in watching just how to grow, to evolve. Today, as Nadal watched his own montage as he went to collect the US Open trophy, perhaps he saw it too. We are not just watching one of the greatest tennis players of all time play the long game, we are watching a man reinvent himself, grow, and outlast even perhaps his own expectations, all while tapping into an almost endless reserve of self-belief. Motivation, thy name is Rafael Nadal.