Last week, John Isner, the lanky American No 1 and a “diehard fan” of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), wrote a tribute to this year’s WrestleMania in The Players’ Tribune, by drawing “some parallels between the two worlds that I know best: the ATP World Tour and the WWE”. He made some interesting comparisons.
Roger Federer, his “favourite tennis player of all time”, is the “Showstopper. The Icon. The Main Event. He’s our Shawn Michaels”.
Andy Roddick is John Cena and Andy Murray is the British Bulldog. Nick Kyrgios, for obvious reasons, is “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and David Ferrer is Daniel Bryan. Novak Djokovic, of course, is the “excellence of execution”, Brett “The Hitman” Hart, while Jimmy Connors is an “all timer” like Triple H.
And Rafael Nadal? He is the Ultimate Warrior.
“That raw, intense, one-of-a-kind energy,” Isner wrote. “Both won championships, and both packed stadiums. But mostly, it’s that energy. There will never be another Warrior, and there will never be another Rafa.”
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True, and only the prejudiced would disagree with that. The tenacity and energy that Nadal brings to the court has never been seen before, and is unlikely to ever be matched. Arriving on the scene as a precocious teenager, donning what was then described as the pirate look — bandannas, sleeveless tops and capri shorts — the Spaniard took the tennis world by storm.
Fans had never seen such physicality on court, such intensity. Or the energy that Isner has spoken about. But alas, that energy has been missing, on most days, over the past 15 months and Nadal has seemed like an impostor of his old self, anxious and wrecked by self-doubts.
“I pledge daily to overcome the anxiety caused by the results of 2015,” said Nadal in a TV interview last week. Last year, he did win three titles, but for the first time since 2005, he failed to win a major or a Masters title. The King of Clay also suffered six defeats on his favourite surface, matching his worst performance (2003) on the surface.
But in 2015, as Nadal said, “I was fighting against myself”. Now, the tide is turning. Slowly, but surely. Or hopefully. “Now, I am fighting against my opponents,” he said. “Now I feel great and I feel ready for my favourite part of the season.”
Nadal starts his favourite part of the season in Monte Carlo this week, a place where he won eight consecutive titles between 2005 and 2012 before Novak Djokovic brought his incredible streak to an end in the 2013 final.
Interestingly, this is the first time since 2012 that he will be arriving in Monte Carlo without a title. He came to the principality without a title in 2008, 2010 and 2011 as well, and he left with the title in all four of those years.
So Monte Carlo is certainly not such a bad place for the erstwhile King of Clay to start his bid to regain his throne. From Monaco, he will return home to play in Spain, at Barcelona and Madrid, where he has won eight and four titles respectively. Then comes Rome, where Nadal is a seven-time champion, and then the battle for the Coupe des Mousquetaires at Roland Garros, a title he has won nine times.
Nadal has a staggering 70-2 win-loss record at the French Open across 11 years, but was drubbed in straight sets by Djokovic in the quarter-finals last year, which means the Serb will get top billing this summer on the clay courts. The world No 1 Djokovic is the prohibitive favourite to make a cleansweep on European dirt this season, but Nadal still sees some hope.
“No one wins for eternity,” Nadal said. “Djokovic will not win every tournament until the end of his career and will not play for other 20 years.
“He is at a higher level than the others, but If I play well I think I can compete with him.”
And competing, as Nadal says, is the “most important thing” for him. That is what makes him tennis’ Ultimate Warrior.
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