FEBRUARY 2020 65
RAFAEL NADAL’S
2019 was his career
writ small. He suffered a comprehensive loss
to Novak Djokovic in the final of the Australian
Open, the first major of the season. A knee injury
forced him out of his next big event in March.
He was dispirited and he was 32, ancient for
players not named Roger Federer. Nadal admits
that last spring, even he wondered if his career
was drawing to a close.
But then he returned, rising ever higher, like
one of his topspin-laced forehands.
He won the French Open—of course he did—
for, comically, the 12th time, pushing his career
match record at Roland Garros to 92–2. But he
also took the U.S. Open in September, his 19th
Grand Slam singles title, reminding the world that
while he’s a peerless clay-court player, he’s also
plenty good with the other surfaces underfoot.
(Fun fact: Nadal has as many major titles off clay
as immortals on the order of John McEnroe and
Venus Williams each have in total.)
In the fall Nadal nudged ahead of Djokovic to
finish the season ranked No. 1. He single-hand-
edly—or double-handedly, as it were—led Spain
to a sixth Davis Cup victory. He also married
his longtime girlfriend, Maria Francisca Perello.
(Otherwise, it was a slow year.)
Here is a player who entered the ATP’s top 10
as a teenager in 2005 and has never left. The
embodiment of relentlessness, Nadal has endured
all manner of physical injuries, yet each time he
has battled past them and regained his form.
LIFE
OFTEN INJURED
AND NOW 33,
RAFAEL NADAL
VIEWS HIS QUEST
FOR A 20TH MAJOR
AS HIS GREATEST
GOOD FORTUNE
