Mixed feelings: For Nadal fans, there is both a longing to see him whip those trademark down-the-line forehands again and a fear that all of it may come undone in a flash. | Photo credit: Getty Images
One last dance? Nadal will be motivated by the ambition of competing on his beloved Parisian clay at Roland-Garros next year. | Photo credit: Getty Images
In ‘Levels of Life’, the celebrated English author Julian Barnes confronts the grief of having lost his beloved wife of 30 years through the metaphorical arc of Gaspard-Felix Tournachon, a 19th century adventurer and balloonist who was the first man to take an aerial photograph, of Paris. It’s the chronicling of a journey from the heights to the depths.
“Groundlings, we can sometimes reach as far as the gods,” Barnes writes. “Some soar with art, others with religion; most with love. But when we soar, we can also crash. There are few soft landings … Every love story is a potential grief story.”
In the far removed, less serious world of sport, Rafael Nadal fans will tend to agree. When the 22-time Grand Slam champion is at his best, watching him play is like being “in a permanent state of adolescence, of thrilled discovery”.
Crash landings
But no contemporary tennis player has had as many crash landings as the Spaniard. From his back to his hips to the abdomen to his knees and all the way down to his ankles and toes, all have suffered significant wear and tear over the years, forcing him out for weeks and months.
And in his absence, there has been a sense of irreparable loss. As Barnes puts it, “What is taken away is greater than the sum of what was there. This may not be mathematically possible; but it is emotionally possible.”
It is this misery that Nadal supporters — and the tennis universe at large — will seek relief from when he returns to action at the Brisbane International starting this Sunday, after nearly 12 months out, the longest such break in his career.
The 37-year-old last played a match at the 2023 Australian Open, losing to the unheralded Mackenzie McDonald in straight sets in the second round. During the contest, he was severely hampered by a hip injury, which sidelined him for the rest of the season, including the French Open, a tournament he has won a record 14 times and hadn’t missed since his debut in 2005.
“I have thought many times that it did not make sense,” Nadal admitted earlier this month while announcing his comeback ahead of the…
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