Goliath triumphs, but Rafael Nadal wins hearts

What was this? Novak Djokovic had just defeated Rafael Nadal in the final of the 2012 Australian Open,  and I suddenly found that I could not watch.  As he tore his shirt from his chest, letting out a roar as he headed towards his adoring family and friends in the crowd, I turned away: possibly in envy at his perfect pectorals, but there was something more. The next day, I realised what it was.

You see, I’d refused to read any reports of the epic encounter, in which Djokovic had prevailed after a record-breaking five hours and fifty minutes.  Refusal to read match reports is a rule of mine every time that Manchester United succumb to the opposition, which is why I am quite happy to congratulate Liverpool fans on Twitter but I steadfastly ignore any post-match analyses that they might cheekily send me.  The pain of loss is too great to relive.  And so the conclusion was inescapable: somewhere along the line, I had joined Team Nadal.  In the space of a few compelling points, I had become a Rafa fanatic.  Why was this: and why, if at all, did it matter?

We don’t choose our sports teams, or our athletes.  They choose us.  We project so many of our complexes, hopes and dreams onto them.  Though I love flamboyance in sport,  I have never truly warmed to Usain Bolt, because I find something ugly about the showmanship of celebrating a race before you have won it.  I think I love watching Nadal because he reminds me of Manchester United.  For someone so overwhelmingly successful, for someone so technically accomplished, he plays the underdog with surprising conviction.  The crown of dominance was never one that he wore lightly.  Strange as it may seem to younger readers, there was once a time when Manchester United were utterly mediocre, which is when I fell in love with them.  Hopelessly average, they went out each week with the intention of entertaining, of performing.  Every now and then, they gloriously succeeded.

And that’s the thing about Nadal.  I think that he appeals to every one of us who has visibly had to scrap to get anywhere in life.  There are some  people in this world – like, say, Federer and Djokovic – whose success, owing to their prodigious natural talents, seem assured.  Though they both have an extraordinary work ethic, they nonetheless look like they belong at the top.  Tall, elegant, angular, their ascension into the pantheon was inevitable.  They’ve always had something of the Goliath about them.  It was widely and correctly remarked that, once Djokovic knuckled down and focused upon his career, the rewards would surely follow.  Nadal, by contrast, a stocky bundle of muscle, is the kind of person you can imagine scrambling up that same mountainside, all sweaty brow and calloused hands.  He is a serial Grand-Slammer, it seems, by sheer force of will.

That’s why, when the Majorcan multi-millionaire’s shoulders slumped after his five-set defeat, my heart didn’t really sink for him; it sank for me.  It sank for all those people who put together the most magnificent effort their flesh can muster and still come up short, who find a Djokovic standing resolutely just in front of their impossible goals.  The wonderful guarantee with Nadal, though, is that he’ll always return for more.  We can only hope that this most indomitable and unlikeliest of underdogs does not put us through this same torment any time soon.

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• http://www.facebook.com/people/Hades-uftg-Tartarus/100003074802459 Hades-uftg Tartarus

  While I agree about Nadal having to struggle to earn respect, I don’t agree that Nadal is stocky. He wouldn’t have been chosen by Armani to model underwear, or have so many women and some men lusting after him. There are many other tennis players who don’t fit the bill physically, Agassi, for instance, and they don’t get bagged as much as Nadal has. Why? I believe that the fact that Nadal doesn’t speak English fluently has something to do with it. We live in an Anglocentric world where people who don’t speak English well are dismissed. 
   
  The one thing I love about this article, though, is that you’re able to express the way I feel when Rafa loses. I, too, refuse to read post match articles.  For me, Nadal represents those of us who are put down because we don’t fit in. He’s had to work ten times harder than any other player to get the recognition he deserves.    

• http://profile.yahoo.com/TGZ5URXP2236GPHZOTAO5UZORU AnneMarie

  I am a die hard Nadal fan. He found a way to win the match, a way to beat the joker and had him doing most of the work in the final 2 sets. I found it really distastful how the joker celebrated winning th match and find that a lot of his fans are hideous. I think that Nadal now knows how to beat him and that he has conquered a lot of the demons. I also don’t like how the joker played dead in the match and Rafa didn;t suffer the fool there – there is something so natural and real about Nadal that is captivating and enthralling. Best of luck to Rafa – the joker didn’t deserve the win,xx

• red_nred

  This is such a poor attempt of supposedly justifying your reasons for supporting  Nadal; you Sir have every right to like Nadal for whatever reasons you may have, but please don’t try to sell your lame reasoning to others.

  How is it that Nadal is David and Djokovic Goliath? Let’s see:

  1. A player who had won (up to that match) 4 Slams vs a player who had won 10: who is Goliath?

  2. A player who had an inferior head-to-head record against a player who had superior head-to-head record: who is Goliath?

  3. A player who had to leave his home and his country as a little boy and go from one country to another to learn his skills, against a player who had it on the plate in the security of his home, family and country: who is the Goliath?

  4. A player who struggles for recognition of his talent and hard work against a player who is a global superstar and has a huge following: who is Goliath?

  5. A player who earns his fortune only on tennis court against player whose income from sponsorship and endorsements exceeds many times whatever Djokovic will earn on court: who is the the Goliath here?
   
  Need I go further? Which of the two is that Golliath you are talking about?

   Your article is silly, pathetic and disrespectful of Djokovic.This is such a poor attempt of justifying your reasons for supporting (bordering with infatuation, as I read between the lines) Nadal; you Sir have the right to like Nadal for whatever reasons you may have, but please don’t try to sell your lame reasoning to others. How is it that Nadal is David and Djokovic Golliath? Let’s see:1. A player who had won (up to that match) 4 Slams vs a player who had won 42. A player who had an inferior head-to-head record against a player who had superior head-to-head record3. A player who had to leave his home and his country and go from one country to another to learn his skills, against a player who had it on the plate in the security of his home, family and country4. A player who struggles for recognition of his talent and hard work against a player who is a global superstar and has a huge following5. A player who earns his fortune only on tennis court against player whose income from sponsorship and endorsements many times exceeds whatever Djokovic will earn on court Need I go further? Who is that Golliath you are talking about? Your article is silly, pathetic and extremely disrespectful of Djokovic
  This is such a poor attempt of justifying your reasons for supporting (bordering with infatuation, as I read between the lines) Nadal; you Sir have the right to like Nadal for whatever reasons you may have, but please don’t try to sell your lame reasoning to others.
  How is it that Nadal is David and Djokovic Golliath? Let’s see:
  1. A player who had won (up to that match) 4 Slams vs a player who had won 4
  2. A player who had an inferior head-to-head record against a player who had superior head-to-head record
  3. A player who had to leave his home and his country and go from one country to another to learn his skills, against a player who had it on the plate in the security of his home, family and country
  4. A player who struggles for recognition of his talent and hard work against a player who is a global superstar and has a huge following
  5. A player who earns his fortune only on tennis court against player whose income from sponsorship and endorsements many times exceeds whatever Djokovic will earn on court
   
  Need I go further? Who is that Golliath you are talking about?
   Your article is silly, pathetic and extremely disrespectful of Djokovic

• JohnJustice

  Funny how the Rafa fanatics give little credit to his opponent. Let me remind them that Djokovitch had won a five setter only a couple of days before and everyone expected him to fold up in the fifth set once he was 4 – 2 down. What a recovery! What a player! 

• Winefride

  I love Rafael Nadal and don’t particularly like Novak Djokovich. I watched practically every minute of that match, apart from driving from one sister’s house to another’s because one sister was driving me mad with her “if I pay attention, Nadal starts losing” commentary. At the other sister’s house, it was similarly nutty but even more annoying with angry abuse of Rafa every time he missed a shot. What you miss if you can’t bear to watch is that you participate in strange and beautiful zen-like moments in the beyond-exhaustion last stages. The players obviously both have an internal theatre of themselves in which they self-encourage, rebuke and congratulate, yet with odd smiles and a sense of intimacy with each other. How they keep concentration when the crowd is starting to go crazy around them God only knows. The Aussie Open spectators are renowned for being more like soccer crowds anyway and in matches of this length and calibre become like one voice, murmuring and laughing together disturbingly at tiny gestures of the players. By the end I didn’t care who won, I’d passed from desperately partisan to not wanting it to end. And even Novak’s weird shirt-ripping and howling when he realised he’d won – seemed perfectly appropriate . You could laugh but who wouldn’t want to be Djokovic at that moment?