Uncle Toni, his father’s brother, was coach when Rafael Nadal won 15 of his 22 Grand Slam titles. He started when his nephew was three or four. That’s too early. It might have led to the tennis great’s Mueller-Weiss syndrome, a degenerative foot condition causing chronic, debilitating pain. There’s a moment in Netflix’s four-part docuseries Rafa when Nadal’s mother says Uncle Toni was teaching his ward “how to suffer through sport”.
Watching Nadal at 19, Andre Agassi says, “He’s writing checks I hope his body can cash for a long time.” We don’t know what Nadal thought of that, but something he said post-retirement puts his injury-ridden career in perspective: “The key was that the suffering was less than my passion and my happiness for what I was doing.”
The foot issue led to knee issues and hip and back issues; Dr. Ernesto Maceira, who treated the foot, said the condition was caused by “abnormal forces that act on an immature bone”.
The BBC calculated that, over 23 years as a professional before retiring in 2024, Nadal spent 2,543 hours and 15 minutes on court across 1,307 ATP Tour matches, winning 1,080. Great athletes both evoke startling figures and point to their essential absurdity.
But 22 Grand Slam singles titles, 14 of them at the French Open, along with 912 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 — including time at No. 1 across three different decades — are certainly markers of greatness.
Over the course of his career, Rafael Nadal won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, 14 of them at the French Open.
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Pushing the limits
Suffering through sport seems pointless, but when the sufferer comes through happier and more fulfilled, you could make an argument for it. At 22, Nadal says, “Tennis for me became a race against time,” but later admits, “You probably don’t need to suffer the stress that I have suffered to become what I have become.”
While the docuseries has some of the intensity of Nadal’s game, it also seems to have the reticence of the player. It places the Nadal story in the context of his injuries and strength of character, and gives us a peek into the lives of elite athletes. Director Zach Heinzerling’s non-judgemental handling of the material is either a strength or weakness depending on your point of view. His access to family archives, though, gives us some wonderful footage, and a sense of continuity.
Rafael Nadal and his wife Mery Perelló at the premiere of Netflix docuseries ‘Rafa’ in Madrid, May 2026.
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Later, the question of Nadal’s retirement insinuates itself into conversations with every passing year and fresh injury. Few athletes can answer it satisfactorily. The football World Cup this year will see two great players in action. Lionel Messi turns 39 this month while Cristiano Ronaldo is 41. What motivates them? “I am exploring my limits,” says Nadal in the third episode. He thinks when someone says they are retiring, they are surrendering. Raging against the dying of the light seems to be in the DNA of great athletes, despite what Nadal confesses at one point: “Tennis today is taking away more than it is giving me.”
Rafael Nadal with his son during a tribute ceremony at Roland Garros, May 2025.
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When told that Nadal was playing a French Open where he couldn’t feel his legs thanks to medication, former world No.1 John McEnroe responds with: “What next? Is he going to play blindfolded?” While Team Nadal and Family Nadal and Fans Nadal make everything appear normal, fellow-professionals know the score.
Tough love and greatness
The docuseries handles Nadal’s most important relationship, with Uncle Toni, with excessive delicacy. Nadal has only good things to say about this psychologically crucial bond. By the time Uncle Toni decides to quit (Nadal comes to know of it through the media), Nadal has moved on to a new coach, Carlos Moya.
Since winning the French Open in 2014, Nadal, injured and out of form, went without a Grand Slam title for three years before claiming the French and US Open titles in 2017 with his new coach. He played, as he says, with “a little more of a sense of freedom”, although it isn’t clear whether he is talking about being injury-free or Uncle Toni-free.
Rafael Nadal with his coach and uncle Toni Nadal (left) at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 2016.
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Yet, it was Uncle Toni who converted a natural right hander into a left-handed tennis player, and guided him. If tough love made for great champions, he was happy to provide plenty of that. Nadal, who turns 40 this month (June 3), could take it.
That the three greatest, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Nadal, were contemporaries, who brought different personalities, approaches and narratives was a blessing for those of us who were fans from the turn of the century. Early on in his career, Nadal says, “Having someone like Roger makes your path clearer.” The Big Three won 66 of 84 Grand Slam titles between 2003 and 2023.
(L-R) Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic during the Laver Cup in London, September 23, 2022.
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For those who followed the Big Three, the docuseries is nostalgia; for newbies, it is an introduction to the pain of greatness and the questions it raises. For those not into sport, it is human drama full of suffering, resilience and guts. Rafa has something for everybody.
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Published – June 02, 2026 01:59 pm IST
