The life of Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal just made tennis history by winning his 21st Grand Slam — beating Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer's record.   This is his story.

Transcript

00:00There is no one player in history that's more important than an event.

00:05Because the players stay and then go.

00:09And then other players are coming.

00:10Tennis keeps going.

00:20People have to work a lot in every aspect of life to reach their goals.

00:30When he started playing, people were paying attention to him because he was my nephew.

00:43But now that I've stopped, it's the opposite.

00:47People are paying attention to me because I'm his uncle.

00:50He was very young when I saw him. He played for Valbiennes.

01:03It was a tournament that made me very excited. I think it was the most important tournament of my life.

01:23Paris is always going to be very, very special for me.

01:53I've had adversities in my career.

02:03We're not going to hide them.

02:07In the last 8 years, with everything I've achieved, which is more than I expected,

02:18I'm the player who has lost the most opportunities because of injuries.

02:35For sure, Roger, what he has is almost impossible to repeat.

02:40So I'm happy with what I have.

02:43Compared with Roger, I think it's too much.

02:48In this case, tennis gave me a lot.

03:02So that's my way to give something back to the kids and to the young, new generations.

03:19I'm happy with what I do.

03:21I work hard to give myself the chance to compete well and to fight for the things that motivate me.

03:49We have a great anti-doping program.

03:56So that's it and the only thing I can say is to believe in the anti-doping program.

04:04We have, I think, a great anti-doping program, so that's it and the only thing that I can

04:14say is belief in the anti-doping control and belief in the values of the sport in general.

04:22Outside of that, the people who are not doing the right things is 100% sure that they don't

04:29deserve to be competing in the world of sport.

04:59Does it help you?

05:10What does it mean for you?

05:11No, it's something that is difficult to explain, so better not.

05:29There are many, more than I would have ever dreamed of, and when the years go by, more

05:49than the rankings or things like that, what really fills you up are the victories and

05:53the titles.

05:54The injury is nothing new, it's the same injury that I've been having since 2005, in that moment

06:17the doctors were very negative about my future career, but honestly I was able to have a

06:26career that I never dreamed about, so I am confident that I will recover again.

06:32What is the difference between being a doctor and being an athlete?

06:45Being very honest, for me it's much more important to have the chance to play tennis than win

06:50the 21, because that makes me more happy in terms of general life, to be able to do the

06:56thing that I like to do more than achieving another Grand Slam.