As Rafael Nadal turns 30, let's celebrate what he has given tennis instead of mourning his injuries

Eleven years ago, after losing a match in Montreal to a wild-eyed, long-haired, muscular teenager from an island in South West Spain, who had won his first French Open title earlier that year, Andre Agassi famously said of his opponent, “He’s writing cheques that his body can’t cash.”

Since then, the Spaniard has gone on to win eight more French Opens, two Wimbledons, two US Opens, an Australian Open, an Olympics singles gold medal, 28 Masters Series events, and four Davis Cup titles. He’s ended the year at world No. 1 three times, and occupied the top spot in men’s tennis for a total of 141 weeks.

However, that has never stopped the media, tennis analysts, former players, and fans – especially Roger Federer fans – from talking about Rafa Nadal’s body as if it were living on borrowed time. Over the years it has both become a subject of jokes and an example of the worst that can happen to an athlete.

Three years ago, The New York Times posted this video examining the stress being placed on Nadal’s patellar tendon. And here, on this Spanish website, you can find an interactive graphic of his injuries by year. You can click on each year to see which part of his body failed him when.

Unfair scrutiny

Many top tennis players’ careers have been shortened because of injury. Argentinian Juan Martin Del Potro has struggled to reclaim his place in the top rungs of men’s tennis since his 2009 US Open win. German veteran Tommy Haas failed to capitalise on his talent owing to numerous accidents and injuries, some of which were positively freakish in nature. Stefan Edberg retired at age 30 with a bad back. And yet, no one’s body has been the subject of as much scrutiny as Nadal’s.

It’s a bit like watching the same video on a loop over and over. Nadal withdraws from an event citing injury. The headlines ring his death knell. A few months later, Rafa returns and starts winning again. Rinse. Repeat.

In 2009, following his shock defeat to Robin Soderling in the French Open and his withdrawal from Wimbledon, an article by Cynthia Gorney in The New York Times posed the question: “Can Rafael Nadal survive his own gruelling style of tennis?” The following year, Nadal won three of the four Slams.

A 2013 article in The Huffington Post by tennis writer Peter Bodo was titled “Rafael Nadal injury, illness woes make future unclear for tennis star.” Later that year, Nadal came back to win the French Open and the US Open beating arch rival Novak Djokovic.

In that Gorney article mentioned above, Nadal said, “They were saying this three years ago, that I couldn’t last.” That was seven years ago. He’s lasted. We’re still wondering how long he can continue. That basically means only one thing. He’s still here.

Today, June 3, Rafa Nadal turns 30. If the stars had aligned in Paris, Nadal would have celebrated this milestone birthday with a highly awaited semi-final match against arch rival and World No. 1 Djokovic.

The way he had been competing of late, the way he fought Djokovic until the very end in their last match against each other, at Indian Wells, and the arena itself – Nadal’s second home after all – would have made the outcome difficult to predict. If Nadal could defeat Djokovic anywhere at this stage of their careers, surely it would be here and now. But we – and he – will never know.

What might have been

Nadal’s story can be summed up in four simple words: what might have been. If only he had been fit enough to defend his Wimbledon title in 2009 and the US Open in 2014. If only he had been healthy during the Australian Open in 2010, 2011, 2013 or 2014. If only.

Since he proved to the world that he could beat anybody on all surfaces and not just grass, since that sublime Wimbledon final against Federer in 2008, since he attained the No. 1 ranking, Nadal has skipped four Slams, retired from one, and lost in the final of another after injuring his back. No one will ever know if he would have won those titles if he had been at 100 per cent fitness. But everyone will admit that there was a very high probability of his doing so. That would have given him five more Grand Slam titles.

Add to that the fact that each time he left the game to heal and rehabilitate, it took him a while to come back and regain his old self. If he had not lost those weeks and months, he might have won a couple more Slams. In other words, he would, in all probability, have been looking at Federer’s record of 17 Grand Slams in the rear-view mirror. He could well have reached the magic number of 20 by now.

In fact, he could have ended the GOAT debate once and for all. The fact that the debate is somewhat pointless because it’s predicated on so many what-if scenarios is a topic for another day. The beauty of sport is that no one will ever know what might have been.

Sacrificing his body

Nadal’s critics – mostly diehard Federer fans – are quick to attribute his injuries to inferior conditioning (compared to that of Federer) and his extreme physical style of play. It’s true that Nadal has always been a grinder. His style is heavy with topspin, relying largely on running down every single ball and never giving up. The 100 per cent effort we see him putting into each shot, even when he is 0-40 down on an opponent’s serve, has earned him universal admiration.

But what we don’t see is the similar intensity that goes into every shot he plays during practice. This kind of relentless effort and grind inevitably wears a person down. Unlike Federer, whose style is lighter on the feet and body, Nadal’s undoubtedly has taken a greater toll on him.

Still, to blame him as if he were somehow responsible for his injuries and as a result a lesser player is quite absurd. For one thing, to say this is to discount the luck factor that afflicted him with stomach flu one year in Australia and the appendicitis that kept him out of the US Open last year. It’s enough to make one wonder who’s sticking pins in the Rafa voodoo doll.

But, perhaps more significantly, to suggest that Nadal should have played less hard or been less physical for the duration of his career misses the point of his existence. Imagine a world where all professional tennis players played like Federer. Imagine two Federers across the net in all those close matches they had against each other. Imagine tennis if there had never been a Rafa Nadal.

It is precisely their contrasting styles that made his rivalry with Federer so exciting. It is his competitiveness that has made his matches with Djokovic so interesting. It is his top spin and defence and never-say-die attitude that have lit up tournaments in the last decade. Sometimes, great triumph comes at great cost.

Nadal has sacrificed his body, as it were, at the altar of tennis. Instead of celebrating his triumphs that have tested the limitations of human strength and endurance, the media has eagerly rushed to predict his demise each time he has so much as winced in pain.

A refreshing change

Wouldn’t it be nice and refreshing, on this 30th birthday – a birthday that many folks thought Rafa would not be spending in our midst at all, but instead somewhere private, away from all the tennis noise, long retired and perhaps forgotten – to focus not on the absences but on the presence? Not on the injuries but the victories?

Having turned pro at the tender age of 15, Rafa has entertained fans for half his life. If he were to retire today, he would still be one of the greatest athletes that ever lived. Whether he ever wins another title or not, he’s already given us so much to celebrate. The cheques have long been cashed. He owes us nothing. Anything he does from here on end is a bonus.