This week, the luxury book publisher Assouline releases Rafa Nadal, a stunning and weighty 330-page retrospective of the tennis legend’s extraordinary career. The book arrives on the heels of another Nadal spotlight: Netflix’s comprehensive docuseries Rafa, which received an Emmy nomination. Jon Wertheim, the award-winning journalist and author, wrote the text, and he makes an early declaration: “This is a story of a sports unicorn, a path-breaking, mold-breaking rarity.” From there, the tome unfolds as a lush mosaic, charting Nadal’s youth in Mallorca, his towering professional achievements (14 Roland-Garros titles chief among them), and the life he forged away from the court as time passed and trophies accumulated.
To see so many decades of Rafa gathered in one place is remarkable, especially for those of us who grew up admiring him; some of the book's photos are world-famous, while others have never before been seen, but all of them have a real gravitas. My favorite shot is a black-and-white image from 2005. It features Nadal and Roger Federer sitting side by side—both long-haired, at ease in the sun—at what was then the NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, now known as the Miami Open.
On the opposite page, Federer’s pull-quote sums it up: “Never again will there be another Rafael Nadal.” Below, Nadal—who collaborated directly with Assouline and Wertheim on the project—speaks with GQ in a rare interview covering the book, his iconic early looks, his physical battles and what he calls “two Rafas.” GQ: What was it like seeing your life in the form of a book? Rafael Nadal: It was emotional, honestly. When you are playing, in some ways you are only focused on the next thing—on the next tournament, on trying to achieve the next title, trying to be ready for the next practice, or trying to solve the problems that your body has.
And then, creating a book like this one became an opportunity to see everything with a little bit of perspective. You see a lot of things that, of course, in some part of your head stay there, but it’s impossible to remember all of them. Now you see how my life evolved, how I went through a lot of issues, how my body changed, how my outfits changed during all those years.
You see a real evolution. So that’s the way that I felt when we were doing the book and when I see the final product: remembering a lot of emotional moments. When you were putting it together, was there a single image in your head that absolutely had to be here?
It’s so difficult to choose one particular picture, because I think I was very lucky to enjoy a lot of unforgettable moments. I wanted to reflect the most important part of my life, which, without a doubt, is the family. I will say that the Roland-Garros pictures needed to be there, because I think that’s the place I built my career.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
