2024-05-02 16:33:14
EThe detail that perhaps best shows the truth the scope of what was experienced last Tuesday evening in Magic boxin the first of adios by Raphael Nadal, was not under the cameras or the spotlight. It wasn’t him The Storting by Rafa. It wasn’t him public got up, it wasn’t that one tarpaulins neither him trophy. There was a person. A person who was close, who knew everything deep down, but who was on margin. It’s not a cliché to say “feel it” because it is noticed, and a lot. Whoever was on the field probably couldn’t see it because no then towards him. Anyone who saw it on TV might have realized it in an instant swept camera that randomly focused on him for a few seconds, because they didn’t separate him with their attention either.
But Jiri Play hedge was there Forgotten of all. In his strainer by player. AND cried. Not to live with tears, but you could see his eyes light and the gesture of holding back tears. For all those who lived in the moment that was little duel: a person who has followed us during three decades, a lifetime, which we have had and suffered with, a permanent presence among us, begins to tell us that his time to follow us as he always has is ends.
For Jiri Lehecka, that time has included whole life. Jiri Lehecka just had win to Rafael Nadal in his last battle on one of your favorite tracks. He played very well. Excellent. He had shown mastery, despite his youth, in direct and fast play and sensationalism reflexes. I would have put the best Nadal, the one from 2008, 2012 or 2020, in difficulties and perhaps I would have defeated him. The one from 2024, the one in the last stretch, has beaten him.
And for Lehecka, Nadal had always been one referent important, because both parts share the world that the people in the stands see from the outside. It’s not that he was or wasn’t his favorite player: it’s that the entire generation of tennis players who developed the training stage during The Big Three era, have had these as goals, targets and models. Jiri Lehecka had four years when Nadal won his first Roland Garros. I insisted shortly after Rafa played his first professional match. When Rafa, in 2017, overcame his first age crisis, he entered the category cadet and started living like a professional. Perhaps his style and taste lean more toward courage Djokovic or why Federerbut it is clear that Rafa was, had to be, referral for him: they were at all tennis schools.
And intended I recognized. The day before the match he had declared “600 in the world -Rafa’s current ranking- I think he can beat him” and then pointed out that he was aware that “Nadal on land is one of the greatest challenges tennis even if he is not having his best season. Be for me a honor share tracks with him.” Med the courtesan professional as they should be Warriors, they both played at their best level and Jiri won. At the end of the game, in the same way as Rafa and Roger cried When he said goodbye to the Laver Cup because they both saw their shared past, Lehecka knew he saw his future, perhaps to the future that I could dream about. And let your name remain unido that of Rafael Nadal.
Rafa spoke at the end of the match. So I hoped I had been a positive example. for the new generations, in the same way that he had said several times in recent months that he wanted to retire from the field as Competetive. And he has achieved it once again. Rafael Nadal has become competitive again, it has proven it on the field, and even if he couldn’t play another game, he can already say that he has achieved the goal which was marked for removal.
There are bets in all sports that are said to have to be lost either or that both must win. The match between Nadal and Lehecka was one of the seconds and They both achieved the impossible. Lehecka won the match. Rafa won the race. Thanks to both.
And thank you tennis. A sport there I respectsportsmanship, recognition of the merits of others… these things demoslet’s go.
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