It may come as a surprise to those who have seen Rafael Nadal lift trophy after trophy over his head, but the tennis champion doesn’t see himself so much a winner as something else – a competitor.
That’s one of the many revelations in the four-part documentary series Rafa, premiering on Netflix this Friday.
“When I say I am more a competitor than a winner it’s because what I enjoyed the most is the competition,” Rafa tells Deadline in an interview in Madrid. “I like to win, yes, but I don’t hate to lose. What I hate is not feeling myself competitive.”
By way of example, Nadal cited one of his 22 Grand Slam victories, at the 2008 French Open, when he demolished Roger Federer, then the world’s no. 1 men’s player.
Rafael Nadal with one of the many trophies he won during his professional career.
Netflix
“When I won against Roger, the result was very positive for me, clearly. From the bottom of my heart, I didn’t enjoy that as much as all the tough battles that I had [reaching the final],” Rafa said. “Even if you win easily, even if I was playing very well, of course it’s a personal satisfaction that we are able to play that well, but my personal feeling is I enjoyed much more the really competitive games and the games that I needed to feel myself a competitor.”
That fits with the vaguely gladiatorial sensation of singles when two competitors face off across a net, locked in intense battle that becomes as much a test of will as skill.
“It’s just one person versus the other,” notes filmmaker Zach Heinzerling, who directed the series. The arena of Roland-Garros with its natural red clay evokes a colosseum, and Rafa played the game with the ferocity of a tiger unleashed upon a sandaled opponent. He wore sleeveless shirts, exposing a muscled left arm that wielded the racket like a swooping mace.
Rafa after yet another clay court victory.
Netflix
“Rafa is extremely passionate and that’s why he loves the sport so much,” notes Heinzerling. “There’s something kind of beautiful about that that hopefully is infused in the series.”
Perhaps the most astonishing thing about the series is to discover how Rafa’s professional career was nearly derailed before it really got off the ground.
“2004 was the first time that I broke my foot, 2005 the second time,” Nadal recalls. “That was a tough moment, probably the toughest moment of my tennis career because I just started being successful. It was my first year winning Roland-Garros and my first year finishing as number 2 in the world. And when I broke the foot for the second time, a stress fracture, we discovered that I had this problem on the foot called Mueller-Weiss. That is the generative deformation on my navicular bone.”
He continues, “We were not able to find a solution and the news of different doctors were not positive at all. They were very negative about [whether I could] keep playing tennis in the professional stages, but we keep going. We keep trying to find solutions and I felt very fortunate that finally we find a solution, a drastic solution, that was an insole inside my shoe, very aggressive one that allow me to keep playing tennis.”
An insole in Rafael Nadal’s left shoe pushes up the foot 7mm.
Getty Images
The size of the insole meant his foot was almost sticking outside of his shoe. “I feel fortunate that I had a super long career,” he says, but that insole “fix” would lead to its own problems. “I really feel that because of that I went through a lot of injuries on my body, my back, my hip, my knees, but I think the origin of all these problems was the foot.”
Injuries forced him to miss 18 Grand Slam tournaments and to withdraw from another five mid-tournament. Had that not been the case, he might have won even more than his incredible total of 22 Grand Slams (second only, on the men’s side, to Novak Djokovic’s 24). He remains the undisputed King of Clay, having won Roland-Garros 14 times – the last time coming in 2022 when he was age 36.
The series builds to his final French Open in 2024 when Father Time was nipping at his heels, navicular, hip, back and everything else. At various stages of his career, he had to get anesthetic shots just to play.
Director Zach Heinzerling attends ‘Rafa’ premiere at the Beti Jai venue on May 20, 2026 in Madrid, Spain.
Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images
“It sort of speaks to the question at the beginning I think of the series, which is why is he continuing to play against all odds,” Heinzerling observes. “He’s done everything in the sport possible and more. Why, when your body is saying ‘stop,’ does he decide to keep going? The whole series is a little bit of an investigation of that question, and the first answer came with his foot, which is if a doctor says you’re never going to play again and then you come back and you win, you take nothing for granted at that point. You feel as though at any minute, ‘My foot is a ticking time bomb, and this could be the end. So, I’m going to literally play every point as if it’s its last and never really assume that there will be a next year.’ And it implants this sort of essence of Rafa, which is to never give up.”
Rafa explores his famous tics on the court and why he needed them to deal with pressure. It offers a surprisingly candid view of the tennis great.
“There was room to show a kind of vulnerability that with celebrities of that stature is rarely seen anymore,” Heinzerling notes. “Obviously, Rafa was involved, but his team I think was open to my vision and also, I think Rafa again, he doesn’t have a lot to hide. He lives by this kind of code where the people around him and everything just kind of feels okay and he’s not trying to sort of create an image of himself.”
Rafael Nadal hoists Rafael Jr., one of his two sons.
Netflix
In one scene, a tape measure is strapped around his midsection to assess fat levels. Rafa confesses to eating chocolate in violation of his strict diet. And If I understood correctly, he also admits to a fondness for the yogurt intended for his very young son.
“When you film a documentary, I mean you do it or you don’t do it,” Rafa says of his openness. “If you do it, do it the proper way. So, I opened the doors of my house. Of course, it was difficult at the beginning for everyone, but they were very nice, very respectful and giving us the time when we needed. So, I think they make us feel well. They make us feel comfortable in any situation.”
Rafael Nadal at home with his wife, Maria Francisca Perelló.
Netflix
Father Time, as they say, is undefeated. After the 2024 French Open, Rafa unlaced his shoes and hung up the racket. In retirement, he focuses on family – he and his wife, Maria Francisca “Xisca” Perelló, have two boys, the youngest born last year. He met his future wife when they were kids growing up in Mallorca.
“Very good, to be honest,” Nadal says of his life post-professional career. “It was a sweet transition for me. I am enjoying my new life without a doubt, working more than what I expect, to be honest, traveling more than what I expected, but enjoying all this process of learning in other facets of my life. Of course, trying to spend as much time as possible with my kids and family. I’m really happy.”
A fitting recompense for a man who brought tremendous joy and thrills to fans of tennis and sport generally around the world for 20 years.
