“Nadal won 6-3 6-3 6-4 against Anderson,” was a major rumor in New York around Sept. 10th, 2017.  It was true.  Rafael Nadal, a Spanish tennis player, born June 3rd 1986, had won his sixteenth grand slam title — that was amazing.  I have not watched one of his matches live, though I would love to do it one day!

The friendship between Roger Federer, arguably the GOAT (Greatest of All Time), and Nadal is one of the strongest in sports history.  My personal opinion is that Federer  is more talented, but Rafa has trained and worked harder to get where he is now, so that is why this post is about him.  Here are three successful learner traits:  industrious, compassionate, and collaborative, that he has demonstrated in his lifetime:

1.) Industrious

Rafael Nadal is definitely very industrious.  As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I think Nadal has worked very hard to get where he is.

Rafael plays tennis left-handed, but he is a right-handed person, though being ambidextrous obviously helps.  Introduced to tennis at the age of three, Nadal was trained by his uncle, Toni Nadal.  Toni trained Rafael for 27 years, until Carlos Moya took over in January 2017.  Moya has not changed the fact that Nadal is always very focused, even when he is practicing.  Some players don’t practice like they are playing in a professional tennis match.  No one plays as if your opponent has a championship point in a grand slam tournament, when you are training, but Nadal takes his practice more seriously than any other ATP player. So beware if you’re training with him 😉 .  Though Rafael is very good, and can beat anyone in the world, I think that there are many players that are more talented than Nadal, but Rafa is one of the most inspiring players, and he is the person many people would like to hear talk, because he can positively affect you to get up off your couch and do something – to be productive.

2.) Compassionate

Rafael Nadal is very competitive, but he always demonstrates great sportsmanship and he is never a sore winner or loser. Even after the toughest loss, he would find the best words to congratulate his opponent.  In 2012, Lukáš Rosol defeated Nadal in a pretty long match, and even after annoying him, Nadal kept himself together, knowing that lashing out will not result in anything good.

After opening his own tennis academy, he didn’t mind sharing his experience even with his rivals. He would invite them for a week or two to hit some balls to improve each other’s game. Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov are the latest examples as they also finish right behind him in the rankings, respectfully as number 2 and 3 in the world.

3.) Collaborative

Nadal had collaborated with Marc Lopez to win gold for his country in Men’s Tennis Doubles at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.  The King of Clay also collaborated with Roger Federer to win the first Laver Cup in Prague, Czech Republic, representing Europe against the world.  Once, Roger and Rafa were close to colliding with each other, but they collaborated in that very short amount of time, to figure out who would hit the ball.  In the end, Federer stepped away.

“THE VERDICT”

We can easily conclude that Rafael Nadal can inspire nearly anyone, even the very lazy people, to get outside and be active.  He is very hardworking, compassionate, and cooperative, and watching him play makes me want to go outside and hit some balls.

Here is a video of his best points.

Who inspires you?  An athlete?  A book character?  Someone else?  Let me know in the comment section.  Thanks, and I hope you liked this post.

Have a math-crammed day.

Sincerely,

– Ivo N.

Marianne Bevis via Compfight