Nadal recalls childhood incident that turned out to be a “very important lesson for me”

There has been lots said and written about Rafael Nadal‘s hard work and work ethic. The Spaniard, who retired from the sport last month, was known as one of the hardest workers in the sport and now he has shared an early childhood incident that helped ingrain that attitude in himself.

In an essay for The Players Tribune, the 22-time Grand Slam champion talks about how he went fishing at the age of 12 before a match, which led to an important life lesson for him.

“I am not sure exactly how old I was, but I think I was around 12. During that age, I loved to go fishing. I love the sea, because I am from Mallorca, and in my case the sea is part of my life,” Nadal said in the essay.

If people see me as a perfectionist, then it comes from that inner voice that was calling to me on the car ride home.

“One day, I went out fishing when I could have been training. The next day, I lost my match. I remember I was crying in the car on the way back home, and my uncle, who at that young age had a big influence on me, and who was the one who made me fall in love with tennis, he said: “It’s OK, it’s just a tennis match. Don’t cry now, there is no point. If you want to fish, you can fish. No problem. But you will lose. If you want to win? If you want to win, then you have to do what you have to do first.” It was a very important lesson for me. If people see me as a perfectionist, then it comes from that inner voice that was calling to me on the car ride home. The voice has never left me. One day, I can be at the sea. Today, and tomorrow … I have to practice.”

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