As a self-professed devotee of Roger Federer, I might simultaneously be the worst and best person to write about his long-time rival, Rafael Nadal’s four-part documentary series, Rafa. Worst, because, what if I let the hurt he’s inflicted on me permeate into my feelings about the show. Best, because, like many Federer fans, I’ve acutely observed Nadal’s rise, his consistent improvement on surfaces, minutely noted the ‘dangers’ he poses as an opponent, and grown to admire his unrelenting nature. Zach Heinzerling’s four-part series, streaming on Netflix, aspires to decode arguably the most tenacious athlete of his generation, two years after he hung up his boots. The miniseries comes a year after director Asif Kapadia’s film on Federer’s last fortnight as a tennis player, leading up to the Laver Cup 2022, released. Initially supposed to be a home video, Federer: Twelve Final Days didn’t have Kapadia’s usual imprints or his stunning reading between the lines. The material was sparse; the line of inquiry was, at best, respectful. As much as the tennis fan in me was glad about the film’s existence, I was underwhelmed as a cinephile. Like Kapadia’s film, even Heinzerling’s show begins with a star preparing himself to record his retirement message for the world. The air is heavy. Given how frequently such undertakings turn into vanity projects, my initial reaction to Rafa was of cautious hesitation. Starting with the staples we’ve come to recognise: the talking heads (Nadal and those closest to him like his uncle/coach Toni, father Sebastian, mother Ana Maria, wife Maria Francisca etc), present day footage spliced with unseen home footage – as a ferocious adolescent on the court, and the shy, respectful kid off it. Toni says Rafa usually trained on clay, and therefore his style was always about getting his hands dirty. Soil, toil and turmoil emerge as key ingredients to Nadal’s career as an elite sportsperson for over two decades.In a sweet anecdote, a seven-year-old Nadal is nervous before playing an older, 11-year-old opponent. As a pep talk before the match, Toni tells the young Rafa that if he starts losing, he’ll ‘make it rain’. Four games to none in the first set, Nadal finds a way to start winning. When it starts raining, and they have to break, the young boy goes up to his uncle and says softly, “you can make it stop raining. I think I can beat him.” Nadal went on to win the match. In another anecdote, he reveals how he played with a broken finger as a 14-year-old, after Toni told him to keep going. He won the tournament. Playing through injuries, self-doubt and fear was a way of life for a young Nadal – his uncle would take no excuses. It also instilled in him an unforgiving inner voice, which would demand only perfection. There are scenes, when a visibly injured Rafa is annoyed after missing a shot – and his coaching staff exhales, wondering if he can just pull back his intensity for a single point during a nondescript training session. The answer is ‘no’.Heinzerling’s show devises an interesting non-linearity while telling us about Nadal’s journey. Beginning with his 2024 season, where he’s addled with injuries in his knee, ankle and hip, there are murmurs of his impending retirement already. But then the show cuts back to a 20-year-old Nadal, where he’s already been announced as the tennis world’s next phenomenon after winning his first Roland Garros in 2005, and is looking to defend his title. Playing with an injury caused by an unconventional foot structure, he’s advised to wear an in-sole. It doesn’t solve anything, but it masks the pain to a large extent. Playing with that, he wins the 2006 Roland Garros, and the viewer begins to understand why his father Sebastian was crying. A still from ‘Rafa’.The series goes through the beats of Nadal’s career, his breakthrough on Clay, becoming the only true challenger to Federer, discovering fleeting dominance in the men’s game, and then being haunted by Novak Djokovic. Heinzerling puts in tremendous effort to introduce Federer in the documentary, with a snapshot of his face at the close of the first episode; while also dedicating the second episode to the Fedal rivalry. Toni effusively praises Federer’s optimised, beautiful style worth emulating for Rafa. It gives the young tennis player something to aspire to, Federer’s dominance; only to become the one to beat him more than any other tennis player on this planet. Around the start of the 2010s, when Rafa lost a string of finals to Djokovic, he, once again, became obsessed. Only to reach a kind of exorcism after the epic 2012 Australian Open Men’s final, which lasted close to six hours, and remains the longest final contested in the history of the sport. It’s not a particularly new insight, but Heinzerling’s series characterises Nadal as the ultimate problem solver on a tennis court. Hardly the prettiest player in his era, without the best serve, or someone who might intimidate a player with plain power or accuracy. What those might not have seen behind those biceps, and that warrior outfit (including a bandana) was a mind computing solutions to overcome opponents. Whoever the player might be, Nadal could keep the ball in play longer, and devise ways to beat him. Once he found a chink in an armour, he could consistently repeat the same thing for hours on end. Like for eg: going to Federer’s backhand with a high bounce. It would take someone with Djokovic’s resolve to outlast Nadal. It’s no surprise then that he’s only lost in double digits to Djokovic (31) and Federer (16).When the 2024 track gets slightly repetitive, showing Rafa starting and stopping training, playing and then losing or retiring before a tournament. There’s belief he can still come back, because that’s what he’s done all his career. Having been diagnosed with a potentially career-ending injury in his knee in 2013, Nadal was advised to stop playing. He makes the decision to play after taking anti-inflammatory injections, and goes on to win seven consecutive tournaments from there. Purely on will power. After losing form in 2015-16, suffering anxiety, he brings Carlos Moya on board as coach, and sees a psychiatrist for the first time. In 2022, he beats Djokovic with a numb left foot, to win a record 14th Roland Garros title and take his tally to 22 Grand Slams, the highest in the men’s game at the time. When you’ve conquered death so many times, it’s only logical to think you can conjure a miracle one more time. As Nadal says throughout the series, “You have to suffer, you have to go closer to the limit.”In 2024, Nadal’s body is out of miracles. He’s pushed his body to such extreme limits that the fallout is impossible to turn away from. As he battles a severe decline in his ability on court, we see a man doing everything within his powers to re-emerge as a champion. Unfortunately, as Agassi says about a 20-year-old Rafa Nadal: “his body is writing cheques it won’t be able to cash.” However, what has been said about Nadal’s physical style, he’s overcome with pure determination and focus, leaving behind a legacy of the second-most successful Men’s player in the history of the sport; and arguably the greatest competitor the sport has ever seen.A still from ‘Rafa’.It’s unfortunate that, unlike some of his other matches like the 2008 Wimbledon final, 2009 Australian Open final, 2012 Australian Open final; the series doesn’t dwell on the 2022 Australian Open final against Daniil Medvedev. Facing two championship points in the third set, Nadal manages the unthinkable and wins the match in five gruelling sets, over 5 hrs 24 mins. In my limited opinion, it’s the match that deifies Nadal’s brand of tennis more than any other match. In a moment of candour, Nadal admits that if not for his perseverance, his tally would have 12 fewer grand slams. Not just one or two, close to a dozen. What does it take to win? Everything. To see an athlete, living this philosophy point after point, game after game, set after set, match after match, and championship after championship, is to witness something special. “I don’t see myself as a winner, I see myself as a competitor. Victory is momentary, what motivates me is the desire to compete,” Nadal says in one scene. In another, his father Sebastian says that for Rafa the pressure wasn’t about performing in matches. The pressure was about to prepare for each and every match. Heinzerling’s docu-series does a great job of getting to the essence of the man (his war with his own body), only to realise in the end, it’s a losing battle. For an athlete so private, it’s charming to see Rafa Nadal sincerely sharing most of his fears, joys with his fans. As he comes to terms with his own mortality and limits, he’s devastated. But in a frank admission (unlike his humble public persona) to his wife after his last match, he says, “I think 14 Roland Garros will be harder to beat than [Djokovic’s] 24 Grand Slams.” A player who strived to be the best he could be, is now reluctantly taking solace from the fact that he might’ve left behind a peak no one could possibly scale. If there was someone who made use of every bit of potential in their body, Nadal might be a part of an elite club of individuals. The champion can rest now, he left it all on court.*All episodes of Rafa are streaming on Netflix.