There is a gesture that millions of spectators know by heart: Rafa Nadal adjusts his shirt, places the water bottles parallel, touches his nose, his ear, the back of his neck. A ritual that lasted twenty years and was always passed off as superstition or eccentricity. Zach Heinzerling, the director of the docuseries ‘Rafa‘, that Netflix premieres today, came to the conclusion after months of filming the tennis player that these tics are the visible externalization of a psychology built on insecurity and Nadal’s way of managing it. This is how deeply this documentary goes into the engine room of a champion.
The series, produced by Skydance Sports, consists of four episodes and offers access to Nadal, his family and his close circle during his last year on the ATP circuit, in 2024. It is not a documentary about the 22 Grand Slams, although they appear, but a portrait of the wear and tear that made winning them possible. Leading the project is Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Heinzerling.
The docuseries traces Nadal’s career from his beginnings at just three years old until his return to competition in 2024, showing nor only the evolution of a champion but also the physical and emotional exhaustion that marked his career, which made his own body his main rival. Injuries prevented him from participating in 18 Grand Slams throughout his career, and the series focuses on the last of those competitions.
One of the axes of the series is the tennis player’s relationship with Toni Nadal, an unusual presence in the athlete’s career, since most elite tennis players change coaches every three or four years. Rafa Nadal kept him for twenty, and that coach was a relative who also lived in the same town in Mallorca. It is these types of details that suggest a series very different from the typical sports documentary.
In Xataka | Stephen King unequivocally recommends Netflix’s new number 1: it is “an absolute pleasure”
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings