With the trophy as a support: The day after his final triumph, Rafael Nadal smiles more tired than happy.
Image: Getty
Rafael Nadal was once not welcomed with open arms by everyone. At the Australian Open, he shows what sets him apart as a champion: whatever the state of his body, his mind is indomitable.
WHow do you feel after a titanic effort and a short, sleepless night? Well, Rafael Nadal stood at the photo op in the park of Government House, trophy in hand. He was trying to respond to everyone’s shouts, looking in all directions and cameras, when at one point someone asked if he could sit on the grass.
Mo. – Fr. at 4 p.m.; Sa. – So. at 6 p.m.
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He then put the trophy down, held on to the rim of it, and the extremely laborious way in which he then lowered himself said everything about his condition. “Not great,” he described it in words a little later, which probably only hit the truth superficially. But he could live with that. Because even half a day after his victory at the Rod Laver Arena, he was still bathing in happiness with a title that he had not expected in his wildest dreams.
