Rafa review Netflix's documentary couldn't have gotten closer to Spain's greatest ever tennis player

Federer and Nadal enter Wimbledon Centre Court in 2007 for the first of many finals, with Federer presented as poised and polished and Nadal as wild, athletic, and charismatic. Nadal’s early appeal is framed as elemental and action-hero-like, combining tennis skill with acrobatics. The narrative connects elite sports careers to a broader problem: mastering something requires intense focus, yet many fields have a definitive best-before date, after which a void can appear. Modern medicine can extend careers, but walking away remains difficult. The series traces Nadal’s path from Mallorca to fulfilment, using extensive access to Nadal, his family, coaches, opponents, and doctors, while still leaving the core question of what drives him to keep going unresolved.

"Federer is poised and slightly smug; hair flopping perfectly over his headband, dressed in an immaculate white blazer. Nadal trails behind him, wearing a vest and baggy shorts, shaggy hair flowing and eyes wild, looking for all the world like a beautiful young caveman. It captures his initial appeal perfectly: in his early years, Nadal was elemental, athletic beyond description and impossibly charismatic: equal parts tennis player, action hero and acrobat."

"Becoming unsurpassably brilliant at something requires laser focus, but unlike music or acting or writing, there's a definitive best before date. And once that date has passed, a big, scary void looms. If the miracles of modern medicine allow you to continue, it's clearly incredibly hard to walk away. As well as tracing Nadal's remarkable career from Mallorca childhood to total fulfilment, this series should function as a meditation on this question."

"In terms of access, it couldn't get closer. Nadal himself speaks at length, as do his wife, his coaches, his parents, his most notable opponents, and many of his numerous doctors. Access, though, doesn't automatically equal insight. Possibly, this series is intimate to a fault. It's too close to its subject to allow much perspective. We find out what Nadal achieved and how he did it."

"What drove his prodigious will to glory remains tantalisingl"

Read at www.theguardian.com