22 rafa 22

@rafaelnadal

[Rafa Nadal @RafaelNadal]

Thank you all for your birthday wishes! It was a very special day, surrounded by my whole family ☺️

[Rafa Nadal @RafaelNadal]

Look who I found in Madrid! ☺️

[Rafa Nadal @RafaelNadal]

One year ago in Paris…🥹

[Scuderia Ferrari HP @ScuderiaFerrari]

Welcome to the Ferrari garage Rafa! ❤️

[Netflix France @NetflixFR]

Une légende du tennis.

RAFA, la série documentaire sur Rafael Nadal, le 29 mai.

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

Rafael Nadal was diagnosed with Müller-Weiss syndrome at 19 years old. The navicular bone in his left foot was collapsing. There is no cure. The condition is degenerative. It only gets worse.

The navicular is the keystone of the human foot. It catches the head of the talus and connects to the first three toes. It absorbs the majority of load when you change direction. In tennis, players change direction hundreds of times per match. On clay, where the surface forces you to slide into every shot, the stress on that bone multiplies.

His sport demands exactly the one thing his body could no longer do without pain.

He won 22 Grand Slams after the diagnosis. Fourteen of them at Roland Garros, the clay court tournament that punished his foot the hardest. His record there: 112 wins, 4 losses. A 97% win rate across 23 years at the single venue that required the most from the bone that was failing him.

For context, the other Grand Slam dominance records: Djokovic at the Australian Open has a 91% win rate. Federer at Wimbledon had 88%. Nadal's 97% at Roland Garros isn't just the best in tennis. There may not be a comparable number in any individual sport at any single venue, ever.

He once told reporters he doesn't remember what the feeling of playing without pain is. The condition is most common in women aged 40 to 60. He got it at 19 and kept winning for 19 more years.

The Rafa documentary drops May 29. During the French Open. The tournament he won 14 times will be happening without him while 300 million subscribers watch what it actually cost him to own it. He turns 40 on June 3.

Netflix timed this so the stadium that was his is full of players trying to fill a void that 97% says might be permanent.

[Rafa Nadal @RafaelNadal]

🎿⛷️😃

After 26 years… what an incredible feeling to ski again!

[Univers Tennis 🎾 @UniversTennis]

🥹❤️ Novak Djokovic s’adresse à Rafael Nadal après la finale : « Je voudrais m'adresser au légendaire Rafa, qui est dans les tribunes. C’était un honneur de partager le court avec toi et de te voir assister à la finale »

[Rafa Nadal @RafaelNadal]

Thank you, 2025! ☺️

Wishing you all the best for 2026! 💪🏼

[Rafa Nadal @RafaelNadal]

Family time in Mallorca 🤗

[Roland-Garros @rolandgarros]

🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

#RolandGarros @RafaelNadal

[ً @itafshii]

#NADAL the dog days are over

[Rafa Nadal @RafaelNadal]

🏌🏼‍♂️ #Fedal ✅

[Roland-Garros @rolandgarros]

LEGACY 🧡

#RolandGarros

[Univers Tennis 🎾 @UniversTennis]

Quand un jeune ramasseur de balles contemple la plaque « Rafael Nadal » en plein match. 🤩

#RolandGarros

[22 rafa 22 @clemritz]

@FadingTramlines @RafaelNadal Hi Claire, can you please open your private messages? ☺️

[Rafa Nadal @RafaelNadal]

Merci, @rolandgarros! I will never forget this amazing day! 🥹

[Roland-Garros @rolandgarros]

The man.
The myth.
The legend.
𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓸𝓯 𝓬𝓵𝓪𝔂.

#RolandGarros

[Roland-Garros @rolandgarros]

For ever ♾️

#rolandgarros @RafaelNadal