Uncle Toni, his father’s brother, was coach when Rafael Nadal won 15 of his 22 Grand Slam titles. He started when his nephew was three or four. That’s too early. It might have led to the tennis great’s Mueller-Weiss syndrome, a degenerative foot condition causing chronic, debilitating pain. There’s a moment in Netflix’s four-part docuseries Rafa when Nadal’s mother says Uncle Toni was teaching his ward “how to suffer through sport”. Watching Nadal at 19, Andre Agassi says, “He’s writing checks I hope his body can cash for a long time.” We don’t know what Nadal thought of that, but something he said post-retirement puts his injury-ridden career in perspective: “The key was that the suffering was less than my passion and my happiness for what I was doing.” The foot issue led to knee issues and hip and back issues; Dr. Ernesto Maceira, who treated the foot, said the condition was caused by “abnormal forces that act on an immature bone”.The BBC calculated that, over 23 years as a professional before retiring in 2024, Nadal spent 2,543 hours and 15 minutes on court across 1,307 ATP Tour matches, winning 1,080. Great athletes both evoke startling figures and point to their essential absurdity. But 22 Grand Slam singles titles, 14 of them at the French Open, along with 912 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 — including time at No. 1 across three different decades — are certainly markers of greatness.