Encyclopedia of small and great feats: Rafael Nadal on a book about the ‘land of champions’


Encyclopedia of small and great feats: Rafael Nadal on a book about the ‘land of champions’

Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal recently won a record-tying 20th Grand Slam title at the 2020 French Open in one of his finest performances at a final.

Rafael Nadal is one of the legends to have ever stepped onto the tennis court, as his numerous achievements are too vast to describe humanly.

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A native of the small island of Manacor in Mallorca, Spain, he is from a region known for producing some brilliant stalwarts in the field of sports. The Balearic Islands, of which Mallorca is a part, has been the birthplace of some of Spain’s greatest ever athletes. Recently, a book was launched which celebrates these athletes in a biographical form.

Nadal received the honor of penning down the foreword for the book, titled ‘Baleares Tierra de Campeones’, which is Spanish for ‘The Balearic Islands, Land of Champions’.

Written by two native journalists, the book features over 1400 biographies including Nadal’s biography, which received a grand 2 pages of space (most others are fitted as 2 biographies in a page).

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To endure in time, to endure in memory: Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal

Nadal hopes that the Balearic Islands come to be known as the land of champions. He succinctly describes the book in the foreword, “The book in your hands was born with a vocation to endure. To endure in time, to endure in memory, to endure as a testimony of efforts and sacrifices until the Balearic Islands, also in sport, are seen as the land of champions.”

Terming the book as an ‘encyclopedia’ of the achievements made by athletes from the region, he further wrote, “(The book is) an encyclopedia of small and great feats over more than one hundred years, which is the time span that goes from the conquest of the first Spanish champion title by Jaume Mayol in 1913 to the last by Luna Yasmina Fluxá Cross in 2020. More than a century of uninterrupted successes of our athletes, among whom I count myself, and in all sports, especially in those sports that have to do with our environment: the sea.”

Being one of the most decorated athletes in sports, Nadal gets 2 pages due to his seemingly countless achievements. He has been carrying Mallorcan blood throughout his life and has been born and brought up here. He set up his tennis academy also here, aiming to nurture young players and develop them into top-quality players.

Also Read: On the eve of his wedding anniversary, Rafael Nadal grandly inaugurates his ‘Grand Mansion’

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