Rafa Nadal recalls a lesson his Uncle Toni taught him as a kid that turned him into a perfectionist, ‘Don't cry now, there is no point… If you want to fish, you can fish. No problem. But you will lose. If you want to win, then you have to do what you have to do first’
“When I was young, I learned a lesson that still sticks in my mind. I am not sure exactly how old I was, but I think I was around 12. During that age, I loved to go fishing. I love the sea, because I am from Mallorca, and in my case the sea is part of my life. It's about the feeling of being by the sea, sitting on the rocks with your family and friends, or out on a boat — the disconnection and peace you feel is something special. One day, I went out fishing when I could have been training.
The next day, I lost my match. I remember I was crying in the car on the way back home, and my uncle, who at that young age had a big influence on me, and who was the one who made me fall in love with tennis, he said: ‘It's OK, it's just a tennis match. Don't cry now, there is no point. If you want to fish, you can fish. No problem. But you will lose. If you want to win? If you want to win, then you have to do what you have to do first.’ It was a very important lesson for me. If people see me as a perfectionist, then it comes from that inner voice that was calling to me on the car ride home. The voice has never left me. One day, I can be at the sea.
Today, and tomorrow ... I have to practice.”
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