by Juan Amador
Diario de Mallorca
January 29, 2025

Espanol Version

The crack from Manacor's best friend reveals curious tidbits that happened to them both since childhood.

JUAN AMADOR. CALA RAJADA.

Tomeu Salv� - Cala Millor, 11-20-1986 -, 5 months younger than Rafael Nadal - Manacor, 6-3-2025 -, is the tennis player who knows him best. At 8 years of age, in the first tournament he played in Pr�ncipes de Espa�a, in the second round, they had to play together. Rafael Nadal -his family- asked him if he wanted, they could play in the Manacor Tennis Club and thus they wouldn't have to travel down to Palma. They played and Nadal won. "All the times we played, he beat me." says Tomeu Salv�.

From age 8 to 11 they faced each other time and time again, especially in the final of any tournament they both played. They belonged to different clubs, but they represented Baleares in the Spanish Championhips. "We won almost everything. We always played doubles together."

Besides, Tomeu Salv� is the European champion cadet and the Spanish junior champion. Together with Nadal he is European and World champion in almost every minor category. They had many experiences together. "We never fought. He is always the first one on court when I finish a match, win or lose. He sits beside me and supports me. I would talk to him sooner than to my coach or my family."

But so many shared experiences also implies a lot of little stories. "Once we were in Italy -says Salv�- in a tournament that was sponsored by a chocolate factory and they gave us a lot of chocolates of every kind. Rafa loves chocolate and at night he felt sick. He said he felt very heavy. And ate more chocolates in order to be able to throw up. In the end he succeeded and the next day he played better than ever."

The player from Cala Millor, who is at the moment playing the Circuit of Cala Rajada, spent a great deal of Rafael Nadal's first day in Majorca, after his phenomenal start of the year, in the house of the latter, in Manacor. They didn't talk about tennis or how he did in Australia. "When we are together we almost never talk about tennis. Sometines when I have to play against someone he knows, he will tell me how he plays. Yesterday we played at the computer and talked by Messenger to our friends," comments Salv�.

The two tennis players are real friends. "We send each other messages when we finish a match, so we know how it went. If we are abroad, we call each other a lot to talk about our things," says the player form Cala Millor, who also reveals another story: "One day we were in France, playing against a Japanese, Rafa was only just holding his own in the first set and it seemed the set was tied. At that moment Nito Llorens, our coach, said, during a change over that the Japanese kill dolphins. Nadal was so shocked, he started to hit everthing and didn't allow the Japanese another game." Rafael loves the sea. To the extent that: "Once we were playing alongside the sea everyday he went to find shells, and put them in a bag, that he later took out during the match and he placed the shells next to his chair."

Talking to Tomeu Salv� about Rafael Nadal is like getting to know things he himself has forgotten. For many years, all those that they lived at the Superior Tennis School of Govern Balear, they traveled to and from Manacor and Palma, some days in the car of family Nadal, others in the car of family Salv�. Also, they always shared a room in the many trips they made. "Rafa is asleep in two seconds after he hits his pillow, and in the morning he has trouble getting up."

For as far tennis is concerned, he mentions one aspect above all others: "When he is searching for his inside-out forehand, you can already start running. Nothing you can do.You have lost the point."