Sigue
Circa 1998

Espanol Version

Rafael Nadal
11 years old. Tennis Player

His career can be compared to a meteor. He is twice champion, in the last two years, of the Master de Espa�a of the Nike Junior Tour, twice champion of Spain and the Balears alevin and finalist of Espa�a infantil. At international level he won a tournament in France and just played in Stuttgart the European Master of the Nike Junior Tour.

Rafael discovered at four years old that he liked tennis, but started to practise "a bit seriously" at the tender age of six. Since then there have been no unforseen ocurrences in his life. "Every day I go to school until two o'clock. Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays at three, I am in the Escuela Superior de Tenis of the Govern Balear, in Palma de Mallorca, and I play tennis for three hours and then I have another hour of physical education. Wednesdays and Thursdays I practise in Manacor from half past three to five and then at half past five I prepare for football. Saturdays, when there is no tennis tournament, I practise from nine to twelve and in the afternoon I play football."

His schoolmates only ask after his tennis when he has been taking part in a competition, but his adventures in the courts, in the classrooms, are just anecdotes. Rafael of 11 years old, is studying ESO (Obligatory Secundary Education) in the San Vicente de Paul college, in Palma de Mallorca. "As a student I am not overly zealous, but I pass all my classes." Anyway, it is clear to him that when his studies are done, his thing will not be to follow a university career, but to be a better tennis player. Practising the hours he puts in is a pleasure and for sport he never ever denied himself anything, not even eating well, "above all fish, chocolate and rolls."

Although his life is surrounded by tennis, in the weekend Rafael has a great time playing with his playstation of videogames, or with his friends, doing monkey tricks. He never listens to music, never reads a book "or it should be mandatory, in school" and hardly ever watches TV. Where girls are concerned, it's better not to mention them. It is too early. Nevertheless, at times he and his friends talk about them: "We say they are horrible, and very stupid. All the time they are with the Spice Girls and Alejandro Sanz and things like that, they are stupid!" But there is an exception: there is one girl that Rafael does love; it's his sister, aged seven, and he adores her, basically because: "she likes football."