The 9/11 blasts in New York City is an incident that no one can forget easily as it changed the entire perspective of the world towards every aspect and sports was no different. However, Spanish legend Rafael Nadal has a whole different reason to never forget the day to date.
It was on September 11, 2001, when Nadal played his first match as a tennis professional in Madrid. Just 15 years old at that time, the 22-time Grand Slam champion played against Guillermo Platel, who was ranked 731st in the world at the Madrid Futures event. Nadal, on the other hand, was unranked and was still looking forward to earning his first-ever ATP point.
Though the match ended in the favor of Platel, Nadal was able to win his first-ever prize money of $115. But what made the match more memorable for him was what happened after it. When Nadal went back to the locker room after his first professional match, the news of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers flashed and for a second, the former World No.1 just forgot about his sadness and disappointment from the match.
“I was playing a match to win my first ATP points [in Madrid] and I lost [after holding] 13 match points [to Guillermo Platel].
“I was really sad about my match, because the first point ATP always is really important.
“But when I came back to the locker room and I saw that on TV, I really forget the match in one second, no?,” Nadal was quoted as telling ESPN in a 2011 interview.
The Spanish legend also shared an interesting fact as to how he was even present at the Twin Towers a few months before the tragedy took place. He had even visited the top floor with his family and hence, the tragic news was quite disturbing for him.
“I was there in the Twin Towers a few months before, at the top. On the TV, that’s one of the views that had the biggest impact on me,” added Nadal.
While Nadal never got to see the Twin Towers again, it did not stop him from enjoying the sights and best of New York City over the years. He was a regular at the US Open until 2019, having played his last Grand Slam there in 2022.
New York City helped Nadal shed the tag of being a one-trick pony who could only play well on clay. He won the US Open an impressive 4 times, which is the same as his biggest rival, Novak Djokovic and one less than Roger Federer.
