The Mallorcan says goodbye to professional tennis in the 2024 Davis Cup finals that have been held in Malaga since November 19. Just a few days before that event, this Thursday the 14th, Eurosport 2 premieres a special program produced by Eurosport Spain that pays tribute to the considered best Spanish athlete of all time and that will be available on Max
Álex Corretja, Fernando Ruiz, Jordi Arrese and the team of Eurosport experts review the most memorable moments of their professional career in ‘Pasando balls: Rafa Nadal Special’. In addition, the most important figures in Spanish Olympic history, Saúl Craviotto and Teresa Perales, analyze their careers and what the figure of Nadal has meant for the history of our sport.
He is considered by many to be the best Spanish athlete of all time and is one of the most admired in the world. Now, after more than 20 years of brilliant career, Rafa Nadal retires from professional tennis. Just a few days before the Mallorcan bids farewell to the courts in the 2024 Davis Cup finals, which will be held in Malaga starting on November 19, Eurosport pays tribute to the ‘king of clay’ with the premiere of ‘Passing balls: Rafa Nadal Special’. It is Thursday, November 14, starting at 9:30 p.m.the TV channel Eurosport 2 premieres this special program produced by Eurosport Spain that will also be available in streaming on Max.
From the hand of Fernando Ruiz, Alex Corretja and Jordi Arresewho lead the team of experts that for years has conveyed to the Eurosport audience all the excitement of the great milestones achieved by the man from Manacor, ‘Passing balls: Rafa Nadal Special’ reviews the best of his sporting career. For just over an hour, Eurosport experts offer their vision of the best moments in the career of the world tennis icon through historical images, memorable anecdotes and never-before-seen content.
Furthermore, the greatest figures in the history of Spanish Olympism, Saúl Craviotto and Teresa Peralesanalyzed in the program Rafa Nadal’s legacyhis Olympic career, and try to explain what the Mallorcan has meant for the history of sport in our country.
THE MOST ICONIC MOMENTS THAT THE PUBLIC WAS ABLE TO FOLLOW AT EUROSPORT
Since his debut as a professional tennis player in 2002, at just 15 years old, Rafa Nadal has conquered in total more than 100 individual and collective titles in 22 seasons. A great track record in which his 22 Grand Slam trophies, their 2 Olympic gold medals and his 5 Davis Cup. Throughout the Mallorcan’s entire career, Eurosport has offered the Spanish public the most iconic moments starring Rafa Nadal on a tennis court.
In ‘Passing balls: Rafa Nadal Special’, Ruiz, Corretja, Arrese and the team of experts who have conveyed to spectators for years all the emotion of the victories, defeats, injuries, anecdotes and great moments experienced by Rafa Nadalthey share with viewers how they experienced live scenes as emotional as Roger Federer’s tears after the Spaniard’s victory at the 2009 Australian Open, his exhibitions at Roland-Garros, or the epic comeback against Medvedev in Melbourne in 2022.
The program also analyzes the historical Spanish rivalry with the Swiss Roger Federer and the Serbian Novak Djokovic on the court and in the ATP ranking, and the great impact it has had on professional tennis in the last two decades. He The end of the ‘Big 3’ era occurred during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games when Nadal and Djokovic met for the last time in the Olympic singles tennis competition. To talk about this exciting moment, the Olympic debut of the couple formed by Nadal and Alcaraz who received the nickname ‘Nadalcaraz’, the two Olympic gold medals achieved by the Mallorcan in his career and the historical image of Rafa’s walk with the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, ‘Passing balls: Rafa Nadal Special’ features the two greatest legends of Spanish Olympics: Saúl Craviotto and Teresa Perales.
EUROSPORT AND ‘RAFA’S 14’ IN ROLAND-GARROS
But, if there is one track on which Rafa Nadal has forged his legend, it is that of Roland-Garros. Since his first title achieved in 2005 until your last Musketeers Cup in 2022the Eurosport audience has witnessed how the ‘king of clay’ has become living history of the French Grand Slam by conquering the most iconic clay court tournament 14 times. Thanks to Eurosport archive, the anecdotes and curiosities of the experts who narrated the matches and unpublished images that will remain to be remembered, the spectators of ‘Pasando balls: Rafa Nadal Special’ can vibrate again with the best moments of Nadal’s 14 titles in Paris.
· 2005: to Mariano Puerta, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5
· 2006: a Roger Federer, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
· 2007: a Roger Federer, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
· 2008: a Roger Federer, 6-1, 6-3, 6-0
· 2010: a Robin Soderling, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
· 2011: a Roger Federer, 7-5, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-1
· 2012: and Novak Djokovic, 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5
· 2013: to David Ferrer, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3
· 2014: and Novak Djokovic, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4
· 2017: a Stan Wawrinka, 6-1, 6-4, 6-1
· 2018: a Dominic Thiem, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2
· 2019: a Dominic Thiem, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1
· 2020: and Novak Djokovic, 6-0, 6-2, 7-5
· 2022: a Casper Ruud, 6-3, 6-3, 6-0
PASSING BALLS: RAFA NADAL SPECIAL premieres this Thursday, November 14 at 9:30 p.m. on Eurosport 2 and will also be available on the Max streaming service
