In 2009, everything felt right for Rafael Nadal on the tennis court. But he was still heartbroken. Something very significant had happened to him outside of the tennis court, and it did so in such a way that his biggest triumph over Roger Federer became sidelined.

That year was significantly the best and the worst year, both at the same time, for the Spaniard. On one hand, he achieved a tremendous victory on the tennis court and became the world’s number one tennis player. But on the other hand, after hearing about his parent’s divorce, the tennis star felt like his happy family life was crumbling before his very eyes.

Rafael Nadal narrates how he felt about his parents’ divorce 

In his arch-rival’s biography, ‘The Master,’ the 22-time Grand Slam champion discussed the 2009 Australian Open final, in which he defeated the Swiss maestro. But there is more to the story; along with that, he also shared the inner struggle that he felt while getting through the semi-finals of the grand slam event and then going on to achieve a historic win in the final.

Nadal’s father revealed the most heartbreaking truth to his son about their divorce following the Spaniard’s historic win against Federer in the Australian Open final. In that book, he recalled the feelings he went through after hearing about his parents’ separation.

He said, “Suddenly, and utterly without warning, the happy family portrait had cracked. Our whole world was destabilized, and contact between members of the family became, for the first time that I had been aware of, awkward and unnatural; no one knew at first how to react.”

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Being a family man, seeing his parents separate and go on their different paths, the tennis star was devastated in such a way that his Australian Open victory, which he had been waiting for so many years, didn’t mean the same. Not only that, but their separation also affected the Spaniards’ on-court performances to a greater extent. 

Did Nadal’s on-court performance suffer as a result of his parents’ divorce? 

In his autobiography, ‘Rafa: My Story,’ the former world number one described how the experience emotionally destroyed him. That same year, the ‘King of Clay’ lost the French Open after claiming continuous victories from 2005-2008.

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And additionally, he was not able to defend his Wimbledon title that year. It took the Spaniard almost a year to recover from the depressed and cold feeling that affected his composure on the tennis court. Also, his poor performances was directly related to his parents’ divorce, according to certain Spanish media reports. Nevertheless, the tennis legend didn’t give up on himself and returned to the tennis court with more hunger to win trophies.