Retirement was like a powerful death for Nadal, says series director

Many football players and celebrities say retirement is "like a first death". For tennis player Rafael Nadal, saying goodbye to the sport was like this, but in a "particularly powerful" way.

This is what filmmaker Zach Heinzerling, director of the series "Rafa", which Netflix launches next Friday (29), told CNN Brasil. The four-episode production closely follows the tennis player's final professional season.

While the "King of Clay" tries to overcome physical limitations between 2023 and 2024, seeking one last glory in the sport, the series transports the viewer to remarkable scenes of victories and pain that Nadal dealt with for 23 years, with 22 slams won.

Continue lendo

27/05/2026

Income Tax 2026: deadline ends this week and live program answered questions

Income Tax 2026: deadline ends this week and live program answered questions By next Friday, the Federal Revenue expec...

27/05/2026

River Plate x Blooming: time and where to watch the South American game

River Plate and Blooming face each other this Wednesday (27), at 9:30 pm (Brasília time), in a game valid for the sixt...

27/05/2026

Group urges US diplomats to leave countries amid Ebola outbreak

AFSA (American Foreign Service Association), which represents US diplomats, asked this Wednesday (27) that American fo...

"I think this is precisely the essence of the series. How does someone trained to never give up decide to give up? How does someone with that mentality decide to stop?", asks Heinzerling in the interview.

"And, for Rafa, this process was different from anyone else's. He had to go through a series of disappointments and signs from his own body saying that he couldn't continue anymore."

-

Top Cifras

Toque agora.

1 Coffee Shop The Red Hot Chili Peppers

2 Molambo Os Incriveis

3 Graça Soberana Me Tocou Reformed Sound

4 Te Exaltamos CCLN Music

Change imageChange image

1 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Change imageChange image

2 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Swap imageSwap imageSwap image

3 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Change imageChange image

-

Swap imageSwap imageSwap image

4 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Change imageChange image

5 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Swap imageSwap imageSwap image

6 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Change imageChange image

-

Swap imageSwap imageSwap image

7 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Change imageChange image

8 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Swap imageSwap imageSwap image

9 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Change imageChange image

-

Swap imageSwap imageSwap image

10 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Change imageChange image

11 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Swap imageSwap imageSwap image

12 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Change imageChange image

-

Swap imageSwap imageSwap image

13 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Change imageChange image

14 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Swap imageSwap imageSwap image

15 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

Change imageChange image

-

Swap imageSwap imageSwap image

16 of 16

Scene from "Rafa", series about Rafael Nadal on Netflix - Disclosure

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

default view
full view
grid view

"A painful and emotional process"
The American director says that, when diving into the project, he imagined that he would be following "the last dance", one last victorious campaign by Rafael Nadal.

As time passed, he saw his story going in another direction.

"It ended up becoming the question: 'When is he going to retire? How long will this last? And why doesn't he retire?'", continued the director. "It was a painful and emotional process."

"That question - 'why doesn't he retire?' - takes you back to the past and helps you understand that the same trait that led you to so many victories is also what makes it so difficult to stop."

Especially when you've been playing tennis since you were three years old and it becomes your identity. So I think it's correct to say that it's a kind of death. And, in Rafa's case, a particularly powerful death.

Find out the value of the golden racket that Rafael Nadal won

Source: CNN