I must admit that beyond avidly watching Wimbledon every year I don't really know much about the game or the players so this was a wonderful book to find out more.

This is a great and interesting book about the tennis legend, with insights into his gameplay, and information on his past, phobias, and some of his most important tennis matches to date. I’ve enjoyed watching Rafael Nadal play tennis ever since the mid-2000s and this book does a good job of charting his successes and rise into the number one spot in tennis with some interesting information about him which I hadn’t read about before.

The book is split into chapters talking about Rafa’s early years, his life in Mallorca and all about his tennis, his left-handed playing, family, through to details on his legacy and beyond. Each chapter is interesting with lots of good information about Rafa Nadal which for someone like me who hasn’t read much about his past, was interesting from the start. His early life and how much Mallorca means to him was interesting to read. I especially found the information about his uncle Toni fascinating. I had no idea how tough he was on Rafa training him as Rafa grew up, and it was good to read all about his early life and how his family support helped to shape the man he is today.

The chapters are filled with lots of text but also lots of photographs displayed throughout the pages. I have only read the digital version of this book which unfortunately had a few issues with the formatting of the text, but I imagine a book with so many photos inside to be made of glossy pages which help the images to stand out. I like how we learn more about Rafa and how his unique playing style on the tennis court. There’s actual detail describing every aspect of his different strokes in tennis, and how they help him win so many matches. The chapters go into details about some of his most important and famous matches too, detailing what happened in each match and how Rafa managed to win despite sometimes facing some really tough opponents.

Throughout the book, there are also pages with some infographs. Charts and images helping us to understand some aspects of Rafa’s game play or some interesting tennis stats when compared to other players. I found some of these interesting on the whole, although I have to say that in the digital copy I read, a couple of these were left without key information on what I was looking at making a couple of the charts confusing to look at for me.

While I enjoyed reading about Nadal’s matches what I loved more is learning about his personal life off the courit, things like his life in Mallorca, how down to earth he is, and even his phobias and rituals which have been a famous part of him every time he takes to the court. I like how we find out about more of the rituals he does rather than just the way he has to touch certain parts of his clothes of face and hair or the famous water bottles being lined up. There is also some interesting insight into a few other famous sport stars and what rituals they do too. This chapter was interesting for me as I didn’t know Rafa was so worried about so many things.

As the book draws to an end we find out more about his family, girlfriend ( now wife) and some final speculation on Rafa’s future in the game. I have to say that I did enjoy reading this book as I hadn’t read anything about Rafa before, however I don’t know if this would be such an insightful or interesting book for someone who maybe has read lots of interviews about him or read his autobiography, as some reviewers have pointed out. However this book does well in showing you the life of the sports star and why he is so much loved today! There are interesting things to learn for those who, like me, haven’t read too much about Nadal before. There are also some lovely photographs throughout which help break up the text and I found the writing style to be really interesting, in fact so interesting I read this book all in one day!

Overall it’s an interesting biography about this tennis legend and it’s a book I’d certainly recommend to those who don’t know that much about Rafa’s life or his tennis. It’s a good book and one I wouldn’t mind owning in physical format, especially as the digital pre-publication version I read clearly had some issues with the text which I doubt is in the final version of this book. Overall a nice read and one for anyone interested in knowing more about Rafa, especially if you haven’t read his autobiography before!

I’m a huge fan of Rafael Nadal, I admire his humble approach to life and watching his athletic ability!
Anyone wanting to know more about Nadal’s game and his upbringing, should definitely read this book! I particularly enjoyed the superb array of photos.
Rafael Nadal is the ultimate athlete, his game playing is a joy to watch, a truly inspirational sportsman!
All of Rafa’s quirks and the down to earth manner in which he conducts himself, make his relationship with his fans special! On and off the tennis court Rafael Nadal is an exceptional person.

Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group - Ivy Press, NetGalley and the author for the wonderful opportunity of reading this book.

The writer pulls information from numerous articles and books about him, including Rafa’s autobiography, and mixes it with a great spread of photographs. Though there’s not much that would be new to die-hard fans or any new interviews with Rafa, it’s still a lovely memento celebrating an amazing career that is not over yet. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

This book is the complete guide to one of the greatest tennis players of the 21st century, winner of 22 grand slam men's singles titles, and undisputed King of the tennis court, Spain's raging bull, Rafael Nadal.
Only regret it wasn’t downloaded to kindle.

This would make for a great coffee table book with many full-page photos to flick through, though little new insight has been offered into Nadal's character and his game that isn't easily found in many other places. If you know much about the subject already, you're better trying to find something else which isn't written by someone who seems to be relying on the analysis of others and interviews conducted by someone other than himself. The book isn't helped by the fact that it was already out of date before it was published, following Nadal's 2022 French Open victory. I guess this is the danger of presenting a live subject still at the top of his game. I could also have done with more meaningful infographics with clearer legends and relevant analysis.

I am not normally attracted to non-fiction books, but let's face it, this is Rafa Nadal. This books gives us such a compete insight into the life of this tennis legend, from a young age until present time.

We learn about his family, his life growing up, the methods his Coach used and that everything he was achieving didn't come easy. We read about his insecurities, his flaws and so much more. The pictures that accompany the stories are amazing and give you a look into the life of this exceptional man. We get a look at statistics in many forms, his rituals and the man himself.

Such an interesting read and I am so glad that I was offered the book for review. He is definitely The King of the Court to me.

Thanks to Netgalley, Quarto Publishing Group - Ivy Press and Dominic Bliss for the opportunity to read and give an hinest review of this book.

Mr. Bliss is a tennis journalist., and that shows in this delightful biography of Rafa Nadal.
As a tennis fan, I was thrilled to reread about these ten important matches ( most of which I had watched ), but I am also very impressed with the detail about everything from early life , family life , training , idiosyncrasies that Mr. Nadal has.
There is also much discussion and examination of the many titles , wins , rankings and so on to more than serve as a good case for GOAT status.
And the pictures are GREAT
And we learned a bit about this humble, polite young man and his views on life , and his home, and his fame.
Wonderful book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me this ARC

I could quite honestly get all of this information from his wikipedia page. Nothing was very insightful or new.

There’s no question that Rafael Nadal is the shining star of tennis at a great time for the sport, being one of the Holy Triumvirate of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic.

This book should have been perfect for me. I like tennis, and I love watching Nadal play — his insanely athletic game, his hilarious on-court ticks (hey Rafa, stop picking at your underwear just for a second, man!) — but I don’t quite know much about him besides that. And this book recaps Rafa’s life and sports wins from childhood through Grand Slam # 21, illustrated by tons of lovely photographs and punctuated by recaps of his most memorable matches.

But sadly, it just did not quite click with me.

The author clearly admires Rafael Nadal, so we know he has good taste. But the book felt more of what I’d expect from a series of online articles rather than a biography, with the feel of not much more than a recap with that persistent feel of a distance remaining. I was expecting something more, something that would transcend the sports article style, something with better writing, something more engaging. But it just didn’t happen, and ultimately the photos were my favorite part, not the words on page.

But the plus side is that it inspired me to YouTube quite a few Rafa videos. Which was fun. More fun than the book, unfortunately.

2.5 stars.

——————
Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Ivy Press for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved how this book talked about ten great matches that Nadal has won. It had a nice recap of the match and allowed the book to flow into the next chapter. The pictures were amazing and really showed how much Nadal has grown as a player. There were quite a few spots that were difficult to read due to the layout of the book, as well as all of the scores were overlapping with other numbers so you couldn’t easily read them. For someone trying to learn a little bit in depth about Nadal, this book is great!

This book recaps much information previously written about Rafael Nadal. The photographs are stunning and glossy, with everything about Nadal presented gloriously: his wins, his losses, his arranging of his water bottles before a match, his tics, his family. Several key matches are broken down and explained but no new insights about the man.

I enjoyed the many photos, learning about Rama’s closeness with family, his superstitions and phobias, and some of the charts but I had to stop halfway through because I found the writing to be terrible, and the structure of the book disjointed. Because the book can only be read on Netgalley shelf and not on kindle, the book kept skipping while each pages photos downloaded and you’d be taken off the writing page and have to find your way back again.