A prestigious Mallorcan journalist wrote a few days ago in a local media that, lately, Rafa Nadal talked more than he played… and that's how he was doing. That same inertia, This change in trend has been occurring in recent times around his figure. and his or her environment. If until now, joking and even hinting at any suspicion about a business or personal matter that affected the Manacorí tennis player, his family and his inner circle was entering into a silent war of reproaches, calls from his communications boss and almost exile, it seems that That retaining wall, that altar of privilege and that pact of silence regarding the athlete begins to collapse. No, let's not fool ourselves. Nobody still dares to raise their voice publicly, to open windows and air dirty laundry, But the noise and unrest after the announcement of the collaboration agreement with Saudi Arabia has ended up removing the blindfold from the eyes of many neighbors and friends, many island politicians and businessmen. There will not be (for the moment) a protagonist capable of speaking out and confronting the Nadal universe, but the discomfort is evident.
The sporting quality of the tennis player is indisputable. Not a single but about his career, his triumphs and his knowledge of losing. In fact, every victory, every semi-retirement announcement and every comeback news has always found an answer by the main politicians of the Balearic Islands. Everyone, through their social networks, has had words of gratitude, congratulations and defense of Rafa Nadal's work. However, when his signing by the Saudi Arabian Tennis Federation was announced last January “to help the growth of the sport in that country”, the silence among the political class was devastating and the noise, not only in the media, ever stronger. In the opinion forums, in the newspaper articles and in the bars of his native Manacor, the voices were unanimous: “What a need!”, “But he didn't need it.” These are some of the comments most repeated by anonymous people. There is even some sovereigntist politician, who, in order not to fuel the controversy, prefers not to say his name, who ventures that Rafa Nadal's decision “will not bring him anything good in the long run.”
Already in his day, the mayor of Manacor, Miquel Oliver, received a harsh and public scolding from Nadal after having stated that the tennis player had received favored treatment to be able to build his academy in the municipality. The athlete accused him that all the mayor wanted was to “stain his name.”
Since then, and years have passed, no one has dared to raise their voice, despite the controversy over the construction work on his chalet in Portocristo or the expansion of the Náutico dock to accommodate his yacht. Now that agreement with Saudi Arabia collides with what its foundation proclaims. Others who know him well are clear: “The Nadals have always been very pesteros.”