Rafael Nadal
– Takes a cold shower before every match
– Walks on court holding a racket in his hand
– Always crosses lines with his right foot and never steps on them
– Yanks his pants regularly between every point
– Eats an energy gel before the start of every match and always eats it the same way (four gentle squeezes to suck it all out)
– Jumps up and down during warm-ups
– Always runs to the baseline after a coin toss in the same manner (right, left, right, left, few quick steps, run)
– Takes his towel after every point
– Waits for players to cross on changeovers first
– After drinking during breaks, he places his bottles on the court in the exact same places every single time
– Constantly puts hair behind ears, touches his nose and shirt
Those are only some of his quirks. Who knows how many more we don’t know about. Yet, Rafa doesn’t think he’s superstitious.
“If it were superstition, why would I keep doing the same thing over and over whether I win or lose? It’s a way of placing myself in a match, ordering my surroundings to match the order I seek in my head.”
He might be right or wrong. Superstitions are things humans do because they believe that they help them or affect their lives in a positive way. In Nadal’s case, all these habits stimulate his focus before and during a match. Hockey players, for example, are known to be very superstitious. From wearing dirty socks and used underwear, to licking pucks and growing beards during playoffs, there are thousands of little rituals they do in order to gain a competitive advantage in their minds. They repeat those rituals regardless of whether they win or lose, just like Nadal.
Does Nadal have OCD?
There can be another explanation for Nadal’s behaviour – obsessive-compulsive disorder, better known as OCD. It’s a disorder which can be characterized by repetitive behaviour meant to reduce a person’s anxiety. In most cases, the first symptoms appear in late childhood or in teenage years. Therefore, in order to determine whether Rafael Nadal’s awkward quirks are simply superstition or a result of a more complex disorder, we would need to know more details about his past.
This is Nadal’s take on the subject matter:
“When I do these things it means I’m focused, I’m competing – it’s something I don’t need to do but when I do it, it means I’m focused. “
He has become one of the greatest tennis players in history using this routine, so at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter why he does it as long as it helps him.
When is Wimbledon final?
The 2018 Wimbledon final will be played on Centre Court on July 15th, the same day as the World Cup final. The start time will be 15:00, which means in all likelihood the Wimbledon final will not be finished by the time the World Cup final kicks off at 17:00. It creates a conflict of interests, especially since England might be playing in the final in Moscow, but the Wimbledon organizers don’t seem to be too concerned about it.
“We didn’t have one single complaint of anybody here feeling that the football interfered with their enjoyment of Wimbledon. We have free public Wi-Fi in many areas, so if people want to watch quietly on their phone or tablet they are able to do so.”
