Rafael Nadal returns to the court in a charity event at his academy in Manacor

The queue to enter the venue moves silently and civilly, without any jostling or jostling, all very tennis-like. Suddenly, a child's high-pitched voice breaks the calm. "That Rafa/how cool he is/he ​​deserves a wave!" She is no more than nine years old but that is Nadalmania: even those who can barely cherish memories of that triumphant mane of hair in Paris can feel devotion to her figure.

The boy's contagious freshness enlivens a sultry afternoon in Manacor, loaded with the characteristic humidity of Mallorca, the salty forge of the champion, the best Spanish tennis player in history, who on this summer Saturday afternoon has scheduled a special date, an almost romantic afternoon, in the loose sense of the word.

Two years ago Rafa Nadal played his last official match, that swan song of Davis in Malaga. And since then he had not picked up the racket to play in front of the public. In fact, even to play around with his friends he had barely caught it on rare occasions, "four times and half an hour each," in his own words. In love jargon, he and the racket would have given each other some time.

The tennis player returned to dancing yesterday with his racket, which he has wielded more in recent weeks. He dressed in shorts again on the center court of his tennis academy in Manacor to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the center, through which hundreds of tennis players from all corners of the world pass each year. A project that has been growing, turning the town of Rafa and his native Mallorca into a hub for international tennis training.

Nadal explained yesterday that he lives better than he expected away from the courts and the severe demands of the professional circuit. But he did not deny that he still has the bug, he did not rule out being a coach in the future and he ventured that he will feed that inner worm with friendly exhibitions like the one yesterday, between old colleagues and friends. And wow friends.

Because the Rafa Nadal Academy party exhibition brought together eight tennis legends, former top-level players who have 242 ATP trophies, a good handful of major tournaments and three world number ones. There were Andy Murray (captain along with Nadal of one of the two teams), Marat Safin, Dominic Thiem, Carlos Moyá, Richard Gasquet, Fabio Fognini and the incombustible David Ferrer, who at 44 years old remains intact, as if he had just come out of the last Davis Cup final, the tournament he won three times.

Between laughs, Nadal dusted off his forehand, went up to the net to win the tournament with a volley at the feet of Murray that decided the victory in favor of his team (four points to three in seven games) and showed his immutable competitive spirit, that inexhaustible capacity for self-criticism that turned him into a beast of improvement and excellence. "Playing in front of the people of my town makes me especially excited even though I play in the conditions I'm in," the man who won 22 Grand Slams was honest on the court, always with self-demand on his lips.

Other protagonists

In addition to Rafa, other former Mallorcan tennis players who competed in the elite played, such as Pedro Clar (now coach), Tomeu Salvá and Nuria Llagostera, or the Valencian Anabel Medina, as well as students from the academy.

Among the audience, dedicated to the show, the "Let's go Rafa!" rang out again. so characteristic, a sonorous and nostalgic emblem of a Spain that vibrated with his game, led by that fist that, after each decisive point, Rafa brandished like a claw: Nadal's claw.

"I'm from Guadalajara and I admire Nadal, I go to everything I can," explained Pelayo, one of the attendees, excited after the tournament and for the opportunity to see his idol again. Like him, around 3,000 people attended the event, with some well-known faces, such as former soccer player Raúl González Blanco, also a hero from another time.