This story appears in the February 2020 issue of Sports Illustrated. To subscribe, click here. To see more from L. Jon Wertheim’s interview with Rafael Nadal, watch this week’s episode of 60 Minutes, airing Sunday, January 12 on CBS.
Rafael Nadal’s 2019 was his career writ small. He suffered a comprehensive loss to Novak Djokovic in the final of the Australian Open, the first major of the season. A knee injury forced him out of his next big event in March. He was dispirited and he was 32, ancient for players not named Roger Federer.