Today, the King of Tennis did an honor for the King of Thailand – he planted a tree. And then he watered that small tree, nurturing its growth so as to further develop the important agricultural- and environmentally-based Thai infrastructure. Rafael Nadal – an athlete, a painter, a humanitarian – is a God among men.
This morning, upon reading my daily newspaper, the India-based English news source The Hindu, I found an interesting article about Nadal’s Southeast Asian doings. After frolicking on the beach (anyone? sexy?) maybe with his girlfriend (anyone? sexy?), Nadal flew to Bangkok to wear Nike clothes and a pink Thai King shirt and honor the country’s royalty by planting a tree. In a video of the event, Nadal can be seen kneeling and covering the small tree, then watering it with a small, holed bamboo apparatus. There was then a small press conference during which Nadal said something to the effect of, “I liked it.”
The man is of few words, but it is of great skill and ideals. While having the distraction of the Thailand Open at hand and in mind, Nadal effortlessly and proficiently providing Nike-promotion for an entire nation and honored a country and culture.
Really though, the public show was an attempt to intimidate his opponents, showing his cool, while they sweat bullets thinking about strategy and fitness. No, Rafael plants trees and swims in oceans, basking in the sun with his model girlfriend. His life looks easy and for a reason. Really, Nadal studies and speculates for hours on end, his team at his side, calculating aerodynamics and wind velocity variables. Have you ever seen
Cool Runnings? It’s like that scene where the main guy is in the hotel room, studying, while the others are in the country western bar, doing the two-step.
Nadal may act like he’s calm and collected, but he’s as nervous as the rest of them.
But who am I kidding? He’s obviously going to win, whether he’s planting trees or not.
See the video here: