written by Jazz Tangcay, Variety

After winning 22 Grand Slam titles, Rafael Nadal retired from tennis in 2024. By the age of 38, he had rightfully earned the nickname “King of Clay,” having won 14 of those titles at the French Open.

Filmmaker Zachary Heinzerling’s (“Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence”) new four-part docuseries “Rafa” premieres on Netflix on May 29, following Nadal’s final season.

Heinzerling received the call at the start of 2024, just two weeks before Nadal was set to travel to Australia at the start of the tennis season. Like anyone who followed the sport or played tennis, the director couldn’t resist the opportunity to tell Nadal’s story.

Speaking with Variety, Heinzerling says, “I was optimistic when he agreed to this. As he does with things, he goes all in.” Nadal was going to give all-area access, which meant the filmmaker could create something raw, gritty and authentic.

But what unfolds across the four episodes is more than just a sporting legend’s journey to retirement. Heinzerling’s docuseries reveals that as Nadal strives for one last moment of glory – one final chance to lift a trophy – his body is plagued with injuries, and faces personal strugggles.

A hip injury during the 2023 Australian Open forced him to miss the rest of the season, and in 2024, he returned for one last bow. Heinzerling’s fly-on-the-wall access captures Nadal’s determination to push through the pain, his endurance, and the champion mentality that perseveres until his body finally stops him.

Episode 1 opens with Nadal preparing to go on camera to announce his retirement.

Heinzerling says he wanted something that would immediately captivate viewers, and this moment was the perfect way to start. “There weren’t many moments of that raw vulnerability,” he explains. “It was a difficult decision for him, but at that moment, it felt like he couldn’t gather the words to actually say it. That sort of back and forth – the hesitation, the space in which he’s considering his career and life, and what it means to stop after playing since he was three years old – you could feel the weight of that in one singular moment.”

From that moment, Heinzerling knew he was going to tell the story of how Nadal got there. Together with cinematographer Adam Uhl, the two shot observational footage and incorporated never-before-seen archival footage.

Heinzerling wanted the series to balance interviews with archival footage. “One of those stories is going to carry the real emotional weight, and the other one is supportive,” Heinzerling says. “One of Adam’s many talents is that he’s gifted at being in the right place at the right time with the equipment that allows a more engrossing cinematic film experience to happen.”

There was extensive verite archival footage. Heinzerling used that footage to follow young Nadal. “You see him off the court, around press – you could live in the archival footage. It relies upon the interviews as a backbone and voice for the archival footage.”

The interviews also highlight Nadal’s rivalries with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, but only when it was emotionally relevant. Heinzerling explains, “We started trying to find a similar language with the contemporary footage and the archival footage, so you could weave back and forth between the two seamlessly.”

Uhl adds, “Everything was a strategy that involved Zach and me teaming up in an unusual way, because Zach shot a lot of vérité footage as well. We would often use a very small camera that we could get into cars and very tight, intimate spaces.”

Shooting verite style meant Heinzerling had no idea about what challenges lay ahead in telling Nadal’s story. “Four or five days into filming, in his third match, he re-injures his hip in the same spot that he had had surgery in the previous year that had taken him out.” Nadal got an MRI and the prognosis was that they didn’t even know if he was going to play again. “That was like all of this momentum for this final comeback year, the Bull’s final run, and all of the momentum that, and the potential that, as filmmakers, you see in this story of the heroic comeback, which is the definition of Rafa, who’s done it so many times, and then just came to a screeching halt.”

Uhi covered the MRI, and Heinzerling captured Nadal in the car, admitting that he felt destroyed. “It is one of the more vulnerable moments in the series, hitting him with the realization of the one thing that he never wanted to happen, which is to have another injury.”

That’s when the story turned the project into a different story. The story became less about Nadal’s ascent and more about his acceptance of the inevitable. “It was no longer a question of whether he would make a heroic comeback. It became a question of when he would realize it was the end, and how long it would take him to come to terms with it,” Heinzerling says.

Heinzerling explains. “The guy who could never quit finally had to quit. It took a year of disappointments for him to reach that realization, and that became the heart of the story.”

Uhl reflects, “In January, we were thrown into this world that required an incredible amount of dedication and presence of mind to keep up with. I think what surprised me most was the everyday discipline and intensity that Rafa brings to his life. Just being around him required an incredible amount of focus and energy from the entire crew.” He adds, “Thematically, that was the most surprising and memorable element of the project: the sheer intensity of Rafa’s life and the resilience it inspired in all of us.”

Featuring Work by Editor Kate Hackett, ACE

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