Rafael Nadal: Tennis Legend & Record Breaker - Essay Sample

Introduction

Rafel Nadal Parera, in other words, Raf is a Spanish tennis player of the 21st century known to be the most competitive player known for his performance on clay. Throughout his career, Raf broke the record of 12 open tennis championship. Raf grew up in a family that loved sports. For instance, Miguel Angel, Nadal's uncle, was a professional association soccer player that participated in the 2002 world cup (Lovelock, 2019). As young as four years, Nadal began playing tennis under the guidance of Toni Nadal, his uncle that later became his professional coach. During his early years used to represent the left-handed tennis by using both the two-handed backhand and forehand. However, while Nadal was 12 years, he was encouraged by his uncles to handle the left-handed style as it was more conventional. Nadal did not adapt until he switched to the one-hand style that lifted his credit to the upper echelons of tennis (Lovelock, 2019). The essay will give a biography of Rafael Nadal to McAdams's narrative identity theory.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

A few years later, Nadal captured the sixth career in 2011 at the French Open title as the best Federer during the final. Nadal, however, lost three times during the grand slam finals, but this never discouraged him because he defeated Djokovic in the 2012 French Open. That particular game made Nadal break the Borg's record for the open singles championship. In 2013, Nadal added another French title and became the first individual to win in two Grand Slam single games eight times (Lovelock, 2019). One year later, he attained the second career U.S open singles game and also won the ninth French championship in 2014.

McAdams Narrative Theory

According to McAdams's narrative theory, the development of a child's identity is influenced by the opportunities, conversations, and expressions he or she receives from the fiends and the caregivers. As elaborated speakers give autobiographical information that is accurate especially to the attentive listeners because they develop a specified autobiographical memory to the person (Mcadams & Janis, 2014). Kids that have parents who share their narratives tend to be more coherent and detailed with them, mainly if they are in the pre-school age time. As seen, this is similar to Nadal's story, while growing up, he found himself in a family of sports that influenced him to play tennis. His uncle, to be in particular, gave Nadal the framework and foundation to begin his career.

The capabilities of people's narratives towards life initiate identity formation when a child is at the adolescent stage. As a result, when the child becomes an adult, he is supported and this assists him to foster the lessons he gained. If it were not Nadal's uncle, he would have never been a star. He kept observing all the wrong moves Nadal made and advising him on what to do (Lovelock, 2019). However, finally, Nadal discovered his way of holding the tennis racket while playing, which in the end, made him successful.

The development of a person's narrative in the adolescence stage is facilitated by the reminiscing constructed character where caregivers use comparison, analysis, and discussion of their inner motivation to guide about the past event to explain behavior and situations. Nadal's uncle (Miguel Angel) is one example that encouraged him to become prosperous in sports because he participated in the 2002 professional association football (Lovelock, 2019). However, at the age of twelve, another of his uncle began to encourage him to use a more conventional hand style while playing tennis.

When a child, uniquely a boy connects strongly to what he is taught during the adolescence stage, he usually has a wicked sense of well-being. But as he grows beyond puberty, other changes begin to take place in his life. Even though this is a vital stage for children to expand their conversational constructs and social groups, a more semantic narrative is developed, and this allows them to construct and build anything that comes their way (Mcadams & Janis, 2014). As a result, young adults become very sharp and attentive in what they're doing.

Throughout Nadal's sports career, he was plagued by injuries during the 2014 season to 2015 (Lovelock, 2019). Between the two years he failed the Grand Slam title making his record get to an end and wait for the next tournament that took place after ten years. After his fourth elimination at the Grand Slam, Nadal attained a measure of development before he captured his second career. He later advanced three years than in Australia open but lost the five-set match to Federer. After three months he won the 10th career at the French championship. While still in Australia, he was forced to withdraw from the quarter-finals because he was injured (Lovelock, 2019). However, before the 17th Grand Slam title, he recovered and won the open singles title and became the best player behind Federer's 20 titles.

The development life story of someone based on McAdams's narrative theory shows that they develop the inner motivation to guide their reflection about the future (Mcadams & Janis, 2014). Nadal's past experiences have assisted him in understanding the relationship between personal narrative, the past, and the present. Based on this theory, the semantic story someone goes through becomes meaningful when they grow up. Since the time for failure was essential to Nadal, he was forced to quit due to injuries. The idea shows how a layer of personality was developed in his life build from contextualized behavioral adaptations (Lovelock, 2019). Since this experience was significant for Nadal, he never gave up and waited for the next season to play again. As a result, he became the best player in history.

McAdams's narrative theory also elaborates that the personal narrative of someone creates the identity personality from the dispositional traits. When contextualized, the characters adopted forms the individual's motivations, life strategies, developmental concerns social role and place in the society. The framework also consists of an internalized story of the person that assesses all levels to give the person the phonological description of who they are.

There are different ways of narrating and interpreting life changes in personality development. Because of this kind of linkage, the narrative between psychological and identity well-being explores the similarity between personal growth and ego development (Mcadams & Janis, 2014). People who have a high understanding level view this viewpoint as valuable information that contributes to their social and physical well-being. Nadal portrayed such characters as he claimed through the tennis ranks. He never gave up every time he lost the game but practiced more to be better. The ability to recover from losses is what made Nadal successful.

Conclusion

The personality of an individual can be attained through their personal experience. Nadal being a tennis player, is an excellent example that showed growth and improvement ever since he was a small child. Nadal grew up in a family that loved sports, and this encouraged him to become a tennis player. According to McAdams's narrative theory, someone's narrative creates the identity personality from the dispositional traits. The development life story of someone also shows their inner motivation to guide their reflection about the future. Nadal's past experiences, as seen in the paper, assisted him to differentiate between personal narratives, the present, and the past.

References

Lovelock, T. (2019). The Life of Rafael Nadal. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/athlete/rafael-nadal

Mcadams, D. P., & Janis, L. (2014). Narrative Identity and Narrative Therapy. The Handbook of Narrative and Psychotherapy, 1(2), 158-173. DOI: 10.4135/9781412973496.d13