Rafael Nadal’s Last Stand

Rafael Nadal is afraid of the dark. He has an intense fear of storms. He is afraid of animals, including dogs. (“I doubt their intentions,” he wrote in his autobiography, “Rafa.”) He doesn’t like to swim in deep water, even though he grew up on an island off the coast of Spain. He bought a motorbike but thinks it’s too dangerous. As a child, he was frightened of his uncle Toni, who was also his coach. His timidity has always been a curiosity, almost a joke.