Rafa Nadal, a 36-year-old immortal among the greatest in history

• Chronicle Nadal's lesson against Ruud for his 22nd 'major'

• Opinion A blessed psychopath

• 22 figures of Nadal Domain, resistance and millions

On Friday he turned 36, a prohibitive age not only for any tennis player, but for the greatest in history, such as

,

,

or

.

However, for a long time,

has only competed for eternity.

Jordan's "infinite library"

Much has been written about Nadal's rituals with the water bottles, the hair ribbon or the track lines.

A behavior, on the verge of obsessive-compulsive disorder, that makes him akin to

, accustomed to repeating, almost sickeningly, the same pattern.

A coffee before getting dressed, a piece of chewing gum, his North Carolina

under his pants, the millimetric alignment of the laces of his sneakers, always new every night, the protections on his elbow and left calf... And the scream of war, after leaving the last to the track:

With the victory resolved, he used to enjoy the last quarter from the bench, with ice on his knees.

"His head was like an infinite library of images, moments and plays. He remembered every action and how he had responded to it. He knew how to prepare for what awaited him," proclaimed Tim Grover, his physical trainer, as if he were talking about the Manacor tennis player .

And what awaited Jordan in the season of his goodbye was a superlative challenge.

Injuries to

and

forced him to play an average of 39 minutes in 103 games.

In February 1998 he had turned 35 years old.

That last shot at the Delta Center, for the sixth ring, cannot be understood without the thousands of hours with Grover, who showed up at his mansion in Highland Park, between five and seven in the morning.

"Sometimes, when he arrived, he had already started and I looked at the clock, as if I had made a mistake at the time," said the physio.

Jordan had given her a one-month trial and their relationship lasted 15 years.

"When he left, he told me: 'If I see you in my neighborhood again, I'll shoot you.'

Ali: "I hate it, but I can stand it"

Behind the wheel of a beat-up car, Gene Kilroy and Bundini Brown cruised through the hills of Deer Lake, Pennsylvania, pumping up a champion in low hours.

It was the summer of 1978 and

was sweating to get rid of those pockets of fat that garnered so much attention back in February during his fight against

.

"My chest burns, my throat is dry, I feel like I'm going to pass out. My body tells me to stop, but I force myself to keep running. Everything hurts. I hate it, but I endure it because I know I have to suffer. I just a few more weeks of pain to live well for the rest of my life,"

admitted

.

He wanted to finish off this unknown who, at odds 15-1, had snatched his Council and World Association belts from him.

Ali's lousy preparation in Miami Beach had triggered one of the most notorious defeats in boxing history.

Surrounded by an entourage of sycophants, the colossus who sent Sonny Liston,

or

to the canvas could not even complete a dozen sessions against

.

So Kilroy and Brown, under the supervision of

, decided to return to the Deer Lake training center.

And the discipline of yesteryear paid off for Ali, who on September 15, at 36 years and nine months, would take his revenge against Spinks in New Orleans.

His last victory as a professional.

Because as he himself learned later, he should never have entered the ring in 1980 against

, nor a year later against

.

Merckx: "I wanted to continue, excessively"

On July 19, 1977, many fans were still wondering why not a single French rider was among those positive for doping on the Tour.

Meanwhile,

, race director, reiterated his criticism of the peloton, which had given him two very tedious weeks.

After 16 stages, only 49 seconds separated the top four overall.

Meanwhile,

awaited his turn at 3:02.

It was the seventh Tour for

, whom

had convinced to lead the Fiat team.

His last chance to break

's record , after the damn crash two years earlier in Valloire.

A double jaw fracture, an arrival in Paris living on rice porridge.

"I insisted on continuing, excessively, but there were consequences for my body during the final stretch of my career," he would confess later.

However, under the heat of hell in Chamonix, Merckx continues to trust his strength against

, defending champion.

He has just turned 32 and doesn't even seem to care about his food poisoning, or those liters of water he ingested the day before to urinate in doping control.

But the more than six hours on the way to Alpe d'Huez will be the greatest ordeal of his life.

"Even today I wonder how I managed to reach the top of Glandon. I had to change the wheels twice, just to see if I could improve something, but on the descent I threw up. I never suffered so much," he recounted years later.

When he crosses the finish line, at 13:51 from

, the Dutchman has already received the trophy from him as the winner of the stage.

Phelps' agony

Bob Bowman

, the coach with whom he had a love-hate relationship since he was 11 years old, described him as a "lonely guy", with an amazing ability to concentrate during training sessions and an "extraordinarily kind" heart with the children who were around him. approached after each session.

After all,

saw in the kids the affection that he always lacked in his childhood, marked by a hyperactivity disorder.

His obsessive preparation under Bowman, with seven hours of daily work, added to unparalleled genetics, propelled Phelps to the top of Olympism.

28 medals, 23 of them gold, in four Games.

No domain as superb as that shown in the 200-meter styles, the test that encompasses speed, resistance and technique, with four golds between 2004 and 2016.

However, the Spartan discipline was shattered after his second goodbye, in Rio de Janeiro, at just 31 years old.

"When I was swimming, the pool was my outlet. I channeled all the pent-up anger and used it as motivation. But now that outlet is gone."

The dark side of sport, through anxiety and suicide attempts.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• tennis

• Rafael Nadal