ATP: Charity match planned: Nadal wants to collect money for Mallorca flood victims

After the storm catastrophe on his home island Mallorca almost three weeks ago, Rafael Nadal has announced that he wants to organise a benefit match for the flood victims in December. The French Open record winner was still deeply moved by the events at the beginning of October at a press conference on the fringes of the Masters in Paris.

The pictures went around the world on 10 October: Rafael Nadal helped to sweep the mud out of a warehouse with a worried face. Again and again the world number one was given instructions and listened via radio to the latest developments in this drama, in which a total of 13 people lost their lives.

Less than three weeks later “Rafa” can still be clearly seen how difficult it is for him to talk about the catastrophe. In Paris, the Spaniard now told us that he knew of two fatalities. A five-year-old and a woman had been washed away by the masses of water sitting in the car and later found lifeless.

“It was the cousin of one of my best friends and his mother,” Nadal said sadly, saying, “This is part of this life. It’s a very unfortunate situation from which you can hardly recover.”

The 32-year-old was at home in Manacor when the masses of water caused the devastating disaster. “The disaster took place only about six kilometers from my home. The rain just hadn’t stopped. It was terrible what happened in the village next to my house – but especially in Sant Llorenc. If you haven’t been there yourself, you can’t imagine it,” Nadal explained visibly moved.

His mother’s family came from a village that had been particularly badly hit. “I have a deep connection with all those people there.”

Nadal wants to raise money and organize a benefit match in Mallorca in December: “We want to help people who have lost everything. In a way, it’s the only thing we can do. For those who have lost their lives, there is nothing more we can do. Things are so sad.”

In his Academy, which opened in Manacor in 2016, Nadal had recently arranged for a minute’s silence to be paid for the victims of the drama. Of course, he also took part. Already in the first hours after the floods began in the east of Mallorca, Nadal had opened the doors of his tennis school so that those seeking help could find shelter there.

Nadal makes his comeback this week at the Masters in Paris after a break of several weeks because of his chronic knee problems. His last match so far he had played at the US Open in early September – in New York “Rafa” had not been able to finish the semi-final against Argentinian Juan Martin del Potro.