The Warrior
Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay
Format:Hardback
Publisher:John Murray Press
Published:15th May '25
Should be back in stock very soon

From the bestselling author of The Master, longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.
An intimate, original biography of tennis legend Rafael Nadal, and the first to cover his entire career.
After his award-winning look at Roger Federer, Christopher Clarey, one of the world's pre-eminent tennis writers, focuses his lens on Nadal, the Spanish force of nature. When he arrived on the scene in 2005, the record for men's singles titles at the French Open stood at six. Nadal more than doubled that total to a mind-blowing fourteen titles: one of the greatest sporting achievements in history.
Nadal won big and won often on all of tennis's surfaces: securing two Wimbledon titles on grass and six on the US Open and Australian Open hard courts. But clay, the grittiest of the game's playgrounds, is where it all came together best for his whipping forehand and warrior mindset.
Clarey, who has covered Nadal since he was seventeen, draws on interviews over twenty years with Nadal, his team and rivals like Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Brimming with behind-the-scenes insight, The Warrior tells the story of a global sporting icon, interlacing man and place in a unique, must-read account of the evolution of excellence.
Shrewd and informative -- The Times
An affectionate and insightful biography . . . Clarey supplements this two-decade highlight reel with rich digressions into tennis history -- Financial Times
The definitive volume on the definitive clay court player of all time -- Vogue
[Clarey] wrote what is widely regarded as the definitive book on Roger Federer: "The Master: The Long Run and Beautiful Game of Roger Federer." Now he has produced a similarly authoritative book on Federer's longtime rival and friend, Rafael Nadal -- New York Times
If you have ever held a racket or seen a champion play, you will find this splendid book a rich source of pleasure and inspiration -- Daily Mail
ISBN: 9781399811507
Dimensions: 236mm x 162mm x 36mm
Weight: 600g
368 pages