The Spanish have always dug clay and done things with it that no one else could ever dream of. While the origins of clay roofing tiles can be traced back to China and the Neolithic era circa 10,000 BC, they don't call them Chinese roof tiles today, do they? No, they are known the world over as Spanish clay tiles and such was their proficiency in redefining the genre some 3,000 years ago that Spanish roofs have long been the gold standard globally.
Five hundred years ago, Alonso Berruguette used clay to become the most important sculptor of the Spanish Renaissance and he was followed a few hundred years later by the likes of Salvador Dali and Joan Miro. And man, those surrealists could do some funky stuff with clay. But one Spanish sculptor stands peerless today and his name is Toni Nadal from Mallorca, the same island Miro spent his last 40 years on.
Nadal was a middling tennis player who was once ranked among the top 50 players in Spain. When his nephew was a young boy, Nadal took a tennis racquet out of his right hand and put it in his left. When his nephew was 12 years old and playing football of the highest quality, Nadal sat him down and told him he could be a very good soccer player. But with a tennis racquet in his left hand, he could be something truly special.
The sculptor never shied away from his prophecy and over the years he would mould this raw talent both on and off the court. With brutish strength and ridiculously rapid feet, the nephew's legend quickly grew.
Yet despite his glowering ferocity and competitive fire, the kid was unfailingly nice, amiable, respectful and courteous. He possessed a serenity that seemed completely at odds with the rampaging matador mercilessly devouring opponents.
None of this was by accident, of course. 'I am happy when he plays good tennis, but I take more pleasure when people say he is a very good person,' the uncle told The New York Times. 'For me, it is so much more important to be a good person.'
Not only are the Spanish incredibly proficient at playing with clay, they're pretty darn good at playing on it as well. When Nadal's nephew played his first tournament on the world's most hallowed clay courts at the French Open in Paris, he was 18, soon to turn 19. On his 19th birthday he would eliminate the imperious Roger Federer in the semi-finals and two days later claim the prestigious title as his own.