"Dragonball" was Rafa's favorite cartoon as a kid.
CNN, October 8, 2010: ¤¤
Rafael Nadal: The 'Dragon Ball' of tennis.
(Exerpts)
When Rafael Nadal was a young boy on the Spanish island of Majorca, he used to run home from school to watch his favorite
Japanese anime - "Dragon Ball."
The Toei Animation cartoon, adapted from a 1980s manga by Akira Toriyama, must have made an indelible impression on the young Nadal.
Like Dragon Ball's hero Goku, a martial arts student who came from an extraterrestrial race called Saiyans, Nadal has also come to conquer the world, or at least the tennis world, with an unorthodox style that he seemed to learn on another planet. ...
Rocketing across the court, twisting to hit winners from impossible angles,
Nadal sometimes even looks like Goku, with his mouth open in a grunt that is both ugly and sexy for millions of his worldwide fans.
"It's my favorite cartoon," Nadal tells journalists in Japan who ask him about
"Dragon Ball" after his opening round victory at his first ever Japan Open.
"I have all the DVDs, from the first one to the last one." ...
But off the court, Rafa has a simple islander charm. ... Coming into the Ariake tennis center press room after his first round victory, the 24-year old Nadal, who has won more than $30 million on tour, apologizes like a schoolboy. "Sorry, I was a little bit late." ¤¤
http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/play/rafael-nadal-dragon-ball-tennis-216638