It has been one of the most followed duels in the world of tennis, and it is not every day that two figures of the stature of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz can meet on the court. The two joined in a meeting that was followed by more than 12,000 people in Las Vegas, where a lot of well-known people attended.
Alcaraz beat the veteran talent of Nadal in three sets (6-3, 4-6 and 12-14), in an unprecedented opportunity to see the winner of 22 Grand Slams in a match that celebrities such as Charlize Theron did not want to miss, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Blanca Suárez or Pau Gasol, who also experienced firsthand what it means to be a man of his stature.
The Netflix Spain account echoed precisely his imposing height when talking about those present, and the former NBA player cannot go unnoticed with his more than two meters in height.
The athlete stood up and, at the request of his wife, Catherine McDonnell, went down to let the Slam spectators see what was behind him. There is nothing more annoying than having someone get in your way when you are watching something in public, but even more so when that someone is taller than you; something that the athlete took very amused.
“I am a person who tries to be a good influence on others. I am convinced that all the positivity we transmit has a domino effect on those close to us,” he stated in an interview a few years ago in the newspaper El Mundo. “I, like anyone else, can also smile more, be in a good mood and be kind to people. This is what I try to do. I try to send that energy out into the world and make it produce more positivity and more joy.”
Pau Gasol comes from a family whose height is well above the Spanish average – without going any further, his brother Marc was over two meters when he was only 13 years old -; And having a father who is 1.94 meters tall and a mother who is 1.89 meters tall makes the athlete have all the credentials to become a tall man.
Genetics played a key role in his height, but it certainly has not been everything in his outstanding career as a basketball player. As the player remembers, “people called me a thousand names for being lanky.” However, it was his talent in the game, charisma and spirit that took him to the top.
He who has been one of the greatest basketball players in the world managed to ignore those jokes at his expense and make that the impetus to develop his talent. Intelligent, with innate leadership skills, versatile and with the potential to become the best Spanish athlete of all time.
Now retired, Gasol dedicates himself entirely to two passions: his role in the Gasol Foundation; and his family: his wife, whom he married in 2019, and his two children, Elisabet and Max.
