We live in a home that loves art, and art has many faces. There's the visual arts, the art of words, and athletes whose talent is their art.

My family is "infected" with a love of tennis, and our children grew up raised alongside a love of the game not only by watching it, but by playing it in practice. They played and competed both here in Israel and around the world, and watched famous tournaments across the globe. That's how we came, more than once, to watch the prestigious "Roland Garros" tournament in Paris. I watched up close as players who are living legends took the court. One of them is the Spaniard Rafael Nadal or, as he's affectionately known, Rafa. The man is a phenomenon, a superhuman athlete.

Netflix released a wonderful series telling his story, simply called Rafa. It traces his life from a small boy all the way to the eruption of his great talent. By his side throughout the years stood his uncle, his close personal coach, Toni Nadal. Rafa credits part of his success to his remarkable coach, who never left him for a moment but above all to his hard work and his phenomenal force of will.

The final episodes portray a harsh ordeal, the torments and inner struggles of someone at the very summit, in a brutal sport that is utterly individual. A severe knee injury that spread to his foot accompanied him for many long years. He was given powerful painkillers and anti-inflammatories; his body was force-fed medication, until it was no longer possible to go on this way. But Rafa did not give up easily. He pulled, he fought, he refused to let go because tennis was his life. Only when the pain finally subdued him and began to damage the quality of his game did he understand that the time had come to let go. The sweet successes were entirely his own, but so too were the losses and the pain. For better and for worse, he was alone.

The series ends with Rafa's retirement from competitive tennis. He stood there, proud, basking in the fierce devotion of the crowd that showered him with love and alongside it, the sorrow of having to give up his great love for tennis, the love that had lifted him to indescribable heights and peaks. Rafa's eyes filled with tears of joy mingled with grief. That scene left a powerful impression on me, so much so that I felt the urge to pick up a brush and paints to express the whole range of emotions that had erupted within me. And after a while I arrived at an insight: there is no success without pain yet not everyone who suffers succeeds. Success is granted to those whom luck has touched, and only one who understands that he has been touched by luck treats success with the kind of reverence that Rafa does and perhaps that is exactly why it was so hard for him to let it go.

We love you, Rafa! To me you are lucky, gifted, one of a kind! My recommendation go watch the series! It holds so many tender moments that touch the very threads of life.