Lil Wayne and Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal is one of the few tennis superstars who have found mentions in popular rap song lyrics
Banned from T.V – a popular song by Lil Wayne, released in 1998 has a well-known reference of Rafael Nadal. “I go hard like Rafael Nadal. And if the b*tches were a habit, I bet we have them all” – are two popular lines from the song. Nadal – ‘The King of Clay’ is one of the greatest tennis players of all-time and quite obviously, the reference in the song did become quite popular with his millions of fans worldwide.
Rafael Nadal is an all-time sporting legend. He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Nadal has won an all-time record 22 Grand Slam men’s singles titles, including a record 14 French Open titles. He has won 92 ATP singles titles, including 36 Masters titles, with 63 of these on clay. Nadal is one of only two men to complete the career Golden Slam in singles. His 81 consecutive wins on clay is the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era.
Rafael Nadal is not the only tennis icon to find a mention in songs. Let us take a look at some of the other stars who have been referred to in the lyrics of various popular songs.
1. John McEnroe – McEnroe finds a mention in Danny Brown’s Really Doe. “Used to tote that calico and serve like John McEnroe”, the lyrics reads.
2. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – Both Federer and Djokovic find a mention in Frank Ocean’s U-N-I-T-Y. The reference certainly fits well in the song – “Nothing but nothing but net, is you Roger or Novak?”
3. Steffi Graf – Graf finds a mention along with Roger Federer in Lil Wayne’s SportsCenter. Wayne, who clearly has a soft spot for tennis is probably the only popular rapper who has mentioned tennis stars in more than one of his songs. “I’m servin’ this track like, Steffi Graf, yeahRoger Federer; there’s no competitors” – really good beats.
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