captioning funded by cbs and ford. we go further, so you can. >> this doctor is a bit of a super hero herself here because she was the first to link the water to high levels of lead in the children of flint. the word "lead" when you're a physician or pediatrician signals what in your brain? >> there is no safe level of lead. it impacts cognition.

ildrennkually drops by two levels. it impacts behavior leading to things like developmental delays and has life-altering consequences. ( ticking ) >> chris downey had constructed the life he'd always wanted, an architect with a good job. >> that whole exterior. >> happily married and coaching his ten-year-old son's little league. but then something awful happened. he went blind, and that threatened to end his career. >> is that different? >> oh, yeah. >> or did it? >> i'm a kid again. i'm relearning so much of architecture. it wasn't about what i'm missing in architecture, it was about what i had been missing in architecture. ( ticking ) >> you are not laid back when you play tennis. >> ( translated ): no. i think i'm a very intense person with a lot of energy. i live life and sports at maximum intensity.

>> tonight we will try to explain how rafa nadal, the most intense tennis player of his generation, can come from a place like this-- the sleepy, sunny island of mallorca. ( ticking ) sunny island of mallorca. ( ticking ) >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm sharyn alfonsi. >> i'm jon wertheim. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories, tonight, on "60 minutes." those stories, tonight, on "60 minutes." ( ticking )

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six years ago in flint, michigan-- hundreds of angry residents holding up bottles of rust-colored water, and demanding answers. months of protests were waved off by officials who denied anything was wrong. the turning point came when a local pediatrician found conclusive proof that the children of flint were being exposed to high levels of lead in their water, and prompted the state to declare an emergency. now, that same doctor is working to solve a mystery that still worries parents in flint: what lasting damage did the water do to their kids? as we first reported in march, her initial findings were worse than she feared. but we begin with the legacy of flint's water crisis. once a week, hundreds of cars line up for bottled water at the greater holy temple church of god in flint. sandra jones is in command. she is a pastor's wife, with the voice of a four-star general.

>> sandra jones: take his number. we'll find a way to deliver to him. >> alfonsi: jones keeps the cars moving, and the water coming. each family is allowed four cases of water. on this day, they gave away 36,000 bottles. it just strikes me... it's been five years and you're still doing this. >> jones: five years. and-- and the thing about it is it's not lightening up. i could see it if it was lightening up. but it isn't. >> alfonsi: it is not. the state stopped giving away bottled water two years ago, because it said the water is safe. sandra jones relies on donations of water. what's it been like? >> larry marshall: it's been kind of hard. >> alfonsi: larry marshall was second in line. the widowed father of four got here at 5:00 a.m. he's been waiting five hours for water. >> marshall: water should be a basic necessity that-- we shouldn't have to wait or stand in this is not a third world country. but we're living like one.

>> alfonsi: marshall, like many in flint, still refuses to drink tap water. and if they come to you, the city or the state, and they say, "your drinking water's safe," are you going to believe them? >> marshall: no. they lie so much and we know they lie, and i-- when they say something, it's like-- talking to the wind, you know. i don't believe nothing they say. none of the politicians. none of them. >> alfonsi: flint, once a prosperous hub of the american auto industry, was nearly bankrupt back in 2014. officials hoped to save money by switching the city water source from the great lakes to the flint river. almost immediately, residents began noticing something wasn't right. the water was rust-colored, and many people had rashes. but michigan's department of environmental quality and the city insisted the water in flint is safe.

later, a state investigation found those officials hid the fact that the river water was not treated with chemicals that would prevent the pipes from corroding. so for months, the water ate away at flint's old pipes, releasing lead into residents' tap water. >> dr. mona hanna-atisha: they were poisoned. i mean, they were poisoned by this water. they were all exposed to toxic water. >> alfonsi: dr. mona hanna- atisha is a pediatrician in flint who her patients call "dr. mona". >> how strong! >> alfonsi: dr. mona is a bit of a superhero herself here, because she was the first to link the water to high levels of lead in the children of flint. >> dr. mona: so within a few months of-- of being on this water, general motors, which was born in flint, and still has plants in flint, noticed that this water, our drinking water, was corroding their engine parts. let's pause.

like, the drinking-- ( laughs ) water was corroding engine parts. so they were allowed to go back to great lakes water. >> alfonsi: didn't anybody at that point say, "if it's corroding an engine, maybe this shouldn't be going into our bodies, into our kids?" >> dr. mona: i mean, that should have been like fire alarm bells. like, red flags. >> alfonsi: so what did it take before your-- it-- your eyes opened about this? >> dr mona: yeah. it-- it-- it was the word "lead." >> alfonsi: because the word "lead," when you're a physician or a pediatrician, signals what in your brain? >> dr. mona: there is no safe level of lead. we're never supposed to expose a population or a child to lead. because we can't do much about it. it is an irreversible neurotoxin. it attacks the core of what it means to be you, and impacts cognition-- how children think. actually drops i.q. levels. it impacts behavior, leading to things like developmental delays, and it has these life- altering consequences.

>> alfonsi: in 2015, dr. mona and a colleague started digging through blood test records of 1,700 flint children, including the kids she sees at the hurley children's clinic. >> ready? >> alfonsi: the non-profit clinic serves most of flint's kids. the city is 53% black, and has one of the highest poverty rates in the country. >> dr. mona: so we looked at the children's blood lead levels before the water switch. and we compared them to the children's blood lead levels after the water switch. and in the areas where the water lead levels were the highest, in those parts of the city, we saw the greatest increase in children's lead levels. >> alfonsi: armed with the first medical evidence that kids were being exposed to lead from the water, dr. mona did something controversial-- she quickly held a press conference to share the blood test study-- before other doctors reviewed her work. >> dr. mona: so, it was a bit of an academic no-no. kind of a form of academic disobedience. but i l-- >> alfonsi: and you knew that?

>> dr. mona: i-- i knew that. but, like, but there was no choice-- there was no way i was going to wait to have this, this research vetted. >> alfonsi: two weeks later, michigan governor rick snyder ordered the water switched back to the great lakes, and declared a state of emergency. >> governor rick snyder: i say tonight, as i have before, i am sorry and i will fix it. >> alfonsi: but the damage was done. dr. mona estimates 14,000 kids in flint under the age of six may have been exposed to lead in their water. >> dr. mona: i never should have had to do the research that literally used the blood of our children as detectors of environmental contamination. >> alfonsi: three years after the crisis began, the percentage of third graders in flint who passed michigan's standardized literacy test dropped from 41% to 10%. >> kenyatta dotson: i'm very concerned about my children. and not only my children, but i'm concerned about the children of flint. >> alfonsi: kenyatta dotson is

still fearful of the water, even though the state is spending more than $300 million to fix the water system. the city promised to replace all 12,000 supply lines that may have been contaminated with lead by last fall. now, they say the work won't be done until summer. dotson says she and her daughters will continue to use bottled water for cooking and brushing their teeth. >> dotson: i need time to come back to a place where i feel whole again. >> alfonsi: you don't feel whole right now? >> dotson: oh, no. >> alfonsi: would this have happened in a rich, white suburb? >> dotson: maybe it would've happened in-- in a rich, white suburb. would it have continued for as long as it has? i don't believe so. >> alfonsi: we found many parents in flint still bathe their young children with bottled water-- first warmed on the stove, then brought to the tub. >> dr. mona: when i'm in clinic,

almost every day, a mom asks me, "is my kid going to be okay?" so that's a number-one kind of anxiety and-- and concern right now. >> alfonsi: how do you answer that? >> dr. mona: oh, i-- i sit down. i sometimes hold their hand. and i reassure my patients and their parents just as i would before the crisis: to keep doing everything that you're supposed to be doing to promote your children's development. the flint registry is now live. >> alfonsi: in january of 2019, she launched the flint registry, the first comprehensive look at the thousands of kids exposed to lead in flint. the goal of the federal and state-funded program is to track the health of those kids and get them the help they need. >> so today is the final day of his assessment. >> alfonsi: the registry refers hundreds of kids to specialists who conduct eight hours of neuro-psychological assessments of their behavior and development. dr. mona shared her preliminary

findings with "60 minutes." before the crisis, about 15% of the kids in flint required special education services. but of the 174 children who went through the extensive neuro- exams, specialists determined that 80% will require help for a language, learning or intellectual disorder. what are you going to do? >> dr. mona: so, there's not much we can do. so, there's no magic pill. there's no antidote. there's no cure. we can't take away this exposure. but incredible science has taught us that there's a lot we can do to promote the health and development of children, and that's exactly what we're doing. >> alfonsi: through the registry, already 2,000 flint children who were exposed to lead have been connected to services such as speech and occupational therapy, which some may need for the rest of their lives. >> dr. mona: but we also realized that our research, our science, this data and facts was also an underestimation of the exposure.

>> alfonsi: why underestimated? >> dr. mona: because we were looking at blood lead data done as part of these surveillance programs, which are done at the ages of one and two. lead in water impacts a younger age group. it impacts the unborn. >> alfonsi: to determine that impact, dr. mona turned to a novel technique developed by dr. manish arora at new york's mount sinai hospital. he examines baby teeth. baby teeth begin to grow in utero. >> dr. manish arora: and just like growth rings in trees, every day a tooth forms a ring. and anything that we're exposed to in our diet, what we eat, what we breathe, what we drink gets trapped in those growth rings. >> alfonsi: a laser cuts through the tooth to analyze whether lead is embedded in the growth rings of teeth. dr. mona has sent teeth from 49 flint kids to be analyzed. this was a scan on the tooth of a child who was six months old when the water source switched in flint. >> dr. arora: as we hit that

six-month mark where the-- >> alfonsi: oh, my gosh! >> dr. arora: --water, the water supply was changed. you can see how-- >> alfonsi: look at that. >> dr. arora: you can see how the lead levels go up, and then they just keep-- keep going up as more and more lead's entering the body. >> alfonsi: it shoots straight up. >> dr. arora: exactly. >> alfonsi: wow. for the first time, researchers can pinpoint to the day-- even before birth-- when a child was exposed to lead from the water, and at what levels. those early years are a critical time for brain development. >> dr. mona: you're taking giant steps! >> alfonsi: as we were following dr. mona's work in flint, another american city was forced to hand out cases of water. testing on the drinking water leve four times higher than lead the federal limit. in some places, higher than flint. newark officials were warned about it's water more than two years ago. >> dr. mona: newark, new jersey is like living flint all over again. if we cannot guarantee that all kids g-- have access to safe drinking water, not just

privileged kids, but all kids have access to safe drinking water. that's just one issue. like, who are we? >> alfonsi: this is not isolated to flint-- >> dr. mona: this is-- this is an everywhere story. this is an america story. >> alfonsi: we made another visit to flint to check in with sandra jones. >> jones: let's move them out. y'all are moving too slow. she was still in command despite temperatures in the single digits. hundreds in flint are still coming to her church parking lot for their weekly supply of water, more than five years after the crisis began. ( ticking ) as is necessary to achieve our goals.

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>> stahl: at age 45, chris downey had pretty much constructed the life he'd always wanted. an architect with a good job at a small housing firm outside san francisco, he was happily married, with a ten-year-old son. he was an assistant little league coach and avid cyclist. and then doctors discovered a tumor in his brain. he had surgery, and the tumor was safely gone. but downey was left completely blind. as we first reported in 2019, what he has done in the decade since losing his sight-- as a

person, and as an architect-- can only be described as a different kind of vision. several mornings a week, as the sun rises over the oakland estuary in california, an amateur rowing team works the water. it's hard to tell which one of them is blind... and chris downey thinks that's just fine. >> chris downey: it's really exciting to be in a sport where nobody looks in the direction they're going. you face this way in the boat, and you're going that way. so, okay, even-steven. we were just talking about that whole exterior. >> stahl: it's not exactly "even-steven" in this design meeting, where downey is collaborating with sighted architects on a new hospital building... >> chris downey: under the canopy, where you could have down lights. >> stahl: ...but he hasn't let that stop him. here you are, in a profession that basically requires you to read-- read designs and draw designs. you must've thought in your

head, "that is insurmountable?" >> chris downey: no. i never thought-- >> stahl: you never thought-- you never thought the word "insurmountable--" >> chris downey: lots of people, friends that were architects and anybody else would say, "oh my god, it's the worst thing imaginable, to be an architect and to lose your sight. i can't imagine anything worse." but i quickly came to realize that the creative process is an intellectual process. it's how you think. so i just needed new tools. >> stahl: new tools? downey found a printer that could emboss architectural drawings so that he could read and understand through touch.>>e normal prints, normal drawings, on the computer. but then they just come out in tactile form. >> stahl: so it is like braille, isn't it? >> chris downey: right. >> stahl: and he came up with a way to "sketch" his ideas onto the plans using a simple children's toy-- malleable wax sticks that he shapes to show his modifications to others. and he says something surprising started to happen.

he could no longer see buildings and spaces, but he began hearing them. >> chris downey: the sounds, the textures... and the sound changes because there's a canopy overhead. >> stahl: you can sense that we're under a canopy? >> chris downey: yes. it's all a matter of how the sound works, from the tip of the cane. i was fascinated-- walking through buildings that i knew sighted, but i was experiencing them in a different way. i was hearing the architecture, i was feeling the space. >> stahl: it sounds as if you began almost enjoying, in a way, being the blind architect. >> chris downey: it was sort of this-- this excitement of, "i'm a kid again. i'm-- i'm relearning so much of architecture." it wasn't about what i'm missing s about what i had beenhat-- it missing in architecture. >> is that sufficiently different? >> chris downey: oh, yeah. ( laughter ) >> stahl: chris downey's upbeat attitude doesn't mean that he didn't go through one of the

most frightening experiences imaginable, and struggle. he and his wife rosa were living in this same home with their son renzo, then ten, when downey first noticed a problem while playing catch with renzo. the ball kept coming in and out of sight. the cause turned out to be a tumor near his optic nerve. surgery to remove it lasted 9.5 hours. he says his surgeon had told him there was a slight risk of total sight loss, but that he'd never had it happen. >> rosa downey: when he first came out of surgery, he was able to see. >> stahl: but then things started to go wrong. the next day, half his field of vision disappeared. and then? >> chris downey: the next time i woke up, it was... all gone. it was just black. >> stahl: complete and total darkness? no light, you can't see anything? >> chris downey: no light. it's dark. it's all dark. >> stahl: after days of frantic

testing, a surgeon told him it was permanent, irreversible, and sent in a social worker. >> chris downey: she says, "oh, and i see from your chart you're-- you're an architect, so we can talk about career alternatives." >> stahl: career alternatives, right away? >> chris downey: i hadn't been told i was officially blind for 24 hours, and-- >> stahl: and she's saying you can't be an architect anymore. >> chris downey: yeah, and she was saying we could talk about career alternatives. i felt like these walls were being built up around me, just like, "yeah, you're getting boxed in." >> stahl: alone that night in his room, downey did some serious thinking... about his son, and about his own father, who had died from complications after surgery when downey was seven years old. >> chris downey: i could quickly appreciate the wonder, the-- just the joy of, "i'm still here. >> stahl: it was actually joy? >> chris downey: yeah, it was like, "i'm still here with my family. my son still has his dad." >> stahl: you know your eyes are tearing up. you know that.

>> chris downey: yeah, sorry. i always have a hard time talking through that. >> stahl: he knew that how he handled this would send a strong message to renzo. >> chris downey: i had been talking with him about the need to really apply himself. at the age of ten, it's that point where if you want something you really have to work at it. and here i am, facing this great challenge. >> stahl: so, motivated to set an example, he headed back to work only one month later. >> bryan bashin: this was the most healthy thing about chris. >> stahl: bryan bashin is executive director of the non-profit lighthouse for the blind and visually impaired in san francisco, and is blind himself. >> bashin: he waited a few days, until the stitches were out of his skull. and 30 days after brain surgery, he was back in the office thinking, "okay, there's got to be a way to figure this out. and i'm going to figure it out." >> stahl: bashings organization, the lighthouse, helps people new to vision loss learn how to figure things out.

>> bashin: when someone becomes blind, the odds are 99% they've never met another blind person. >> stahl: is that right? >> bashin: yeah, that really is true. blind people need those role models, how to be blind, how to hold down a job, how to live an independent life. >> stahl: specifically, how to work in the kitchen-- safely. how to navigate public transportation. how to use screen reading software to listen to emails as quickly as the rest of us read them. did you understand that? >> chris downey: yes. >> stahl: no! and most critically, how to get around in the world alone. downey learned that at the lighthouse. when you first crossed a big street like this on your own, was it terrifying? >> chris downey: absolutely terrifying. >> stahl: i can imagine. ( laughs ) i can totally imagine. >> chris downey: i remember that day, stepping off the curb, and it was like, you would have thought i was stepping into raging waters.

take a deep breath and go for it. you got to push through it. >> stahl: within a few months, he was travelling the streets on his own and getting back to normalcy with his son. >> chris downey: the first father's day came up. rosa was like, "so, what do you want to do? do you want to go on a picnic, go on a nice lunch? "i want to play baseball." ( laughter ) "with renzo." renzo was like-- he pops up. i could just-- i could feel him, like, jump to the edge of his chair. "baseball, you want to play baseball?" ( laughter ) >> renzo downey: so dad would throw to me, and i'd play like i was playing first base. >> stahl: how could he throw the ball to you? >> renzo downey: i'd just call out, "i'm over here." and he'd point, and i'd say, "yeah, that's right." and then he'd throw it at me. >> chris downey: that's something i really loved about our relationship. he quickly was looking for possibilities. he wasn't saying, "you can't do that." he was like, "well, why not?" >> stahl: downey seems to have a knack for finding windows when doors slam shut. just nine months after going

blind, the recession hit, and he lost his job. but, he got word that a nearby firm was designing a rehabilitation center for veterans with sight loss. they were eager to meet a blind architect. what are the chances? you had to believe that god's hand came down-- >> chris downey: it took my disability and turned it upside down. all of a sudden, it defined unique, unusual value that virtually nobody else had to offer. >> stahl: nobody. >> chris downey: yeah. >> stahl: starting with that job, downey developed a specialty, making spaces accessible to the blind. he helped design a new eye center at duke university hospital, consulted on a job for microsoft, and signed on to help the visually impaired find their way in san francisco's new, and much delayed, four-block-long transbay transit center, which we visited during construction. >> chris downey: if you're

blind, you don't drive. right? they don't like it when we drive. so, you know, we're committed transit users. so the question was, "how on earth do you navigate this size of facility, if you're blind?" >> stahl: his solution: grooves set into the concrete running the entire length of the platform... >> chris downey: i would just follow this, following those grooves. >> stahl: ...with a subtle change from smooth to textured concrete, to signal where to turn to get to the escalators. >> chris downey: would you like to give it a try? >> stahl: okay. i know to go straight because of this line. and i feel-- ( scraping ) oh, my. oh, my. so it's pretty obvious. >> chris downey: i can hear the difference from here. >> stahl: it's something sighted people may never notice-- and that's precisely the point. downey believes in what's called universal design-- that accommodates people with disabilities, but is just as appealing to people without them. it's the approach he used for

his biggest project yet, consulting on the total novation of a new, threery office sce for his old training ground, the lighthouse for the blind. >> bashin: coming into blindness need not be some dreary social service experience, but rather, more like coming into an apple store-- thinking that there might be something fun around the corner. >> stahl: one of downey's ideas was to break through and link the three floors with an internal staircase that sighted people can see, and the blind can hear. >> bashin: in blindness, it's so wonderful to be on the 9th floor and hear a burst of laughter up on the 11th floor, or to hear somebody playing the piano on the 10th floor. >> stahl: for the hallways, downey chose polished concrete, because of the acoustics. >> bashin: i can hear the special tap of somebody's cane, or the click of a guide dog's toenails. >> stahl: the click of a guide dog's toenails? >> bashin: yeah, yeah. >> stahl: well, is that good or

bad? >> bashin: that's great. it's like you're seeing somebody coming down the hall. i know the sound of individual people who work here by the way they use their cane, or the kind of walk they have. >> stahl: you can really distinguish between people by how they tap their cane? >> bashin: absolutely. >> stahl: if you hadn't had chris working on this building, a blind architect-- >> bashin: it wouldn't have been as rich or so subtle, for sure. >> stahl: spring 2018 marked the ten-year anniversary of downey losing his sight. so what did he do? he threw a party, a fundraiser for the lighthouse, where he's been student, architect, and now, president of the board. >> chris downey: maybe a slightly bizarre thing, celebrating my ten-year blind birthday. but when you're 55 and you have a chance to be ten again, you take it. >> stahl: i get the feeling that you actually think you're a better architect today. >> chris downey: i'm absolutely

convinced i'm a better architecg >> stahl: if you could see tomorrow, would you still want to be able to feel the design? >> chris downey: if i were to get my sight back, it would be-- i don't know. i would be afraid that i'd-- i'd sort of lose what i've really been working on. i don't really think about having my sight restored. there's-- be some logistical liberation to it. but, will it make my life btter? i don't think so. ( ticking ) welcome to the cbs sports hq presented by progressive insurance. today at the rocket mortgage classic in detroit. californian shot the low round of the day. a 65 to take the title. his sixth victory on the pga tour. matthew wolf who held the overnight lead finished second alone.

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don't wait... what will be the first thing you do as soon as you're able? at ikea, we wondered that too... we found that people didn't say catching a new movie, or going on a trip. it was to simply be with loved ones. let's get ready for what's next. ikea. ( ticking )

>> wertheim: were it not for the global pandemic, this would have marked the middle weekend of wimbledon, the peak of the tennis season. it might also have provided rafael nadal, now 34, a chance to eclipse roger federer for most major singles titles in history. whenever it is nadal plays next, he will be trying to add to his credentials as the greatest player of all time. but nadal doesn't play tennis so much as he works it, blistering the ball with annihilating force, lacing it with somersaulting topspin, and imposing his will on the opponent. his relentless approach is strikingly effective-- and, as we first told you last january, strikingly at odds with the vibe on the spanish island where he was born, lives now, and vows never to leave. nadal invited us to his hometown last december, during what passes for an off-seasn nn-- five weeks most players use to rest up before the start of a new season. most players, but not rafa

nadal. we found him blasting away at practice every morning, deploying his lefty forehand and double-fisted backhand. every bit as dialed in as he is during his matches. such is his intensity, nadal requires two sparring partners. his main coach carlos moya, was once the world's number one ranked player himself, and even he struggled. >> rafa nadal: es facil. >> wertheim: "that was easy," nadal joked. hola! good to see you. >> nadal: good to see you. >> wertheim: full disclosure: i've covered nadal for 15 years on the pro tennis tour, but this was our first extended on-camera interview. he's fluent in english, but expresses himself more freely in spanish. you are not laid back when you play tennis. >> nadal ( translated ): no. i think i'm a very intense person with a lot of energy. i live life and sports at this is how i feel it.

>> wertheim: in 2019, the world felt it, perhaps the best six- month stretch of nadal's career, even by his dizzyingly high standards. in june, he won the french open- of course he did. it was his 12th title on the red clay of paris, more than any player in history has won any major. in september in new york, he reeled off the shot of the year. watch this. >> if i didn't see it with my own eyes! ( cheers and applause ) >> wertheim: not over the net, but around it-- and yes, this is legal. on his way to winning the u.s. open for a fourth time. by the time he carried spain to a davis cup title, he was all ready number one in the world, his fifth turn closing out the season on top. as one observer put it, "even at this stage of his career, nadal plays like he's broke." so, what hard-charging corner of

spain, what hive of cutthroat ambition, would produce this kind of ruthless competitor? actually... it's mallorca, the largest of spains balearic islands. a patchwork of turquoise coves, mountain ranges, rolling meadows, mallorca floats comfortably in the mediterranean. think of it as something akin to a tennis ball spain volleyed in the direction of italy. the usual historical suspects- carthaginians, romans and moors- all left their mark here. how many generations of nadals have been on this island? >> nadal ( translated ): many. quite a few. >> wertheim: what is it like to you coming back to mallorca after spending time on the road? >> nadal ( translated ): for me, coming back to mallorca means coming back to a normal life. and normal life makes me happy. i'm not just rafa nadal, the tennis player. i become rafa nadal the human being again. >> wertheim: nadal is so

attached to the place, that when floods ravaged mallorca in 2018, he put down his racket, grabbed a broom and became just another volunteer. the island raised him. so, too, did his parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts. three generations of nadals living together-- quite literally on top of each other-- in this apartment block in the small town of manacor. his uncle, miguel aaángel, playd professional soccer and gave rafa his first glimpse of life under stadium lights. >> nadal ( translated ): he always managed to have a peaceful, normal life-- close to his family. and for me, that was a very good example. >> wertheim: but it was another uncle-- toni nadal, then a local tennis instructor-- who recognized rafa's talent. >> toni nadal ( translated ): normally, when you throw the ball to most kids, they wait for the ball to come to them. but when he was three years old, he went straight for it. >> wertheim: there were no perks to being the instructor's

nephew- quite the opposite. toni singled him out, making him pick up balls and sweep the court after practice. how hard were you on him? >> toni: i was hard. >> wertheim: you were? >> toni: i wanted to prepare my nephew for the future. and i thought the future will be very difficult. >> wertheim: you say you were tough. were you too tough? >> toni: sometimes. >> wertheim: still, it was out of the question that rafa would leave home-- and his uncle's coaching-- to attend an academy. to this day, the nadal family operates as a tightly knit clan... they attend rafa's big matches together; they toast his successes together. and they had cause to celebrate right from the start. nadal was an instant phenom. in 2005, the week he turned 19, he won his first french open. his stubborn refusal to surrender and the spin he can generate with a flick of the wrist have always made him near unbeatable on clay courts.

and yet, the signature moment of nadal's entire career came on grass-- wimbledon. in 2007, nadal was close to dethroning the sport's reigning king, roger federer, to win the tournament for the first time. but then, in keeping with an unfortunate theme of nadal's career, his body betrayed him. a knee injury this time. do you remember how low you were after that 2007 wimbledon final? >> nadal ( translated ): i was sad and i was angry with myself. because i wasn't able to endure mentally the pain, the suffering, and the tension. >> wertheim: nadal got another shot the following year, in what's been called the greatest match ever played. he pulled ahead early, but federer stormed back. during a rain delay, rafa conferred with his uncle. >> toni ( translated ): i'm telling you, at that point, i

thought that rafael was more likely to lose than to win. and then he looked up at me and said, "relax, i'm not going to lose this match. maybe federer will win, but i'm not going to lose." >> there's a new man at the helm of men's tennis: rafael nadal! >> nadal ( translated ): winning wimbledon was a dream. and beating roger, and the way i won. it's something i will never forget. >> wertheim: nadal didn't just comeederer, he confronted another persistent nemesis: the doubt in his head. you once said to me, "if i don't feel doubt, i'm going to be in trouble. doubt is very important to my success." what do you mean by that? >> nadal ( translated ): if you don't have doubt, it probably means that you're being arrogant. >> wertheim: most athletes might think the exact opposite, that doubts are bad.

you're saying doubts are almost a power, a strength. >> nadal ( translated ): i think so, yes. i think it's good for me, because then i feel alert. because tennis is a sport where things ca change very quickly. that's the great beauty of our sport. >> wertheim: a great beauty of nadal, for all his focus and aggression, he's also unfailingly sporting, which sometimes distinguishes him from colleagues. you haven't broken too many rackets in competition have you? ( laughs ) how many? do you know the total? >> nadal ( translated ): yes, si. >> wertheim: what is it? >> nadal ( translated ): zero. >> wertheim: zero. never broken a racket? >> nadal ( translated ): uh-uh. >> wertheim: what is that about? >> nadal ( translated ): my family, they wouldn't have allowed me to break a racket. for me, breaking a racket means i'm not in control of my emotions. >> wertheim: in full control of his emotions, at least until the last point. he's amassed 19 majors, only one behind roger federer's record of

20. but in this unrivaled sports rivalry, nadal leads the head- to-head match-ups 24-16. you ever done a long interview and not been asked about roger federer? does it bother you? >> nadal ( translated ): no, i'd be delighted. >> wertheim: a rival, a colleague, a friend- what is your relationship? >> nadal ( translated ): i think it's a little bit of everything. we've had a very intense rivalry throughout our careers, but it's been a very healthy rivalry. an elegant, respectful rivalry. we have also reached a stage in our lives where we are able to appreciate that it's not just about winning. >> wertheim: nadal did admit to being jealous of federer in one respect. do you ever envy the health of your rivals? >> nadal ( translated ): yes. ( laughs ) sometimes i do. it's true that my rivals have faced fewer injuries than i have had to face. >> wertheim: one of the theories with your injuries is that you practice and play with so much intensity that it takes a physical price. is that something you agree with?

>> nadal ( translated ): no, or i don't know. i was told that for many years, i was told that because of the way i play, i would never have a very long career. but, hey, i'm still here. >> wertheim: for this, the final set of nadal's career, uncle toni has stepped aside and rafa has a new voice in his ear. carlos moya is, naturally, a fellow mallorcan. what percent of his intensity did you have when you were a player? >> carlos moya: 10%. ( laughs ) >> wertheim: 10% as intense as rafa nadal? >> moya: yeah. >> wertheim: and yet you come from the same place? >> moya: yeah, he's the different one, not me. here in mallorca, we are like this. >> wertheim: he's the exception? >> moya: yeah, he's the exception, yeah. >> wertheim: nadal turned his sleepy hometown of manacor into a worldwide tennis destination. the rafa nadal academy is a sprawling complex for enthusiasts and aspiring pros. when we asked nadal if he ever considered moving his operation, as if to emphasize the point, he switched to english to answer. >> nadal: honestly not. a lot of people does. because of taxes.

>> wertheim: not for you? >> nadal: for me it was difficult to take that decision because i have all of the people that i love here. and i will win much more money if i move to another place, but moving to another place if i am not happy could be very, very expensive. >> wertheim: last october, nadal married his longtime girlfriend, maria francisca perellooó. yup, she's mallorcan, too. she helps run nadal's charitable foundation and tends to avoid the public eye, though we found them together one night hosting a group of donors. >> how did you ask her to marry you? >> nadal: after 15 years, you don't need to talk much. just, what do we have to do? ( laughs ) >> maria francisca: yes, or not? >> nadal: well, here we are... >> wertheim: nadal took us to a plot of land he bought recently where he and his wife will eventually break ground on a new family home. he told us he'd planned to have kids by now; then again he also thought he'd be off the tour by now. >> nadal: this is the port of manacor.

my parents living there. >> wertheim: oh, your parents live across the bay? >> nadal: yeah, other side. yeah, it's good, because i have the boat very close, too, very close. so that helps, because-- >> wertheim: oh, you keep a boat here? >> nadal: yeah, yeah. so, in three minutes, i am in the boat. >> wertheim: three minutes you're in the boat, and you're out-- out in the mediterranean fishing-- >> nadal: exactly. >> wertheim: only one problem with this spot. >> nadal: the problem here is the kids during the summer, they go there-- they jump. because there is nobody in the house, they come up and they come back. they come from inside the property. >> wertheim: this is a hangout for mallorca because rafa is away playing tennis, so why don't we go out to his property and jump off his cliff. >> nadal: yeah, that's true. >> wertheim: have you jumped off that? >> nadal: yeah. >> wertheim: yeah? >> nadal: a couple of times. >> wertheim: maybe it was the effects of being back home. maybe it's because he is back on top. but we found rafael nadal ready to take the measure of his entire, surpassing career. you've had some incredible victories and you've had some

gutting losses. what is more intense? the joy of winning or the pain of losing? >> nadal ( translated ): depends on the moment. unfortunately, in life more often we remember the negative things because they have a greater impact on us. in tennis, it's a little different, no? i think over my career that i have been happier with my victories than i have been upset with my defeats. i think. ( ticking ) here more from nadal including his rituals and feelings about retirement at 60minutesovertime.com.

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( ticking ) captioning funded by cbs and ford. we go further, so you can. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> tonight, on this special edition of "60 minutes presents: great adventures," travel as deep into the earth as man has ever traveled-- two miles down-- to get to the rock that's become this: liquid molten gold. but gold's not all. scientists have found something else down there-- something known as extreme life-- which might also exist on mars. so, the martians we meet in the future... ? >> be prepared to be surprised, i would say. ( ticking ) >> in mongolia, hunters partner