Rafael Nadal is the man who has won the most slams in tennis history and he is currently coached by former world number 1 and dear friend Carlos Moya. During a recent interview, Moya shared an interesting episode when Rafa was just 12. Carlos was asked to warm up with Nadal. He noticed that the youngster was extremely driven (and shy), but he did not see any special talent in him. Funny enough, after 4 years, when Nadal was only 16, he defeated Carlos when they clashed in Hamburg and Moya was the seed number 2. In that case, the legend says that knowing that it was a bit humiliating for the former world number 1 to lose on a big stage to a 16-year-old, Rafa said: “I am sorry.”
Talking about that first encounter, Carlos Moya commented:
“By the age of twelve Rafael Nadal was already one of the best in the world in his category. That was when I met him for the first time. He asked me if I’d warm up with him.
I did, for about an hour. Now, to be honest, he did not strike me as being singularly more gifted than other players of his age. I did see he was very combative, though what was more surprising was how incredibly shy he also was. We met and shook hands, but he didn’t even look at me and uttered a syllable barely,”
Rafael Nadal at the ATP Finals
Currently ranked no.2, Rafael played his last match on the 15th of November when he surrendered to world no.6 Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3 6-4 in the round robin in the Nitto ATP Finals (draw). After his last match, Nadal failed to qualify for the semi-finals following his previous loss against that Taylor Fritz. Nadal has never won the ATP Finals in his incredible career.
This season the Spaniard achieved a composed 38-8 win-loss record. Rafael has won 4 titles in 2022 in Melbourne, Australian Open, Acapulco and French Open. Nadal got to the final in Indian Wells.
