Asked to tell an anecdote about one of the members of the Big 3, during his recent interview with the site FanpageClaudio Pistolesi, former 71st player in the world and coach of Monica Seles and Robin Soderling, spoke of this moment often recounted by Toni Nadal concerning his nephew.
“I took many training classes with Toni Nadal and I always talk about the moment when he realized that Rafa was special and different from others. He said that once the boy was captain of the under-14 team in Mallorca and they had gone to play a team tournament. He went to the others because Rafa was the nephew, and he was winning every match by a score of 6–0, 6–0. At one point he was told that Rafa was losing 6–0, 3–0. So Toni went to see because he was afraid that Rafa might have been injured. And he saw this little boy playing with a broken racket, not the strings but the frame. So he told him to change it, even if the match was already compromised. After the match, Toni said to him: ‘Rafael, you are 14 years old, how can you not understand that you cannot play with a broken racket’, and Rafa replied: ‘But uncle, you told me that I should not make excuses and that I should take responsibility for what I was doing’. »
Published on Friday, June 28, 2024 at 5:47 p.m.
2024-06-28 15:47:00
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