“It Was Great To Have You Guys”: Rafael Nadal Express Gratitude To Felix Auger-Aliassime and Others

With less than two months for the 2021 Australian Open, Rafael Nadal has been training hard during the ongoing offseason. Practicing at his own ‘Rafa Nadal Academy’, the 20-time Grand Slam champion has been training alongside Felix Auger-Aliassime, Emil Ruusuvuori, and Lorenzo Sonego over the last few weeks.

Recently, Nadal uploaded a post on his Instagram profile, thanking the three young players for choosing to train at the Rafa Nadal Academy. Standing alongside Auger-Aliassime in the picture, Nadal wished the players good luck for the next season.

Rafael Nadal trains at his Academy

“It was great to have you guys at my Academy these past days, weeks! Thanks for choosing the @rafanadalacademy for your pre-season and best of luck for the upcoming 2021 season. Felix, see you tomorrow before you leave @felixaliassime @lorenzosonego@emilruusuvuori,“ wrote Nadal.

The Canadian Auger-Aliassime had a successful season, finished the runner-up at the Rotterdam Open and Bett1Hulks Indoors championships. He also recorded his best Grand Slam performance of his career to date by reaching the fourth round at the 2020 US Open.

Lorenzo Sonego, who trained with Nadal recorded the biggest victory of his career by defeating World No.1 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the Vienna Open. The 21-year-old Ruusuvuori reached the semifinals of the Astana Open semi-finals and climbed to a career-high ranking of No. 84 in November.

With the 2021 Australian Open scheduled to start from February 8, Nadal will aim to win the title for the second time since 2009. The Spaniard has lost in all his four previous final appearances at Melbourne Park. This year, Nadal lost a closely contested semifinal to the eventual runner-up Dominic Thiem.

Having equaled Roger Federer‘s record of winning 20 Grand Slam titles, Nadal is just one major away from moving past his prime adversary.