Rafael Nadal Reveals Interesting Tour Opponents He Has Faced As A Kid

Rafael Nadal was an extremely prolific player since his days as a junior on the tennis circuit. In fact, he won his first title on the Under 12 level at winning a regional championship in his home town of Mallorca.

When Rafa turned 12, he won the Spanish and European titles in his age group. It was already apparent that he was destined for big things. Despite the Spanish tennis federation offering him enhanced training in Barcelona, Rafa refused the offer at the behest of his stone-cold uncle and coach Toni Nadal who believed that a player didn’t need to leave his home for becoming a legend.

Thus, Rafa was a big fish in a small pond. Soon, Rafa made a big splash on the ATP Circuit. He proved his dominance in the ATP challenger and futures competitions. However, he was not the only young lad carving his path of success. There were many like him who were doing good and were hungry to become the best tennis player in the entire world.

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Rafael Nadal reveals opponents from his early years

Rafael Nadal recently held an Instagram live session. He was answering some interesting fan questions. One of the fans asked him about sone of his opponents from his junior days who were still competing.

“Well, with Novak I never played when we were kids. I played with Andy, yes. I played with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, with Richard Gasquet, with Gael Monfils. Yeah, I have great memories from all those times. It’s unforgettable, I remember playing in teams, representing our countries and have been just amazing. We enjoyed a lot spending time together and having lifetime experiences. So just, it’s great to stay together now on tour because we make our dreams true. Because when we were kids, we were travelling, we were practising a lot. Trying to become professional tennis players one day. Some of us we did it and it’s great to keep sharing things together on tour now.”

Rafael Nadal has certainly become the winner of that race between those juniors who wanted to make it big in the tennis world.