"I thought Jimmy Connors tried hard until I saw Nadal" - McEnroe

Tuesday, 19 July 2022 at 06:00

Updated at Wednesday, 04 December 2024 at 18:14

bySam Frape

Rafael Nadal is one of the biggest fighters to ever step on the tennis court and that certainly does not go unnoticed amongst the greats.

Twenty-two. That is how many Grand Slam titles the Spanish warrior has won over the course of his glittering career. 22.

That, of course, includes a record 14 Roland Garros trophies. And while there may be some fans, young and old, wondering just how one has such an illustrious innings, former ATP World No. 1 John McEnroe has shed a bit of light on how the Spaniard has managed so much success.

Speaking to Tennis365 in an exclusive interview, the American, who is a tennis great in his own right, McEnroe identified just what it is that Nadal does to make him such a great.

“I’ve never seen anyone like him, I thought Jimmy Connors tried hard until I saw Rafael Nadal, this is insane. And that’s the greatest quality he has, by far."

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Reflecting on the relentless nature of Nadal's game and, therefore, mindset, McEnroe was full of praise for the Spaniard, all the while trying to put into context the tiresome nature of the tennis grind really has.

“I mean, the guy’s an unbelievable player, we all know that. But the fact that he can go out there and give that type of effort, you know, match in and match out, game in and game out, is something that people aspire to, but it’s very difficult to do."

He then explained how it is not solely down to his work ethic and that it is, in fact, a combination of serious talent and relentlessness.

"Otherwise, everyone would do it. I mean, you just say, well go to Nick Kyrgios and say ‘go out and give an effort, you’ll be No 2, No 3 in the world. Well, if it was that easy, I guess he would do it. But you know, for him, it isn’t."