Rafael Nadal is a player dedicated to his craft but he understands that perfecting that craft takes a certain dose of humility.
A dose that is hard to obtain when you're seemingly on the top of tennis for so many years. Yet Nadal is quite determined to remain humble in his ways and he was able to do so for so many years. It comes from a healthy outlook on tennis as a sport which he explained in a recent interview with Eurosport:
"In team sports, you have a coach who is the club. Hire a coach and the player is paid too. But the coach is the boss. In our sport, I am the one who pays the coach, the physical trainer, the physical therapist. In the end, you are the boss."
Then he shared a sort of tennis mantra that keeps him grounded and open to everything from his team which is what made him so good:
"If you don't make all those people around you feel they have the freedom to say things, whether they are good or bad, without putting your job at risk, you are not allowing yourself to be helped. If you do not have the humility to listen to the things that you do not like so much, it is difficult for you to continue on the right path."
It's very strong advice, one that younger players should heed and learn from it. If Nadal is humble enough to listen to his coach then so should the rest.