Many players have been inspired by Rafael Nadal over the years, and Coco Gauff is among them; she is amazed by the way he practices.
Nadal almost never loses a practice match and it stems from how seriously he takes every single practice. Even when he's not necessarily playing with a player but practicing at his academy, the Spaniard just goes all out every time he stands on the tennis court, regardless of if it's in practice or in a competitive match, and it's quite amazing.
Those who watched him do that were awestruck by the intensity of his practices, which inspires many tennis players and athletes in general. Gauff talked about it after her win at the 2024 Roland Garros, admitting that she never saw anybody else practice the way the 22-time major winner does.
She got a chance to catch a glimpse of it recently, as they are both in the French capital, and was inspired to bring that same intensity to her own practices.
"The way he practices is like no other player that I've seen. It's just like, even if I have to like go to my own practice, I'll stop and watch for a couple minutes, which is what I did two days ago when he was practicing. It's just something that inspires you to bring that intensity to everything that you do in life, not just tennis."
Nadal has been known as a very hard worker forever, and that's partly why his body kind of collapsed so early. He's been going mayhem since he was a kid, and it left marks on his body. His humble nature is also something that's been known forever, and Gauff talked about that as well.
"And obviously we all know how nice of a guy he is and how unintentionally funny he is, which I just love watching like Rafa moments on YouTube when he doesn't mean to be funny but it's very funny."
"So yeah, just everything about him, I think his aura is, you know, one of one, and especially here [the French Open], it's something that won't happen again in the sport."
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