I have never seen anyone like him – John McEnroe on Rafael Nadal

 

Seven-time Grand slam champion John McEnroe believes he hasn’t seen anyone like Rafael Nadal since he has been observing the sport. Nadal is known to give his 120% on the court and he has always been a fighter.

The Spaniard has always had a never say die attitude from his yore days and he was always programmed to give his best by his former coach and uncle Toni Nadal.

Nadal always refuses to throw in the towel and he is always relentless in his approach. The Spaniard has always given his all in the training sessions and he has always tried to replicate the same in match situations.

Nadal has won 22 Grand Slam titles in his glorious career but he had to pull out of Wimbledon due to a muscle tear in his abdomen after reaching the semifinals.

The 63-year-old McEnroe stated he thought Jimmy Connors tried hard but he feels Rafael Nadal is cut from a different cloth.

“I’ve never seen anyone like him,” McEnroe told Tennis365. “I thought Jimmy Connors tried hard until I saw Rafael Nadal, this is insane. And that’s the greatest quality he has, by far.

“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.

“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.”

Nadal has dominated the sport along with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the last 15 yea. The Spaniard is regarded as one of the best players in the game and he has savored success because of his never-give-up attitude on the court.

Nadal recently returned back to light training and he will look to prepare in the best possible manner for the US Open.