“Rafael Nadal is determined to maintain his role as a hero. In a recent interview, Carlos Alcaraz reflected on the influence of Nadal’s career on him, emphasizing how he used to watch Nadal’s matches regularly during his childhood. Nadal took the opportunity to share an encouraging message and extend his best wishes for Alcaraz’s upcoming tournament.”
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The interview was conducted for the Cincinati Open, a tournament that will be hosted next summer. In it, Alcaraz is discussing his admiration for Rafa Nadal and how watching him play when he was a kid made him fall in love with tennis. “To be in the same table as the legend Rafa,” he said in the clip. “Rafa was my hero, when I was young and started playing tennis. To watch his matches and his finals, lifting the best trophies in the world.”
Nadal watched the video and sent him a comment. “Big hug and good luck in Turin!”
Nadal and Alcaraz’s relationship
Over the past, Nadal and Alcaraz have been pitted against each other by the media. In one opportunity, Alcaraz made it clear that he didn’t see Nadal as competition. “Rafa is not my enemy. I say hello, I don’t see that competition. With the rest of the players, it’s the same. Beyond that relationship, I’ll try to keep being No 1,” he said, after achieving the number 1 spot at the ATP rankings.
When speaking about his career and tennis in general at the Movistar Arena, Nadal was asked about any piece of advice he would give to Alcaraz, and said, “It is difficult to advise him. I am very bad at advising because I have learned more from examples than from words. But if I had to tell him something, I would only tell him to keep improving or at least have the hope of doing it, which is what keeps you motivated.”
