Coach Darren Cahill described Rafael Nadal as a perfect role model and noted it would be good if every tennis kid looked up to the Spaniard. Even though Nadal is considered by many as the biggest competitor in tennis history, he has always been known as someone who Has a great level of respect for his opponents.
Cahill, who in the past worked with the likes such as Andre Agassi and Simona Halep, believes Nadal is giving a perfect example of how one tennis player should behave and act. “Rafa is an amazing person, an amazing athlete.
You want the next generation to be little Rafa’s, don’t you? The way they train, the way they treat their opponents, the way they treat everything. His work ethic is second to none, the way he goes about his tennis. You want the next generation to have his ethics, his work ethics,” Cahill said on The Big Dealas quoted on Sportskeeda.
Cahill: Nadal, Novak Djokovic are still going strong
Last year, Nadal won two Grand Slams and Djokovic won one Major. At the start of this season, Djokovic won the Australian Open to tie Nadal on the all-time Grand Slam record list with 22 Majors.
With Roger Federer retired, the Grand Slam race has come down to Nadal and Djokovic. “We’ve been saying it for a few years that there might be a changing of the guard and we haven’t really seen it, have we? Because Novak continues to do Novak things and Rafa won a couple of majors last year with the Aussie and the French.
We would love some of the young guns to come through and start winning a few Majors, that would be great for the sport. But these guys are not going to give up the mantle easily,” Cahill said. In late May and early June, Nadal will try to defend his French Open title and go again up by one Slam ahead of Djokovic.