By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday October 11, 2024
You can tell a lot about a tennis player just by listening to them talk about other players. Today in Wuhan, we learned a little more about Americans Coco Gauff. She gave her thoughts to reporters Rafael NadalHer retirement, and in doing so, revealed more about what she values most in other people.
“He’s my favorite person to watch practice, honestly,” Gauff said of the 22-time major champion. “The intensity that he brought to the practice field and obviously to the game field is something that I felt like watching him is unmatched.”
Interestingly, Gauff highlights Nadal’s practice sessions, rather than his matches. Nadal was always a player who went about his business in the most professional manner, and Gauff has noted the Spaniard’s legendary penchant for never dropping a point – whether on the practice court or on the match court.
She says she is finding it hard – like many of us – to accept that Nadal’s career will officially end in November. “Watching the video (of Nadal’s retirement), (I was) a little emotional because Rafa is everything I’ve known growing up. Pretty sure he won Roland Garros for most of my life.
“I think it’s a pity. It will happen to everyone one day. Hopefully it was completely on his terms. I know that maybe this year he didn’t have as many injury-free moments as he wanted.”
Gauff highlighted the things Nadal does off the court as she paid tribute to the king of clay for the way he treated others.
Coco Gauff on Rafa: “He’s my favorite person to watch training honestly. The intensity he brought on the training pitch and obviously on the match pitch is something I felt like watching him is unmatched.”
— TennisNow (@Tennis_Now) October 11, 2024
“Overall, the career he had is something players and people dream about,” she said. “Off the pitch he always talked to me, always congratulated me whenever I did well. It’s something that’s very rare when you come across top players, especially when they’re not on the women’s side, maybe on the men’s side. I don’t know, I just felt the things he was going to do, he went out of his way.”
Gauff will never forget the time Nadal congratulated her after she reached her first Roland-Garros final in 2022. She says it was a moment that will always stay with her, as will the time she exchanged pins olympic with the legend in Paris. this summer.
“I remember at one point he said congratulations to me the year I went to the French Open finals,” she said. “I kind of did a double take because I couldn’t believe he was talking to me.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwgkPNyn5Yes
Gauff says she will tell the story of trading Nadal at the Olympics for many years to come. Her anecdote is another window into Nadal’s humanity. Although an icon and a world celebrity, the Spaniard never saw himself as anything special and always found time to share with those around him.
Whether it was Gauff, a fan, or the men and women working behind the scenes as volunteers at the tournaments he played, he treated everyone with dignity.
“We exchanged pins at the Olympics, which I wanted to do,” she said. “He was very good about it. We were both waiting on the ship. It was the last haul of the day, around 11pm I asked him if I could have one of his pins. He gave me one. Carlos (Moya) was also there, but Carlos didn’t have any pins. There I only took the photo with Rafa. I said, ‘Carlos, you can’t be in it because you didn’t give me a pin.’
“Yes, I will only remember something like this. And something I will definitely tell my kids because it meant a lot to me.”
