Boris Becker: “I don’t remember a match where Nadal wanted to give up”

Long before becoming Novak Djokovic’s coach, with whom he stayed for several years, Boris Becker first knew and worked alongside Rafael Nadal. The Majorcan was then just a teenager, preparing to take his first steps on the circuit. “It was his uncle, Toni, who introduced him to metells us the former world number one. He must have been 14 years old. At the time, Rafa still played with two hands on both sides, backhand but also forehand.”

It was not yet the time of the lasso forehand which would become the Spaniard’s trademark. But already, Becker had been very impressed by what he had seen. “What did I think of his young nephew? Even then I was blown away.”admits the German. The player was still at the very beginning of its construction, and it is an understatement to say that it would evolve over the years. But in the attitude, the behavior, his way of engaging, the Nadal that everyone would soon know was already there.

Like Mats Wilander, also a Eurosport consultant, Boris Becker insists on the passion that Nadal constantly brought to the game and HIS game.What really needs to be emphasizedhe tells us, what sets him apart is his uncompromising attitude, his ambition, his motivation, his will to fight. And the fact that he was always ready to go further than the other. It was amazing how many balls he chased after. Whatever happened, he always followed through on his commitment..”

“I don’t remember a match where Nadal wanted to give up, where he no longer wanted to playBecker said again. Sometimes he couldn’t continue. But he still played. He always fought until the end. And so many matches ended in the fifth set. I think that’s his greatest quality: playing every match until the end with vigor and passion. This is what differentiated the entire Big 3 from the others, but particularly him.”

For the three-time Wimbledon winner, the mark left by Rafael Nadal will go far beyond considerations on the prize list and far beyond his own sport. “He’s not just a tennis icon, he’s a sports icon, he believes. Look at the reactions today (Thursday, Editor’s note). I think all sports are represented. Everyone congratulated him on his career. What he represents for Spain, what he represents for world sport, the way he played, was a role model for the younger generation, how to deal with victory and defeat, how to constantly try to improve , not being satisfied with yesterday, always going further tomorrow, that’s what really sets him apart.“

Boris Becker admits “saying this with tears in my eyes, because no one comes close to Rafael Nadal in this area. Vamos Rafa!” he adds in Spanish in the text. However, the German tennis legend is convinced that Nadal made the right choice in deciding to retire. “I was shocked when I heard the news but, yes, it was the right decision.concludes Becker. He has everything. He was world number one for 209 weeks, number one five times at the end of the year, and then there are his 22 Grand Slam titles, his 14 Roland-Garros. These numbers are crazy.“