Home » Rafael Nadal’s best trait, as described by John McEnroe,

John McEnroe, winner of seven Grand Slam titles, once said that before meeting Rafael Nadal he considered Jimmy Connors to be the greatest tennis warrior ever. As a 22-time Grand Slam champion, Nadal always brings the same intensity and determination to the court.

In light of Nadal’s fierce competitiveness, McEnroe praised the Spaniard’s fighting spirit as his most admirable trait. McEnroe remarked to Tennis365, “I’ve never seen anyone like him.” Before seeing Rafael Nadal, I thought Jimmy Connors worked hard. This is ridiculous.

That is undoubtedly his most admirable trait. We can all agree that he’s a phenomenal player. But the fact that he can continue to put forth that kind of effort game after game after game after game is something that many aspire to, but few actually achieve.

If it were easy, everybody would do it. You could just tell Nick Kyrgios, “Go out and try; in no time at all, you’ll be No. 2 or No. 3 in the world.” I suppose he would do it if it were that simple. You must know that it isn’t the case for him.

Nadal, despite suffering a serious injury, won a match at Wimbledon.

Nadal clearly struggled with an abdominal injury during the Wimbledon quarterfinal. Nadal had to take a medical timeout after losing the first set to Taylor Fritz.

When Nadal got back out there, it was clear he wasn’t serving at his best. Nadal prevailed over Fritz despite the fact that their match lasted more than four hours. Nadal had an abdominal tear, as confirmed by scans the following day.

Nadal withdrew from his Wimbledon semifinal match against Nick Kyrgios and held a press conference to explain his decision. Nadal has been back at practice since Wimbledon ended 10 days ago; he plans to be ready for the Montreal Masters, which begins on August 7.