Nadal: “I brought out the aggressiveness of Sampras and the fighting spirit of Agassi”

Rafa Nadal he has always declared himself a sports lover. And, how could it be otherwise, tennis has followed him closely since his childhood. In those years, two American tennis players dominated the circuit, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, before the tremendous irruption of Roger Federer and the Balearic tennis player himself. In a recent interview on the portal NumberWeb, Nadal explained the influence that the two former world number one had had on his game.

“When I was a kid, I was a great admirer of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, and I loved watching the game between them. I learned from Sampras’ aggressive playing style and Agassi’s fighting spirit. The duel between them was very inspiring, since they are of two different types “, explained Nadal, in addition to adding the names of two other tennis players that he did not hesitate to look at in the past:” Of course, My current coach Carlos Moya also influenced me. Going back further in history, I liked the game of Ilie Nastase “.

Hopefully for the 2022 season, Nadal can recover his best version, aggressive and fighter, to forget a 2021 marked by injuries in which the Majorcan left empty in the Grand Slams and only raised two titles: Masters 1,000 of Rome and Conde de Godó.