Rafael Nadal’s legendary tennis career stemmed from his fierce competitorism, which rubbed his rivals up the wrong way on occasion, even during practice.
Nick Kyrgios has backed John Isner’s claim that Rafael Nadal was a “horrible” practice partner. Former World No. 8 Isner was speaking on his tennis podcast launched last summer when he told a fascinating story about his tangle with Nadal at the 2017 China Open. The American, now 39, arrived in Beijing and was told by his agent that Nadal wanted to practice with him.
After accepting the invitation to train with one of the greatest players ever, Isner quickly regretted it. The Spanish legend treated it like a real game, hitting the ball extremely hard and trying to hit winners with his shots. A short clip of Isner speaking about his tangle with Nadal, which was posted on Instagram, prompted a response from former Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios, who wholly agreed with the American’s comments. Kyrgios wrote in the comments: “Can confirm. Crushed the ball in practice. Horrendous (laughing emoji).”
It is generally considered poor sportsmanship among tennis professionals to ‘crush’ balls and look to win points during practice, which goes some way to explaining both Kyrgios and Isner’s surprise. Isner went on to reveal how, even before training with Nadal, he instantly became suspicious of why the record 14-time French Open champion wanted to hit some balls with him.
The 2018 Wimbledon semi-finalist said on the Nothing Major Podcast: “Horrible to practice with, he hits the ball so hard and he hits winners and it’s Rafa, so you don’t say anything, right? Let him go on.
“Rafa asked me to practice… Like, this is weird, and I saw the draw and was like, ‘Is that what he’s doing? Is he anticipating we’re going to play in the quarterfinals?'”
“And when I started thinking about it, I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s exactly what he was doing.’ He wanted to see my game, my serve, how I’m hitting the ball on the practice court.”
Isner and Nadal did go on to meet in Beijing that year. And unfortunately for Isner, he was beaten 4-6 6-7 (0) by the 22-time Grand Slam winner. The pair faced off nine times between 2010 and 2022, with the American winning just once earlier in 2017 at the Laver Cup.
