by Luke Buttigieg
Aus Open Site
January 22, 2025

With an uncle who has played for both Spanish giant FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team, rising tennis star Rafael Nadal could easily have become a professional footballer.

But the 17-year-old picked up a tennis racket at the age of four - under the coaching of another of his uncles - and after breaking into the top 50 in the world for the first time last year, has been tipped by some good judges to be a future top 10 player.

The Mallorca native, who curiously plays left-handed but does virtually everything else with his right hand, fought his way out of trouble in his second-round match against Frenchman Thierry Ascione on Margaret Court Arena to match his best effort at a Grand Slam, in his Australian Open debut.

After meeting him at the age of 10, Nadal spent his teenage years idolising fellow Mallorcan Carlos Moya, and made the tennis world take notice of him in 2003 when he beat the likes of Moya, Younes El Aynaoui, Albert Costa and Karol Kucera.

His physique and strong play belie his tender years and lend weight to Moya's prediction of last year that Nadal will be a top 10 player within two years. Lleyton Hewitt and Juan Carlos Ferrero are also amongst the teenager's admirers.

Moya plays a mentor role in Nadal's career, giving him hints and tips when they speak every day, and the youngster is understandably grateful for the assistance the 1998 French Open champion gives him.

"Carlos Moya, it's always been Moya that I looked up to and I admire both (Pete) Sampras and (Andre) Agassi - but Carlos above anybody else," Nadal said.

"Carlos has given me the opportunity to train together with him, every time that we're in Mallorca at the same time. And that has given me the opportunity to practice at a very, very high level."

In his battle with Ascione, Nadal won the first set before dropping the second and looked in big trouble when he called for a trainer to deal with knee problem in the third, when he was already down a break.

"I have had tendonitis in my right knee for a long time, and when I accidentally hit my knee with my racket in the third set, it caused me some pain," Nadal said. "But as soon as I had it strapped it was back to normal and I had no further problems."

But with Ascione suffering an ankle injury of his own soon after when he served for the set, Nadal saved two set points and cashed in to win seven games in a row and take a stranglehold on the match, on the way to a 6-4 3-6 7-5 6-1 victory.