Sharing the same court with Rafael Nadal even during practice sessions these days is a rare occurrence but Andrey Rublev was lucky enough to hit and grind with the Spaniard during a practice match.
Nadal is set to make his comeback at the Barcelona Open on Tuesday as he will appear in his first competitive match since the Brisbane Open in January.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion will be up against Fabio Cobolli in the ATP 500 R64 tie in what will also be his first match on terre bautte since he clinched his 14th French Open title in June 2022.
Nadal has been struggling with the ever-increasing wear and tear in his legendary musculature and during the current episode of recovery he spent most of his training days at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca but on Saturday he amped up his preparations for the home tournament and took on ATP #8 Andrey Rublev. Those in attendance reported that King of Clay “drilled Russian 6-1.
Rublev was asked if he approached Nadal about a practice match or if the former World No. 1 asked for it: “Not really. I mean he killed me or I mean I kill myself I don’t know. But the practice is always nice to practice with Rafa.
“We had to start to play. I think for sure (it was me). I don’t think Rafa asks someone to practice. I think most of the players are asking Rafa to practice.
“So I’m pretty sure my coach talks to his team and this is how we arranged the practice.”
The 14-time Roland Garros Champion has revealed that the 2024 could be his last season on the tour and many a player on circuit knows that they could be facing the great for the last time over the next couple of months.
When asked how he felt about the fact that it may be one of the last times he gets a chance to practice with the legendary Spaniard, Rublev replied: “It’s a tough question because it’s tough to realize or tough to think that this can be one of our last practices or one of his last tournaments because he proved many times that he came back from impossible situations that now it’s tough to think that way.
“When he was coming back from the situation that everyone was saying, ‘Now is for sure,’ ‘Now is for sure,’ ‘Now is for sure,’ and he always was proving (everybody wrong) and he was coming back.
“Now they’re not saying yet for sure, that’s for sure. So it’s tough to think that way for the moment. Let’s see when the moment comes.”