Rafael Nadal’s achievements on the tennis court are phenomenal, to say the least, and he has earned millions of fans throughout his career, one of them is the current world No. 8 Andrey Rublev.
Rafael Nadal has been in red hot form this season. He won the Australian Open earlier in the year and followed it up with his 14th French Open triumph. The 36-year-old was looking set to go the distance at the grass-court major but a 7mm tear in his abdomen forced him to pull out ahead of the semifinals.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion recently went on a vacation to Formentera, Spain to recharge his batteries. He will be hoping to get back to full fitness ahead of the US Open competition beginning on August 29.
Andrey Rublev had some fine things to say about the Spanish legend. In a Youtube video shot at a tennis academy in Barcelona, the Russian star called Nadal “the best athlete of all time in all disciplines.”
The officials of the All England Tennis Club had decided well before the commencement of Wimbledon 2022 that Russian and Belarusian players would be banned from participating in the most prestigious tournament in tennis.
They took this decision after the news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shocked the world. ATP and WTA were not on the same page regarding the ban and they decided that no ranking points will be awarded at Wimbledon 2022. That is why the champion of the gentlemen’s final, Novak Djokovic dropped four places to No. 7 in the rankings.
Rublev revealed that he told the officials that the tournament will be used as a platform to convey that there is no war in tennis. However, he did not get a desirable reply from them.
“We wanted to use the platform of the Championship to show that we don’t fight here, that there’s no war in tennis. It’s most important now. But I kept getting the same answer. The Russian government is going to use our results for propaganda,” Rublev said.
Andre Rublev is currently playing in the Hamburg European Open where he will face Ricardas Berankis in a Round of 32 match.
More Tennis news
Follow our dedicated Tennis page for instant Tennis news and updates