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Coach Carlos Moya revealed that Rafael Nadal apologized to him after beating him in their first meeting in 2003. In 2003, a teenage Nadal defeated former World No. 1 Moya 7-5 6-4 in Hamburg. Nadal had known Moya for a long time and it seems that he felt bad after beating the former French Open champion.
Moyá has been part of Nadal's coaching staff for several years. "It wasn't my best game, honestly. He didn't play that well either, we were both a bit nervous about the situation. He knew what could happen when he played against me, he respected me, and when he beat me, he was very shy, nervous and He said -sorry, I won- and I told him -don't worry-," Moyá said, according to Sportskeeda.
Nadal and Moyá met again in 2003 and Moyá won his second meeting in Umag. Nadal and Moyá met six more times and Nadal finished with a 6-2 balance against Moyá. "That day we were rivals. We were friends, training partners and that day we were rivals for the first time in an official championship.
Well, at that time, I was considered the favorite, I was among the top five in the world and he, well, no I remember very well, it must have been 50, 60, 70 or something like that," Moyá acknowledged. Moya claims that he knew from day one that Nadal would become a great player.
Now, Nadal is a record 21 Grand Slam champion and is considered one of the greatest players of all time.
Nadal won 21 Grand Slam titles
Speaking in a recent interview with lifestyle magazine VICE as part of his promotional campaign for brand partner Amstel Ultra, Rafael Nadal expanded on the reasons for staying away from the public eye.
"My family is so important to me that I don't want to live anywhere else. That's the truth," he said. "When I think of home, the words that come to my mind are peace, family, and getting away from the stress of competition. Because in the end, being in a competition generates a lot of stress and when you get back home, those feelings disappear completely," Nadal said.
"Living on an island allows me to have a quiet, pleasant life and to disconnect. I don't know, I have always loved sports. If I weren't a tennis player, I would say [I would have been] something related to that," he said.