Bad memories
Ex-rival blasphemed Nadal via tennis legend: “It’s terrible”
25.03.2025 – 4:40 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Rafael Nadal is one of the best tennis players of all time. That was probably due to his attitude in the training sessions.
The former tennis professional John Isner has no good memories of Rafael Nadal. The American reported a very unpleasant training experience with the tennis legend in the “Nothing Major Show” podcast. “It is terrible to train with him,” says the 39-year-old.
At the tennis tournament in Beijing, he received an invitation from Nadal for joint training in 2017. Isner was very surprised because the two could have met at the tournament in the quarter -finals. He thought: “This is strange. I saw the tournament tree and I thought: Is that why he does it? He anticipates that we play against each other in the quarterfinals?” Isner recalls.
He is convinced that that was exactly the reason. “He wanted to see my game, my serve and how I hit the ball in training,” said Isner. “It just shows its size, I think. If I hadn’t been on his side of the tournament tree, he would not have asked me for training.”
The training itself was very uncomfortable for him. “It was a terrible training because he hit the ball so hard and every third blow was a winner,” recalls Isner. With a size like Nadal, however, he said nothing and just let him do it. “I didn’t enjoy it and he could also see my game,” said his conclusion.
In fact, Nadal’s plan also worked: “I played against him in the quarter -finals for four or five days later and he beat me.”
Nadal celebrated numerous successes in his career, which he ended in the fall of last year. He won a total of 22 Grand Slam titles, including 14 titles at the French Open. He also led the world rankings for 209 weeks.
Isner won 16 individual titles during his career and is considered one of the best upgrades in history. At 14,470 Assen, he holds the record for most of the aces achieved.
Isner was also part of the longest tennis match in history. In the first round of the 2010 Wimbledon tournament, he and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut played a total of eleven hours and five minutes. The game had to be interrupted twice because of the darkness that had fallen and therefore extended over the range of three days. In the end, Isner prevailed in the fifth set with 70:68.