ATP> Stéphane Robert on his clash with Nadal: “I used to come forward in return for the second ball to hamper my opponents, Nadal did not budge for a second”

In an exciting podcast produced by our colleagues from Tennis Legend, Stéphane Robert returned to his meeting with Rafael Nadal in the Canary Islands, when the latter was 16 years old: “He was very young, 220^th global at the time. I didn’t know him at all. It was at the start of my career, and at that time, I was putting a lot of pressure on the return of serve, on the second balls, where I was really moving forward in the field to destabilize my opponents. It worked the previous rounds. Against Nadal, I tried to push him around with that but he didn’t move for a second. I lost 6–3, 6–3, I felt he was mentally very, very strong. He was unfazed and for a 16 year old that was really impressive. »

Impressed by the mentality of the Spaniard more than by his game, Stéphane Robert was, on the other hand, amazed by the ease that Roger Federer released in 2017 at the Australian Open.

Posted on Friday, November 12, 2021 at 10:11 AM