By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, August 17, 2025
Picture credit score: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Going through Rafael Nadal in a match may an excruciating expertise for even high execs.
Enjoying Nadal in apply was even worse, say two former American stars.
Within the new episode of their Nothing Main podcast, Sam Querrey and Stevie Johnson shared the 2 “worst apply companions” they ever encountered: Rafael Nadal and Reilly Opelka.
Querrey, who beat Nadal 6-3, 7-6(3) to within the 2017 Acapulco last, stated the King of Clay’s sheer energy on his vaunted lefty forehand and his hard-core competitiveness made him a nightmare apply associate.
“Rafa’s fairly dangerous, we’ve talked about this earlier than,” stated Querrey, who was 1-5 lifetime vs. Nadal. “Rafa simply hits each ball as onerous as he can.”
“Rafa’s dangerous,” Johnson concurred.
Former No. 1 Nadal is second solely to huge server Reilly Opelka amongst worst apply companions, in keeping with Querrey and Johnson.
That’s as a result of Opelka chooses the nuclear choice on serve and strokes in apply and the result’s no rhythm and few rallies for the opposing participant.
“Reilly is a nasty one,” Johnson stated. “He’s nice fellowship on the market, however in contrast to John [Isner], [Opelka] would go full Bot-mode in apply. John, I’ll reiterate this one once more, good apply associate. He wasn’t gonna go full out on his serve, nice rhythm from the bottom. Such as you would get a extremely good rhythm with John, no questions requested.
“However Reilly, he does it the suitable manner for him. He’ll go like two first serves, hit 74 unforced errors and 80 winners in a apply. Such as you simply don’t know what you’re gonna get. So typically Reilly was a tricky one, however he apply the suitable manner for him, for positive. However it was a tricky apply for an hour. You by no means actually felt such as you bought your facet out of it.”
See the pair crown Nadal and Opelka worst of the worst right here:
Rafael Nadal was recognized for hitting his ferocious forehand as a lot as 6 to eight mph sooner in apply than in match play.
In a previous interview with Tennis Now, Toni Nadal, Rafa Nadal’s unique coach and uncle, cited his nephew’s ardour for apply and unmatched depth throughout apply as main components for his Grand Slam greatness.
“I used to be fortunate sufficient to teach a man who was as excited for each single apply as he was to play every match,” Uncle Toni Nadal informed Tennis Now in an interview on the Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre in Costa Mujeres, Mexico.
Apparently, Querrey cited considered one of three males to defeat the King of Clay at Roland Garros, Robin Soderling, as one of many two all-time worst warm-up apply companions he ever confronted.
“I do know who the 2 worst heat up companions had been. In the event you’re gonna heat up for a match for half-hour. It was Robin Soderling or Lukas Rosol [as worst]—they simply hit each ball as onerous as they might,” Querrey stated. “You come to the online they simply rip it at you want tremendous intense not like relaxed for the primary two minutes. It was not enjoyable.”
