Rafael Nadal, the 22-time Grand Slam winner, is known for his spectacular gameplay. The 37-year-old has spent 209 weeks at the top of the ranking. He has also finished as the year-end World No. 1 five times.
The Spaniard, known for his famous left-handed technique in tennis, is quite famous for his ‘weird’ swing in golf as well. Even with his unconventional swing, he is still pretty good at golf as well.
Facing health issues, Tiger Woods, the golf legend recently visited Rafa at his academy in Majorca. The American golf prodigy and Rafa go a long way back, he has also called Woods his ‘Idol’ and looks up to the 47-year-old player. Both of the players have dropped in to watch the other play numerous times, seemingly in ‘awe’ of their game.
Rafa Nadal roasting his own golf swing at USO 2019 with Tiger woods in standspic.twitter.com/XONw7EiOrB
— Llama 𝕊𝕒𝕪𝕤 ☄🌠🚀 (@tennis_lol) June 28, 2023
Among the many glorious moments shared by the two of them, one was the iconic 2019 US Open Final where Woods was present at Nadal and Medvedev’s game.
At the end of the game, Rafa joked about his golf swing and hoped Woods didn’t see his swing as that would ‘disrupt his rhythm’ to which the stadium shared a laugh with the two legends.
Rafa recently stepped on the grass court again for the charity golf event ‘Battle of the Stars‘. Other legendary names like British football coach Pep Guardiola, Gabriel Batistuta, motorcycle champion Jorge Lorenzo, and Nadal’s uncle and former coach Toni Nadal were also a part of the event. Part of the benefit from the event went to the fight against ALS.
Rafael Nadal and his famous pre-game rituals
Rafael Nadal, famous for his incredible strokes in tennis, is equally famous for his pre-game rituals. Often dubbed “the most superstitious man in tennis”, Rafa has an elaborate step-by-step pre-game ritual that he never misses a single step of.
From his strategic placement of bottles, jumping at the net while the coin toss, four gentle squeezes of his energy gel packet, walking on the court with a single racket, and of course, his famous picking before he serves, these are some of his pre-game rituals.
Just like Rafa’s pre-game ritual in tennis is quite unusual and long, his pre-swing ritual in golf is equally ‘weird’. Ahead of Wimbledon, Casper Ruud has started preparing for the prestigious grass-court major by playing golf. The Norwegian recently reminisced about the time he played golf with Rafa.
“He has a lot of strange routines” 😅@CasperRuud98 reveals all about the time he went for a round of golf with close friend @RafaelNadal…#Wimbledon
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 28, 2023
Ruud joked about Rafa’s weird pre-game rituals and his unusual and “awful” swing which surprisingly works for him and ended by saying, “He has a lot of strange routines. Even in Golf.”
Ruud who has attended the Spaniard’s Tennis Academy, is very close to Rafa. From playing golf together in their off-season to playing tennis with each other, their bond has become very strong over time.
