‘It was great meeting Rafael Nadal’, says NHL star

20-time Main Champion Rafael Nadal will emerge from the highest 3 on Monday after an early loss on the Citi Open. The 35-year-old Spaniard celebrated week 650 within the elite group two months in the past, changing into the second participant since 1973 to take action after Roger Federer.

Nonetheless, Rafa should stage as much as get again into the highest 3 once more, lose a place to Stefanos Tsitsipas and discover himself in a difficult scenario after having a bunch of factors to defend in Toronto and New York. Nadal discovered himself within the prime 3 for the primary time after profitable the Roland Garros crown in 2005, simply days after his nineteenth birthday.

The Spaniard remained within the unique group for greater than seven years earlier than leaving in August 2012. Nadal returned there after a superb streak in 2013 and remained within the prime 3 till April 2015. Battling accidents, the Spaniard skilled a few low-key seasons by his requirements and barely stayed within the prime 10 for the subsequent two years.

. With a recent begin, Rafa was the participant to beat once more in 2017, claiming the Roland Garros crown and inserting himself within the top-3 once more. After greater than 4 years, Nadal will go away the aforementioned group, preventing towards accidents this season and profitable solely two titles in Barcelona and Rome.

Nadal has failed to achieve a Main ultimate in 2021, skipping Wimbledon as a result of a foot harm he sustained within the Roland Garros semi-final towards Novak Djokovic. Rafa needed to miss three weeks and returned to the follow court docket in July earlier than his debut in Washington this week.

Eller on Rafael Nadal

NHL star Lars Eller just lately met Rafael Nadal throughout the 2021 Citi Open in Washington and gifted the Spaniard a Washington Capitals jersey with the Mallorcan’s title and No. 21 on the again. “It was nice assembly him,” Eller was quoted as saying by Washington Metropolis Paper.

“We had a extremely good discuss each hockey and tennis. It was an incredible expertise to have had the prospect to satisfy and discuss to him for a bit.” Eller additional claimed he enjoys taking part in and watching tennis in his free time.

As such, he considers Nadal’s presence in Washington a “blessing.” “It’s a sport I very a lot take pleasure in taking part in in my free time and likewise watching,” Eller mentioned. “Particularly having Nadal and this stage of expertise right here, it’s a blessing to the town in the event you’re a tennis fan. We’ve acquired a Capitals jersey for him that I’m pleased at hand over”.