“He is a gifted person”: Former French player highlights what Rafael Nadal’s tennis achievement is equivalent to in other sports

Former world number six Gilles Simon believes that all people who doubted the talent of legendary Rafael Nadal has been proven wrong. The 37-year-old is often regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men’s tennis in the Open era, having won as many as 22 Grand Slam titles.

Simon, in a post on his official account on the social media platform X — previously known as Twitter — wrote that all pundits who doubted the talent of Nadal and called him a player who worked hard without much talent in the early years have been proven wrong. "A little thought to all those who presented him to us as a hard worker without much talent in his early years, when he is a gifted person who would have had 10 Golden Balls if he had played football, 15 Major if he had played golf, and therefore 22 GC playing tennis," he wrote.

Nadal is now set to take part in the Rome Open after having a decent outing in the Madrid Masters where his journey finally came to an end in the round of 16 as he lost to Jiri Lehecka with a score of 7-5, 6-4. He is set to face Zizou Bergs in the round of 128 of the competition on Thursday.