"I was like 18 or 19": Lorenzo Musetti shares what Rafael Nadal did during practice match which left him 'pretty scared'

Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti has shared an interesting story of facing Spain’s legendary tennis star Rafael Nadal in a practice match. The 38-year-old, who is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category in the Open era, having won 22 Grand Slam titles, received a heroic tribute on the first day of the French Open 2025.

Nadal’s incredible record while playing at Roland Garros, where he lifted the title as many as 14 times, by far the most by any player in the competition's history, was the reason behind receiving that tribute. The ceremony of his tribute was attended by the other members of the famous ‘Big Four’ group: Switzerland’s Roger Federer, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, and Britain’s Andy Murray.

Italy’s Musetti featured on the first day of the second Grand Slam of the year, where he secured a first-round win against Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann in straight sets with a score of 7-5, 6-2, 6-0. Talking after the match, the current world number seven was asked about whether he ever faced Nadal on a tennis court. In response to that, Musetti stated that he never played the former world number one in a professional match but shared an interesting story where he lost a set comprehensively against the 14-time French Open winner in a practice match, which left him ‘pretty scared’ as well.

“I played once against him in practice,” said Musetti. “I was practicing with him here at Roland Garros. I think I lost the set like 6-1 or 6-0. I was pretty scared about how he was playing. I was like 18 or 19. I think it was my first Roland Garros. It was such an honor for me to share the court with him. But I remember there were really nice words from him to me when I won my first ATP match in Rome against Wawrinka. The day after, I was practicing. He said something in Spanish like ‘congratulations it was a nice match.’ I was even like shaking. It was really nice to be the match that was before his ceremony today.”