"I was too nice to him, he ended up beating me" - Tennis legend recalls facing a teenage Rafael Nadal

After Rafael Nadal announced he would be retiring from professional tennis at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals, several players, past and present, have shared memories involving the legendary Spaniard. Among them was retired Australian superstar Pat Cash, who reminisced on facing a teenage Nadal at an exhibition match.

Cash won his lone Grand Slam title at the 1987 Wimbledon Championships, and reached a career-high ranking of World No.4. The Australian is a legend in his native land, never having won the Australian Open but reached the final in Melbourne on two occasions, 1987 and 1988.

The retired star was set to faceoff against Boris Becker in a legend's exhibition match in Mallorca, Nadal's hometown. However, Becker was unable to compete due to injury, leaving Cash with no one else to face on such short notice.

“I played a legends exhibition match in Mallorca," said Cash in an interview with Sky Sports. "I was due to play Boris Becker but Boris got injured and the tournament organizers went into panic. They said we haven’t got anyone to play but we have this world junior champion.
"That was when I met Rafa. He had a bowl haircut. I was too nice to him, he ended up beating me. He was a couple of weeks short of being 14!
"I was retired but he beat me in the first set and the crowd loved it, they were roaring. I said that’s it, I’m going to go back to my old serve and volley. Won the second set pretty easily. Tie break third set.
"I thought he was going to choke. Of course he didn’t choke. He ran shots down from everywhere, all over the court. I came back and went ‘oh my goodness this kid is going to be something else’, and he was!”