"He's like Michael Jordan" says Carlos Moya on Rafael Nadal

The competitive spirit of Michael Jordan is legendary according to various sources over the years and Carlos Moya sees the same thing in Nadal.

Moya has a biased outlook on Nadal by being his coach yet the Spaniard is a former tennis great himself who has seen and played against many great players. He certainly knows tennis and he has watched a lot of it. Speaking about Nadal in a recent interview, Moya underlined how just competitive Nadal is and why that proved key to winning the Australian Open.

He said:

“On the fingers of one hand, you can count the athletes who in history have been able to experience situations similar to Rafa’s and have been able to succeed. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods in his best moments, Novak Djokovic in tennis. That gene, that competitiveness, that way of managing to change outcomes is impressive.”

That competitive spirit allowed Nadal to overcome Medvedev by finding flaws in his game as the match went on. He said:

“If he sees that his opponent has a crack or the smallest gap through which he can enter, he reads it and gets through it. The final is a clear example, it starts badly but then it changes, little by little. That is the adrenaline that he has inside, to see that he can still fight with the best in the world.”