Rafael Nadal's attitude was unbelievable already in 2003, says Munoz
In an interview with Punto de Break Quino Munoz, a former player, commented on his career. Speaking about the expectations he had, Munoz said: "I went to Barcelona to train, I started winning matches and I suddenly cracked the top 100. At this age some players are already very mature, but I was not. I was playing very good people without realizing it: Kuerten, Canas, etc. I did not appreciate what I was achieving, but everyone matures at the same age. (Rafael) Nadal was mature at 14 years, this is a thing you cannot control."
Recalling his win over Nadal in 2003, Munoz added: "The people remember it to me a lot, they still remember it. Ten years after that match, Rafa won the Davis Cup, imagine what he would do. His attitude was unbelievable. It was 6-4 7-6, tie-break at love. I had a match point on 5-4 in the second set, everyone thought the match would get carried away for me, wasting a match point with Nadal means you end up losing... but nope, in the end, it went well. Then in the doubles, he dominated us."
At the 1996 Barcelona Open Munoz lost to Yevgeny Kafelnikov 7-6, 3-6, 6-1, despite having a set point in the first set. "Yes, he hit an ace! I remember that the umpire left the chair to see the ball because it was very close, but it was in. I could not do a lot. He had won the French Open and he was world No. 6 back in the day, it would have been nice. If I did not win Kafelnikov was because he was better. Nadal win came after a very good year, I had stopped playing for six months and I had ended playing the ATPs. It was very special, I give a lot of value to it."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2XaZ1jw
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