Rafael Nadal avoids the Messi-CR7 debate, says Ronaldo Nazario is his favorite footballer

Rafael Nadal claims his favorite footballer of all time is not Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, but legendary Brazil striker Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima. The Spaniard also named Bjorn Borg as a player he would like to lock horns with if given the chance.

Nadal made these interesting revelations during an interview with Santander Bank, one of his sponsors.

Upon being asked to name his favorite footballer, Rafael Nadal pondered over the question a bit before picking the World Cup-winning striker. The Spaniard admitted that the question was a ‘tricky’ one, but tactfully avoided going into the Cristiano Ronaldo-Lionel Messi debate.

"That's a really tricky question but from what I've seen I think Ronaldo," Nadal said. "I'm not talking about Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi. Not to say Cristiano or Messi who are very good nowadays but I'm going to say Ronaldo."

Rafael Nadal's all-time favorite footballer is Ronaldo

Rafael Nadal then showered more praise on Ronaldo Nazario, and pointed out how he was in a league of his own before his injury. The Mallorcan also revealed he met the Brazilian during the FC Barcelona stint of his uncle Miguel Angel Nadal.

“Ronaldo was, I think he was fantastic and also a wonderful guy,” Nadal continued. “He was always really good but before he got gravely injured he was outstanding. He was amazing and I met him when he was at his peak because my uncle played with him in Barcelona.”

Rafael Nadal also touched upon the Artificial Intelligence software recently developed by researchers at Stanford University. The program can pit any two tennis players against each other, even from different eras, and predict the outcome.

Bjorn Borg with Rafael Nadal at the 2019 Laver Cup

In that context, Nadal was asked to pick a player he’d like to face, and the 13-time French Open champion went with Bjorn Borg. Nadal also revealed how he always considered Borg to be an ‘undefeatable titan’.

“I think maybe Borg because the feeling I've always had was that Borg was undefeatable,” Nadal said. “The feeling I had was that he was an undefeatable titan of tennis. It was a different time but I would love to play him.”

I'm not a difficult person under any circumstances: Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal at the Nitto ATP Finals

Rafael Nadal is widely considered to be an easygoing person, and the 34-year-old doesn't refute that. During the interview, Nadal cited the fact that he has never changed coaches as evidence of his relaxed nature.

“Well, I think that I'm not a difficult person under any circumstances,” Nadal said. “I'm not tooting my own horn. I think, testament to this is that I've never changed coaches.”

The World No. 2 then elaborated a bit more about his team, explaining how he has never directly removed any of his coaching staff. Nadal admitted that he prefers to blame himself after a failure rather than point fingers at others.

“I think I don't think I've ever gotten rid of anyone from my team,” Nadal continued. “Like that's real. Well, there's very few people who can say that. I mean, I mean, obviously, there are either two choices, I've always found great people, or I think that people are perfect and you find a way to work and when things aren't going well, you blame yourself, not everyone else. And that's that's the truth."