"Rafael Nadal is horrible to practice with" - John Isner revisits hitting session with Spaniard

Former tennis player John Isner recently spoke about practicing with Rafael Nadal before their quarterfinal meeting at the 2017 China Open. The American opined that the Spaniard, who is renowned for his competitiveness, only wanted to train with him to gain more knowledge about his rhythm that week.

Isner competed on the ATP Tour from 2007 to 2023, serving an Open era record 14,470 aces in 772 tour-level matches. The highlights of the 6'10 tall-server's career include winning the 2018 Miami Masters, reaching the semifinals of 2018 Wimbledon, and winning the longest-ever match in tennis history.

Following his retirement from the sport, John Isner started a podcast with his friends and former colleagues Jack Sock, Sam Querrey, and Steve Johnson, called "Nothing Major". On its latest episode earlier this week, the 39-year-old reminisced about Rafael Nadal scheduling a hitting session with him at the 2017 China Open after the men's singles draw came out.

Nadal, who was the top seed at the ATP 500 tournament, had Isner as his projected quarterfinal opponent, which likely prompted his decision. The former World No. 8 ultimately traded hits with the then-World No. 1 but by his own admission, he didn't get in good rhythm on his groundstrokes due to the Spaniard's heavy topspin ball.

"Rafa did that to me in Beijing. If it all worked out, we would've played each other at the quarterfinals. My coach said, 'Rafa wants to practice you so I set it up,' and I'm like, 'Okay...' Horrible to practice with, he hits the ball so hard and he hits winners and it's Rafa, so you don't say anything, right?" John Isner said on the Nothing Major podcast. "Let him go on. 'Rafa asked me to practice... like, this is weird,' and I saw the draw and was like, 'Is that what he's doing? Is he anticipating we're going to play in the quarterfinals?'

"And when I started thinking about it, I was like, 'Yeah, that's exactly what he was doing.' He wanted to see my game, my serve, how I'm hitting the ball on the practice court," he added.

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John Isner on hitting session with Spaniard: "That just talks about Rafael Nadal's greatness"

Rafael Nadal beat John Isner en route to China Open title in 2017 | Image Source: Getty

John Isner added that while he didn't enjoy the practice session, as "every third shot" that Rafael Nadal hit went past his reach, the ploy was a testament to his "greatness".

"That just talks about his greatness I think. If I wasn't on the same side of the draw of him, he wasn't going to ask me to practice. But I hit with him in Beijing, and I played him in the quarterfinals 4 or 5 days later and he beat me," he said. "It was a horrible practice because he was hitting the ball so hard and just ripping every third ball for a winner. And I didn't enjoy it and he saw my game, as well."

Rafael Nadal downed John Isner by a tight scoreline of 6-4, 7-6(0) in the last eight before eventually winning his first China Open title a few days later. With his victory, the Spaniard gained a 7-1 edge in their head-to-head meetings before ultimately coming out on top of their rivalry 8-1 by the time the American retired in 2023.