"Rafael Nadal just picked up a chair, sat watching Roger Federer" - Jill Craybas shares story of young Spaniard showing his appetite to improve

Jill Craybas recently shared a story of a young Rafael Nadal sitting right in front of the court watching Roger Federer practice, in order to learn how to play on grass from the Swiss.

Craybas is a former American tennis player, who competed in 45 consecutive Grand Slams from the 2000 US Open to the 2011 US Open. She won 1 WTA singles title and 5 WTA doubles titles in her career.

On a recent episode of 'ATP Tennis Radio Podcast', the American recalled the time when Nadal, who hadn't won a Wimbledon title yet, picked up a chair and watched Roger Federer practice on grass.

"A story that impressed me about Nadal is, you know, he understood that he was the best on the clay. And he understood he had to make some adjustments to the other surfaces, which he did phenomenally well. But I remember one year at Wimbledon, he hadn't won a Wimbledon title, he knew it wasn't his best surface," Craybas said (at 16:25).

"And I just remember being at the practice courts at Aorangi and I was still playing at the time. And he just picked up a chair, sat right in front of the practice court watching Federer. And just sat there watching Federer's practice, trying to learn how to play on the surface of the grass surface to get better," she added.

Craybas also spoke about the awareness and mentality of the Big 3 and how each one of them pushed the other to become a better player.

"And, you know, just having that, I mean, obviously he has that awareness and understanding, but just wanting to learn from the best. And I think that's what those three guys did so well," she said. "They all had different styles which I think pushed them to be better players. And I think they all had an understanding and awareness of that. But to be at the top of the game like Nadal and to be aware, I need to learn from Federer, one of his biggest rivals. To me, that's incredible having that mentality."

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When Rafael Nadal ended Roger Federer's reign as the Wimbledon champion

Posing with their titles after the match

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer met three times in the summit clash at Wimbledon - in 2006, 2007 and 2008. It was in the 2008 final that Nadal broke Federer's 41-match winning streak at the championship and stopped his quest for a sixth consecutive Wimbledon title.

Before the 2008 final, Nadal had lost to Federer in the title clash the previous two years. In 2006, the Spaniard lost in four sets while in 2007, he lost in five.

In 2008, Nadal triumphed 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-7(10), 9-7 in the final to win his first Wimbledon title. The match lasted a grueling 4 hours and 48 minutes.

This result was also the catalyst that ended Federer's reign at the helm of the rankings; two months after the Wimbledon final, the Spaniard became the new World No. 1.