"Someone who has never played tennis can admire Rafael Nadal but a tennis player admires him even more" - Roberto Bautista Agut

Roberto Bautista Agut recently said that Rafael Nadal would be admired even more by someone who played tennis and knew him, than by people who never played the sport.

Nadal has established himself as one of the sport's all-time greats with his extraordinary career, that has seen him win 22 Grand Slam titles. That number was a record until it was surpassed by Novak Djokovic, who now has 24.

Bautista Agut, who was asked in an interview whether Djokovic was the best player in history, agreed that the Serb has surpassed Nadal through his numbers. But the 35-year-old also said that while Nadal is admired by everyone, he would be admired even more by a tennis player as they would know the difficulty of what he achieved.

"By numbers Novak surpasses Nadal. He was talking about it with a friend at the gym. Someone who is not a fan or who has never played tennis can admire Rafa, but a tennis player or a friend of his admires him even more because he knows how complex and difficult it is to achieve everything these people have achieved," Bautista Agut told Marca.

The World No. 57 added that fans may not be aware of the extent of the achievements of Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer.

"A fan may have an idea, but he doesn't know what monstrosities the 'Big Three' have done. It is something incredible and out of the ordinary," Bautista Agut said.

Rafael Nadal is set to return to action at the Brisbane International, which would be his first tournament since the 2023 Australian Open. The 37-year-old is currently ranked 670th in the world.

Rafael Nadal and Roberto Bautista Agut have locked horns thrice

Rafael Nadal in action at the Australian Open

Rafael Nadal and Roberto Bautista Agut have faced each other thrice so far, with the former leading 3-0 in the head-to-head.

The first meeting between the two came in the semifinals of the 2014 Madrid Open, with Nadal winning 6-4, 6-3. They then locked horns in the fourth round of the 2017 French Open, and the King of Clay triumphed 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. On both these occasions, Nadal went on to win the respective tournaments.

The most recent encounter between the two came in the second round of the 2019 Monte-Carlo Masters, and this time, Nadal won 6-1, 6-1 to reach the third round. He went on to reach the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Fabio Fognini.