Andy Murray has spoken of how Rafael Nadal’s example and encouragement helped him make a key decision in his junior days.
Murray moved from Scotland to Spain as a teenager to further his game. “When you´re very competitive, even at that age, that is when I started to realize I didn´t have enough opportunity in Scotland. I couldn´t do it, the weather, not enough courts and obviously with school I couldn’t play enough” Murray explained.
A conversation with Nadal, himself a young player at the time, showed Murray the difference in training practices between the two players at the time. “He didn´t speak much English, I didn´t speak much Spanish. But I just asked him about how he trains over in Spain and who he trains with. He was practicing for a few hours a day when he was there he was practicing with Carlos Moya. And I was practicing just a few hours a week with my brother,”
Murray therefore made the decision to move from Scotland and Spain, away from his family, to a stronger tennis environment in Spain.
Speaking of Nadal at the academy where they both trained at the time Murray said, “he was by far the best player. He´s one year older than me and he was a lot better than all the players there. One of the reasons for that was he was getting great practice with top players and enough hours on the court,”
Since those junior days, Murray and Nadal have met twenty-four times on the tour, with Nadal currently leading the head-to-head 17-7.
