"He did not strike me as more gifted than other players of his age" - When Carlos Moya spoke about his first meeting with Rafael Nadal

Carlos Moya said that Rafael Nadal did not strike him as being more gifted than other players his age when he met him for the first time.

Writing about his first meeting with Nadal in the Spanish great's memoir titled "Rafa", Moya said that he met his compatriot when he was only 12 years old.

“This one’s going to be good. By the age of twelve he was already one of the best in the world in his category. That was when I met him for the first time," Moya said.

The 46-year-old stated that he practiced with Nadal for about an hour and got the impression that the latter was no more gifted than others his age.

"He asked me if I’d warm up with him. I did, for about an hour. Now, to be honest, he did not strike me as being singularly more gifted than other players of his age. I did see he was very combative, though what was more surprising was how incredibly shy he also was. We met and shook hands, but he didn’t even look at me and uttered barely a syllable," Moya said.

"It’s true he was probably a bit overawed, since I’d made a bit of a splash in the media after making it, unseeded, to the Australian Open final earlier that year. But the contrast was still striking—shocking, actually—between the timid little boy off court and the super-competitive kid on it, even though we were just rallying, not even playing points," he added.

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Rafael Nadal won six out of eight matches against Carlos Moya

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moya at the 2022 US Open

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moya locked horns on eight occasions, with the former leading the head-to-head 6-2. Their only Grand Slam meeting came in the quarterfinals of the 2007 French Open, with the King of Clay winning 6-4, 6-3, 6-0.

The two locked horns for the last time in the quarterfinals of the Hamburg Masters in 2008, with the World No. 2 winning 6-1, 6-3.

Moya has been coaching the 22-time Grand Slam champion since 2016 and the latter won eight Grand Slams under his tutelage. The 36-year-old is currently competing at the ATP Finals in Turin as the top seed. He lost his first match 7-6(3), 6-1 to Taylor Fritz, and will next face Felix Auger-Aliassime to keep his hopes of reaching the semifinals alive.