"Rafael Nadal & Roger Federer work harder than others, prepare better than others" - Pep Guardiola

Renowned football coach Pep Guardiola has named Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer as two of his inspirations.

Nadal and Federer have dominated the men's circuit since breaking onto the scene. Together, they have 42 Majors, six ATP Finals, and 64 Masters 1000s titles to their names. The pair, along with Novak Djokovic, are considered three of the best players in the history of the sport.

Manchester City head coach Guardiola, meanwhile, is widely deemed to be one of the greatest football managers of all time. The Spaniard has won 37 titles as a coach across his time at City, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

Guardiola recently disclosed that Nadal and Federer inspire him and explained how he admires the hard work they have put in to achieve success.

"There is one detail that defines them, it is how hard they work. People believing when you are on top of any sport, it is [due to] talents and skills. But what would define [them] is they work harder than the other ones, they prepare better than the other ones. They are the best," he told Sky Sports.

Guardiola further stated that Nadal and Federer have always taken defeats in their strides and worked to ensure they come out on top in the future.

"They are never satisfied and how they accept the bad moments or the defeats like it’s normal in life, in a sport and how to win the games and how they accept they are nervous or they are playing bad, how they come back immediately," he added.

"I think they come because they work harder, they accept that the situation is going to be wrong in certain moments but they know they work harder than the other ones. Mentally, they grow positive to turn around."

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Roger Federer retired from tennis in 2022; Rafael Nadal has struggled with injuries in recent years

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at the 2022 Laver Cup.

Roger Federer announced his retirement from tennis in 2022, having been troubled by injuries in his final years on the ATP tour. He underwent two knee surgeries in 2020 and another after he was defeated by Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships.

He took to social media in 2022 to announce that the Laver Cup in London would be the final ATP event of his career.

There, he partnered with Rafael Nadal to play a doubles match. The two former World No. 1s faced the American pair of Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe and ended up losing 4-6, 7-6 (2), 11-9 at the O2 Arena.

The Spaniard, on the other hand, had a successful 2022 campaign. He won the Australian Open and French Open titles to take his Grand Slam tally to 22. Since then, however, he has struggled with injuries.

He sat out for almost the entirety of the 2023 season due to injury. He returned to action at the Brisbane International last month, where he won two matches before picking up a hip injury that forced him to skip the Australian Open and Qatar Open.