‘He went out of his way’

WUHAN — Coco Gauff doesn’t know what tennis will be like without Rafael Nadal. The 38-year-old Spaniard announced he will retire from the sport after next month’s Davis Cup Finals.

After advancing to the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open semifinals on Friday, Gauff found herself reminiscing not about Nadal’s on-court achievements, but as a constant mainstay of the sport away from the competition courts.

“He is my favorite person to watch practice honestly,” Gauff said. “The intensity that he brought on the practice court and obviously on the match court is something that I felt like watching is unmatched.

“Watching the video, a bit emotional because Rafa is all I’ve known growing up. Pretty sure he’s won Roland Garros for, like, the majority of my life.”

Gauff has a point. Nadal won the first of his 22 Grand Slam titles in 2005 at Roland Garros. Gauff was born in 2004. Despite their 18-year age gap, Nadal always made the time for the young American, whether that meant congratulating her on her successes or trading pins during a late-night shuttle ride at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“Actually, I don’t think I posted the picture, but we traded pins at the Olympics, which is the one thing I wanted to do. He was super nice with that. We were both waiting on the shuttle. It was the last shuttle of the day, like 11 p.m. I asked him if I could have one of his pins. He gave me one.

“Carlos [Alcaraz] was there, too, but Carlos didn’t have any pins. I only took the picture with Rafa there. I was like, ‘Carlos, you can’t be in it because you didn’t give me a pin,” she said, laughing.

“Yeah, just something like that I’ll remember. And something I’ll definitely tell my kids because it meant a lot to me.”

Those small moments are the legacy that Nadal leaves with Gauff and the example that she hopes to follow.

“It’s one thing to have the on-court achievements, but I think [about] how you treat people off the court, how you treat people, fans,” Gauff said. “Obviously, I’m a fan of him. I know we’re technically like coworkers, but I’m a fan. How he treated me as a fan is something I remember more than his wins, more than the thing he did. I would like my legacy to look like that.

“You can win the amount of trophies and everything, but people remember who you are and how you made them feel. That’s how I try to remind myself when I’m doing fan interactions or with anybody, to leave a nice impression because I know how that goes a long way.”