Rafael Nadal recently opened his heart for his fellow countryman and old friend Marc Lopez who recently announced his retirement. After spending 23 gracious years on the tour, the 39-year-old played his last tournament at the Madrid Open. After failing to taste success in singles, Lopez decided to switch completely to doubles. Since then, there was no looking back.

During his over two-decade-long career, Lopez won a total of 14 doubles titles, including Masters 1000’s, Roland Garros, and also an Olympic gold. He played his last tournament in the ongoing Madrid Open along with Carlos Alcaraz, reaching the second round. Even though he might have retired from the professional tour, he still has a lot of potential left in him. As a result? In the latter half of last year, Rafael Nadal offered him to be a part of his coaching team.

Recently, the day when Nadal beat Miomir Kecmanovic in the second round of Madrid, Lopez and Alcaraz suffered a second-round loss in the doubles. During his post-match press conference, Nadal opened up about Marc’s career and his influence on him and his team.

Rafael Nadal opens up about Lopez’s career

As mentioned earlier, Marc Lopez failed to taste success in singles. Failing to mark his presence after several attempts, Lopez in many interviews has revealed that he was planning to retire from tennis in 2008. However, as per Lopez, it was only because of Nadal that he didn’t give up. In 2009, Nadal and Lopez played doubles in Doha. Not to mention, the two won the title. Next year, the two further went on to win the Indian Wells. Having started to taste success in doubles, Marc directed his complete concentration towards it.

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Recalling the time, Nadal said “To Marc, I recover him. He was going downhill in his career (smiling). I’m kidding, kidding. I think that Marc has had a typical career. It’s true that he was going through a tough moment when he started to play doubles.”

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Marc Lopez failed to impress the world with his singles performance. However, he made sure to not repeat it in a doubles format. Showing his true potential in the doubles category, Marc today is one of the best doubles players in Spain. He has reached a doubles career-high ranking of World No. 3. In 2016, along with Feliciano Lopez, he won the Roland Garros, becoming only the second all-Spanish pair to win the title.

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Elaborating further on Lopez’s career, Nadal addressed him as a good person. He said, “All the merit to him, all the merit to what has happened to him for different reason. First of all, because he’s a very good person, above anything else. It’s always good that good things happen to good people. He’s a good person. In that regard, I think that he has achieved things that no other people had achieved in doubles in this country.”

How has Lopez influenced Nadal and his team?

Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez have been friends for a long time. The two have also played several tournaments together. Going down the memory lane, the two together have won the 2009 and 2011 Doha Open, 2010 and 2012 Indian Wells, and the 2016 Rio Olympics. Keeping the association intact, Lopez will now work as a coach to Rafael Nadal. However, apart from being the coach, Nadal has more wishes for Lopez.

The Spaniard wants Lopez to make a surprise comeback and play doubles with him. He said, “I also think that many of his moments I have been able to share them with him as a colleague. So I have him in my team. It’s true officially he has retired, but you never know, right? There can always be a tournament out there you can play doubles. If so, he will have to play doubles with me, for sure.”

On the tour front for Nadal, he will next be seen defending his title at the Rome Masters.