Bengaluru, April 21: World No.1 Rafael Nadal may have 19 Grand Slam titles -- just one shy of Roger Federer's all-time men's record -- and has overcome many fearsome opponents in his impeccable ATP World Tour career, but the toughest one he has faced for sure is technology!
The Spaniard held a star-filled Instagram Live that included Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Marc Lopez.
Nadal laughed as he visibly struggled with the platform and how to bring his fellow players into the conversation, admitting that it was the first time he was going live.
"As you can see, I'm a disaster in everything. But I'm trying hard," a smiling Nadal said.
Murray took a playful dig at Nadal in the comments section and wrote, "This is brilliant... He can win 52 French Opens, but not work Instagram."
With close to 40,000 viewers logged on, fans logging on to the social media platform for Nadal's eagerly-anticipated live chat with Federer saw a very different side of the Mallorcan.
A few problems for Rafa on his Instagram live, and this was Andy’s response... 😂 pic.twitter.com/u3QXMeyZUd
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 20, 2020
Nadal finally managed to bring Federer in and the pair caught up on what their recent weeks have looked like. The Swiss provided an update on his recovery from right knee surgery in February and said he is happy with the progress made so far.
"I had a really good first six weeks, then things got a bit slower, now it's good again. But I've plenty of time obviously. There's no rush," Federer said.
"I've been hitting a bit against the wall, doing my rehab and my fitness. The good thing is that the second surgery is easier than the first one. I don't need to experience a third one, though!"
Once we finally got this thing working, yes 😂 https://t.co/2liQGHKJvT
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) April 20, 2020
Sitting on a white large sofa, Murray clearly seemed to be enjoying the friendly banter between his legendary adversaries.
"It was very amusing to watch," Murray said.
The conversation moved on to the forthcoming virtual Madrid Open being contested with joysticks rather than tennis racquets.
While Nadal admits he is an esports novice, Murray said he might have found an early edge.
After Nadal then challenged him to a game, Murray said he does not even have his own character on the video game.
The topic then switched to lockdown routine and while Nadal revealed sometimes he goes to sleep at 2 am or 3 am, Murray said having three young children meant he was tucked up early for the 6 am wake-up alarm.
(With inputs from ATP Media)
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