Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal grew up together, rising through the junior ranks all the way to the ATP Tour.
The Brit and the Spaniard enjoyed legendary careers in tennis, winning multiple Grand Slam titles and reaching world number one.
Nadal took home 22 majors, winning a record 14 French Open titles, while Murray won three, including two Wimbledon championships.
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Both players retired in 2024, as Murray called it quits after the Olympics, before Nadal said goodbye to tennis at the Davis Cup Finals.
Reflecting on the beginning of their careers, Murray’s mother, Judy Murray, has now shared the conversation the pair had as teenagers, which gave the Scot the ‘wake-up call’ he needed.
Andy Murray pushed for a move to Spain after conversation with Rafael Nadal as a teenager
Appearing as a guest on ‘The Sit Down’ podcast, Murray recalled the contents of the rant she received from her son after he spoke to Nadal during his younger years.
“I remember him being away at the European team championships; it was the under 16s, he was in a team with Jamie Baker, they got to the final, they played Spain, Rafa [Nadal] and Marcel Granollers were the Spanish team, Andy is a year younger than Rafa, but they’ve been great friends since the junior days,” she said.
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“Andy came on the phone one evening. It’s unusual for him to phone like most boys, not the greatest communicator, and I thought immediately, he’s lost his wallet or his passport. He came on the phone, and he just went off on this rant that he’s been playing racquetball with Rafa after the final…
“‘He trains in Mallorca, he gets to play on clay, he doesn’t go to school, he gets to hit with Carlos Moya, it’s always sunny there, what have I got? You and my brother at the university!’
“He was ranting down the phone, and I was actually really pleasantly surprised by how much he was saying, ‘I want to go to Spain, I need to go to Spain, I’m going to fall behind everybody.’ I had been aware of that, but I was so pleased that it came from him via Rafa, obviously, but he had the wake-up call that he needed to do more.”
Murray knew that the time had come for her son to move away from Scotland.
“We had run out of opportunity for him in Scotland; we had a big pool of very good junior players, but even in British terms, he was a very big fish in a very small pond, a tiny pond in Scottish tennis,” she said.
“There wasn’t anywhere in Britain that would be a stimulating environment for him at the age that he was at.”
She then explained why they decided to place Murray in the Sanchez-Casal academy.
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“We went over and looked at a few academies and tried to scope it out. We didn’t have the money, so we had lots of decisions to make,” said Murray.
“In terms of being away from home, the Sanchez Casal Academy, which was the one he chose, was very close to Barcelona airport.
“In those days, there was a low-cost airline called Globespan, which went twice a week from Glasgow and twice a week from Edinburgh, and it was about a two-hour, 20-minute flight, so he wasn’t that far away.”
Murray moved to Spain and the rest was history, in part thanks to a chat with Nadal over a game of racquetball…
Nadal clearly had a real influence on Murray’s career, but how did they fare against each other on the ATP Tour?
Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal’s head-to-head record
Murray and Nadal met 24 times in total, with the Spaniard winning their head-to-head, 17-7.
The pair contested nine matches at Grand Slams, where the Brit only secured two wins, at the 2008 US Open and 2010 Australian Open.
MatchWinnerLoserScore2014 French Open – SFRafael NadalAndy Murray6-3, 6-2, 6-12011 US Open – SFRafael NadalAndy Murray6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-22011 Wimbledon – SFRafael NadalAndy Murray5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-42011 French Open – SFRafael NadalAndy Murray6-4, 7-5, 6-42010 Wimbledon – SFRafael NadalAndy Murray6-4, 7-6, 6-42010 Australian Open – QFAndy MurrayRafael Nadal6-3, 7-6, 3-0 (RET)2008 US Open – SFAndy MurrayRafael Nadal6-2, 7-6, 4-6, 6-42008 Wimbledon – QFRafael NadalAndy Murray6-3, 6-2, 6-42007 Australian Open – 4RRafael NadalAndy Murray6-7, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal’s Grand Slam head-to-head record
He may not always have enjoyed his time on court against Nadal, but he certainly enjoyed their time off it, as the two Grand Slam winners maintain a good relationship to this day.