Rafa Nadal unexpectedly became part of the story during the Toronto Masters 1000 semi-final between Karen Khachanov and Alexander Zverev. In recent weeks, the Spanish tennis legend has given advice to the German, who trained under Nadal’s uncle Toni in Mallorca. Despite benefiting from the experience, Zverev fell to Khachanov in a tight battle, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4) after nearly three hours.

In his post-match press conference, Khachanov was asked about his connection to Spain, having trained and even married in Barcelona, and revealed that he is also a Real Madrid fan. However, he quickly pointed out that his level of passion is nothing compared to Nadal’s.

“Although I’m a Real Madrid fan, I’m not an extreme one. I don’t watch every game; it depends on where I am. Rafa, for example, does. Even when he was in the United States, he would sometimes wake up at 3:00 or 5:00 in the morning to watch a match. That’s a true fan,” Khachanov admitted.

Nadal’s devotion to Real Madrid has been well-documented over the years. In fact, the IB3 documentary Els arxius d’en Rafel revealed a remarkable anecdote from 2005, just after he won his first Roland Garros. In a recorded conversation, Nadal was asked if he had ever cried for Real Madrid. The then-18-year-old eventually confessed that he had — when his uncle Miguel Ángel was playing for Barcelona and Real Madrid lost the 1991-92 league title in Tenerife.

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