'The boy who plays like man'; 'An adolescent who has transformed into a superman'. This is what was said about Rafael Nadal when he made a colourful and compelling dash into the top tier of tennis.
Watching Nadal is exhilarating. He's intense; he creates a world of his own on the tennis court, where defeat is never an option.
"He was born a champion," says his coach Francis Roig, who is training and travelling with the world No. 2 for the Chennai Open.
"Rafa is physically and mentally very strong. He knows exactly what his good points are, what his best shot is and he plays to his strengths. He's got a good attitude and loves playing mental battles with his opponents."
Nadal, who beat 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash in an exhibition match when he was only 14, has spellbound the tennis world with his sheer joy of playing the game.
"He lives for tennis," adds Roig. "He enjoys everything about the game. Rafa is not at all difficult to coach. He always ready to listen and learns things quickly; he's very fast in the mind."
Roig, who has his tennis academy in Barcelona, takes over from Nadal's main coach, Toni Nadal, for eight-ten weeks a year.
Toni is a massive influence on nephew Rafael. He converted the natural right-hander to one of the best left-handed tennis players. Being a left-hander has its own advantages on the dimensions of the tennis court and Nadal's success has more than justified the move.
"We always consult with Toni about the semi-strategy for a match or a particular tournament," says Roig, a former player himself.
One of the biggest assets of Nadal's game is his ability to retrieve balls that seem impossible to reach, and sometimes convert them into winners.
After James Blake upset him in the third round of the US Open in 2005, the American said, 'I don't know how many winners I hit, but however many it was you can double it because that's how many winners I would have hit against other players. I felt like I had to hit two winners to win each point.'
That's the pressure Nadal is able to create, asking his opponent to come up with a bigger, better winner every time.
The amount of energy he puts into each shot is incredible and some former players are not sure whether he will be able to maintain that level for a long time.
"I am not sure about the burn-out," explains Roig. "He knows his speed and power are two of the things he has over the other players and he uses it effectively."
With the year's first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, just round the corner, there are again questions whether Nadal can prove his supremacy on other surfaces apart his favoured Parisian clay.
"He is concentrating on playing well on all surfaces. He is too good on clay, is not at the same level on hard courts or grass, but he is still very good.
"Earlier, the Spanish players were good on clay but weren't much on the others surfaces. Now the hard-courts have slowed down, even Wimbledon grass is slower, so it's a good opportunity for him to do well."
