My son’s hero is not a fictional action character but a positive real person. Ever since I introduced him to tennis 6 months ago he has looked up at Nadal as his reference point…nothing wrong with a little ambition from young age. We enjoy all kind of sports in our household, but I particularly like tennis so it filled me with joy when Luca chose tennis over football when I gave him the option of an outdoor activity after school. However tennis at a young age has to be compensated with complementing exercise in fact the class he takes is integrated with athletics.

There should be more positive role models like Nadal who is such an ambassador for the sport, always polite and humble but strong and motivated at the same time.