Rafael Nadal's resilience is the inspiration for Simona Halep's break-out season.
Both reigning Roland Garros champions captured Rogers Cup titles on Sunday—Nadal won his 80th career title in Toronto, while Halep captured her 18th career crown in Montreal—which was fitting because the king of clay inspires Halep, says her coach Darren Cahill.
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"To be honest, we use Rafa a lot, some of the struggles that he's had, the Aussie Open final when he injured himself against Wawrinka," Cahill told the media in Cincinnati.
The ESPN analyst has coached three different players—Halep, Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt—to the world No. 1 ranking.
Former No. 1 Justin Henin was Halep's childhood hero. The Romanian hit with Hewitt at Wimbledon, but it's Nadal's never-say-die attitude, passionate practices and complete commitment to every point that has fueled Halep.
"Rafa has inspired her with what he's been able to do it, with the way he trains, with his work ethic, the way he fights for every single match no matter what the score is," Cahill said. "He can be down 6-Love, 5-Love, 40-Love. You wouldn't even be able to tell with him. That, to me, is what she's modeled the last year and a half on."
Though Cahill acknowledges there's only one Rafa, he says Halep's work ethic and emotional ferocity reminds him of the 17-time Grand Slam champion.
"No one's going to be like Rafa. But you see a little bit of the old Simona compared to the new Simona, and she's more like that, because she's always had a great work ethic," Cahill said. "I have never had to push her on the practice court. She always gives 100 percent. She's like a little Rafa on the practice court.
"We need to make her a little Rafa on the match court, as well. It's nice that her two victories, the one she had in Paris and the one she had last week, both coincided—we spoke about this after the match—coincided with Nadal doing exactly the same. It's been pretty cool, actually."
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