'Bit surprised': Rafa Nadal stuns in 'adorable' French Open moment
Rafa Nadal was gifted a surprise at the end of his second round French Open match after a young kid entered centre court to greet the 21-time grand slam champion.
Nadal, the No.5 seed, beat Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the French Open third round on Friday.
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The Spaniard showed little sign of discomfort as he breezed past the Dutchman as his quest for a 14th Roland Garros title continues.
However, many fans were swooning over a special moment post-match when a young boy evaded security and ran onto Court Philippe Chatrier.
Nadal was finishing his post-match routine after the straight sets win when a young boy ran up to the 35-year-old.
And in a special moment cheered by the Parisian crowd, Nadal greeted the child before security intervened.
"Yeah, I think Rafa was probably a bit surprised as it’s not what you're expecting," Tennis great Tim Henman told Eurosport.
“He [the security guard] is thinking, 'wow, I haven’t quite done my job'. But I think the kid was probably looking for a souvenir, asking for a racquet or a wristband or something.
"But it’s not necessarily what you expect to see on one of the show courts at a Grand Slam."
Botic Van de Zandschulp did well to extend the third set, but Rafael Nadal marches on.
6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
A small child ran onto the court on Lenglen soon after to greet Nadal, in an adorable-but-concerning security breach.#RolandGarros— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) May 27, 2022
Rafa Nadal advances at French Open
Novak Djokovic will face Argentina's Diego Schwartzman - who beat Grigor Dmitrov in straight sets - while Nadal will take on Canadian ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, now coached by his uncle, Toni Nadal.
Having won nearly all of his grand slam titles wth Uncle Toni by his side, Nadal addressed the unusual circumstance of having his uncle coaching a player other than himself.
"For me, it's very simple. He's my uncle. I don't think he will be able to want me to lose, without a doubt, but he's a professional and he's with another player,"
The winners of those two matches will meet in mouth-watering quarter-final.
Van de Zandschulp staged a brief fightback in the third set when he won three games in a row from 4-0 down but Nadal, who will turn 36 next week, was not unduly threatened.
"Straight sets, it was my best match of the tournament for two sets and a half," he said.
with AAP
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