Roddick on Nadal: "Djokovic wouldn't be the player he is without Rafa".
Rafael Nadal's retirement is one of the major events in tennis at the end of the season.
The Spaniard put an end to his career after being eliminated from the Davis Cup with his country in Malaga against the Netherlands.
In the quarter-finals, the Majorcan played the first singles match against van de Zandschulp but came up empty (6-4, 6-4).
In his podcast "Served with Andy Roddick", former world number 1 Andy Roddick spoke of Nadal's influence on the other two members of the Big 3, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
"Roger became better thanks to Rafa, and Novak wouldn't be the player he is today without Rafa. If he'd never had to play Rafa, we wouldn't know there was a better version of Novak," he elaborates.
"The reason why these three guys were so strong is because they looked at each other for areas of the game they needed to improve on.
Rafa was an important part of that. He created a difficult puzzle to solve for a very long time, and he always did it very well.
Rafa is a true gentleman. If my children ever tried to imitate something Rafael Nadal did very well, I'd be very proud.
His way of dealing with people and spending time with everyone, for example. Even when he's in a bad mood, he'll look you in the eye and say hello without even mentioning what he was doing on the court."
