Rafael Nadal enjoyed a legendary tennis career, reaching world number one and winning 22 Grand Slam titles.
The Spaniard competed on the ATP Tour for over 20 years, picking up 92 titles in total.
Nadal completed the Grand Slam, winning titles at the Australian Open (2), French Open (14), Wimbledon (2), and the US Open (4).
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Few players are more qualified to talk about ‘winning’ than Nadal, and he did just that at this year’s French Open.
Nadal claimed he learned more from his wins than his losses during his career, something one top WTA coach ‘doesn’t believe’.
Patrick Mouratoglou thinks the ‘exact opposite’ to Rafael Nadal
During a press conference at the 2025 French Open, Nadal explained why he felt he learned more from victory than defeat.
“I learned much more from victories than defeats, I’ve always said that,” said Nadal.
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“Because I was always self-critical enough with myself so that my victories help me read all the things I need to improve.”
Talking on Instagram, Naomi Osaka’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, reacted to Nadal’s controversial comments.
“I think the exact opposite. It’s not surprising to me that he took the losses quite badly; it was quite obvious, and I think you should,” said Mouratoglou.
“You shouldn’t accept to lose, that’s one of the marks of the champions, to refuse to lose. To learn nothing is a bit sad, and I don’t think it’s true.
“Maybe he feels he didn’t learn anything, but I don’t think so. When you lose to players, you understand maybe what you should have done better, how to beat this player, or how to prevent him from beating you.
“On your way to success, there will be losses. Those losses tell you all the mistakes you’ve made, and if you’re not listening to the mistakes you’ve made, I don’t think you can progress.”
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The Frenchman went on to explain what he thinks Nadal actually meant to say.
“What he means, probably, is that victory brought him a lot of confidence, which he needed to perform,” said Mouratoglou.
“That’s why it’s important to always have a great balance between victories and defeats and have many more victories than defeats, because if it’s the other way, your confidence goes down, and then it’s difficult to perform without confidence.
“You need to build it, and you build it a lot, not only, but a lot through victories.
“That’s probably why, but to learn nothing from defeat? I don’t believe it.”
Did Rafael Nadal learn from his defeats at Wimbledon in 2006 and 2007 before winning in 2008?
During the early stages of Nadal’s career, he enjoyed the majority of his Grand Slam success at the French Open and Wimbledon.
Contesting his first six Major finals at the two events, twice Nadal came up short at the All England Club.
Rafael Nadal’s first six Grand Slam finals
Losing out to Switzerland’s Roger Federer on both occasions, fans eagerly anticipated a third instalment of their Wimbledon rivalry in 2008.
As both players made their way through to the final, the pressure was on Nadal to finally get over the line and beat Federer at SW19.
The final was an instant classic, as two legends of the sport battled it out long into the evening on Centre Court.
After five thrilling sets, Nadal beat Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7, to clinch his maiden Wimbledon title.
Losing two years in a row to Federer in the Wimbledon final, Nadal finally got the better of his rival in 2008.
Only Nadal will know if he ‘learned’ anything from those defeats en route to his 2008 victory, but it’s hard to imagine he didn’t look back at his losses in 2006 and 2007 when things got tense in the final.
Nadal came back to win the second of his two Wimbledon titles in 2010, beating Tomas Berdych in the final.
The 2025 Wimbledon tournament is scheduled to begin on Monday, June 30.