According to Dutch Davis Cup captain Paul Haarhuis, Rafael Nadal must work many times harder than Roger Federer to perfect his technique throughout his career.

“Compared to Federer, Nadal cannot hit perfect shots but looks very easy,” Paul Haarhuis told ATP Tennis radio. “Nadal had to put in a lot of effort to achieve that. It’s great that he worked hard to achieve great success.”

Paul Haarhuis played in the 1990s, was a doubles specialist but also climbed to 18th in men’s singles. He won all four Grand Slams in men’s doubles, a total of six times. The Dutch Davis Cup captain believes that Nadal is one of the most stable players in history, with 912 consecutive weeks in the ATP top 10.

“It’s amazing that Nadal has remained stable for 15 years,” Haarhuis added. “There are many players who only hope to reach the top 10 in 10 weeks. His success in 2022 is also amazing, because it happened right from the hard court season at the beginning of the year and after he was treating his injury.”

Nadal will return to play this weekend, at the Brisbane International event of ATP 250. The 37-year-old tennis player has just taken nearly a year off to recover from a hip injury and will attend the tournament thanks to a special ticket. He is currently ranked 670 in the world and can face top seeds like Holger Rune, Grigor Dimitrov, Ben Shelton or Ugo Humbert in the first round.

After Brisbane, Nadal will go to Melbourne to attend the Australian Open – the event he won in 2022. Nadal won the Australian Open twice, won Roland Garros 14 times out of a total of 22 Grand Slams. He is two titles shy of Novak Djokovic’s Grand Slam record.

“Nadal has physical and mental toughness, things that create his strength and difference,” Haarhuis said about the “King of Clay”‘s prospects of competing in the 2024 season.