Rafael Nadal makes 97-year-old tennis player's dream come true; watch

Twenty-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal welcomed 97-year-old Leonid Stanislavskyi to his training centre in Spain this week to fulfil the dream of the special player. The Ukrainian nonagenarian wanted to play to a point with Nadal and the Spanish great happily obliged by inviting him to his academy in Manacor. A sweet video of Nadal and Stanislavskyi locking horns in a brief tennis match was shared on social media on Friday. 

In the video, Nadal can be seen gently hitting the ball towards Stanislavskyi, who then showed his excitement of playing with the legendary player by sending it back. Stanislavskyi proved he could still play at the age of 97 as all of his shots were bang on target, landing at Nadal's side of the court exactly where he intended them to. Stanislavskyi also holds the Guinness World Record for being the oldest tennis player with an ITF licence. 

Netizens react

Netizens flooded the comment section of the post with heartfelt messages as they hailed the Spanish superstar for his lovely gesture towards the 97-year-old. "Very nice to see, I congratulate you. The first time I see Nadal not wanting to "destroy" his rival," one individual joked. "Rafa is unique in making some people's dreams come true. Eternal thanks for being the way you are, Rafa," another user wrote. 

Stanislavskyi was in Spain to compete in the 40th edition of the ITF Super-Seniors World Individual Championships. It was on Stanislavskyi's insistence that the International Tennis Federation introduced a new age group for people over the age of 90 at the Super-Seniors World Championships. Stanislavskyi had written a letter to the ITF earlier this year, urging them to include a new age group in the competition. 

Nadal will be hoping to be more than 100% for the first Grand Slam of 2022, the Australian Open in January as he looks forward to making a much-awaited comeback to the tennis court after a long hiatus. He will be competing for the record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title that will take him past Roger Federer and the reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic with all three of them tied at 20 major titles apiece. 

Image: rnadalacademy/Twitter