{"id":7648,"date":"2024-10-04T15:22:33","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T15:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=7648"},"modified":"2024-10-04T15:22:33","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T15:22:33","slug":"idol-rafael-nadal-crowned-favorite-player-by-23-year-old-new-zealander-wta-star-as-other-tennis-greats-take-a-backseat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=7648","title":{"rendered":"Idol Rafael Nadal Crowned Favorite Player by 23-Year-Old New Zealander WTA Star as Other Tennis Greats Take a Backseat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine being a child and standing beside your tennis idol, feeling completely amazed. For\u00a0<strong>Lulu Sun,<\/strong>\u00a0this fantasy turned into a reality when she was merely five years old. As she grew up, Lulu played in multiple ITF events and\u00a0collegiate tennis before\u00a0ultimately turning pro in 2022. Now, she is not only the 2024 Wimbledon quarterfinalist but has also made her mark in the Olympics. However, when she looked back at her tennis inspiration, she recalled her \u201cobsession\u201d with her idol, Rafael Nadal, and paid a heartfelt tribute to him!<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Imagine it\u2019s 2006, a year when\u00a0Rafael Nadal\u00a0captured 6 titles, including a second French Open trophy! The world watched him in awe, and it also included the eventual WTA player, Lulu Sun, who saw one of Nadal\u2019s matches on-court (live) and even clicked a picture with him!\u00a0Sharing this adorable and nostalgic moment on her Instagram,\u00a0Sun answered a fan\u2019s question\u00a0during a Q&amp;A session,<i>\u00a0\u201cWho is your favorite player (men)?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<div id=\"scroll-2\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">The Monterrey Open runner-up responded,<i>\u00a0\u201cThis man right here \ud83e\udd79 (5 year old me was obsessed \ud83d\ude02).\u201d\u00a0<\/i>In that picture, Sun, wearing her casual attire, is standing beside Nadal, dressed in a blue half-sleeved Nike t-shirt and white trousers, with a racquet in his hand. Moreover, Sun\u2019s excitement on her face was palpable as she tightly held a doll in her hand, while Nadal, with his long hair and white Nike headband, kept smiling in a different direction.<\/p>\n<div class=\"instagram-container instagram_instagram-container__A0OSr\"><iframe id=\"instagram-embed-0\" class=\"instagram-media instagram-media-rendered\" src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DAhqAdBvMqg\/embed\/captioned\/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=440&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.essentiallysports.com&amp;rp=%2Fatp-wta-tennis-news-idol-rafael-nadal-crowned-favorite-player-by-twenty-three-year-old-new-zealander-wta-star-lulu-sun-as-other-tennis-greats-take-a-backseat%2F%3Futm_campaign%3Duserscheduled%2B%26utm_medium%3Dt#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A14837.900000095367%2C%22ls%22%3A14336.299999952316%2C%22le%22%3A14831.200000047684%7D\" height=\"1115\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-instgrm-payload-id=\"instagram-media-payload-0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine being a child and standing beside your tennis idol, feeling completely amazed. For\u00a0Lulu Sun,\u00a0this fantasy turned into a reality when she was merely five years old&#8230;. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Idol Rafael Nadal Crowned Favorite Player by 23-Year-Old New Zealander WTA Star as Other Tennis Greats Take a Backseat - Sport News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=7648\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Idol Rafael Nadal Crowned Favorite Player by 23-Year-Old New Zealander WTA Star as Other Tennis Greats Take a Backseat - Sport News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Imagine being a child and standing beside your tennis idol, feeling completely amazed. 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