{"id":1507,"date":"2024-11-17T02:11:53","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T02:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507"},"modified":"2024-11-17T02:11:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T02:11:53","slug":"rafael-nadal-kissed-by-billie-jean-king-in-heartwarming-clip-ahead-of-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal kissed by Billie Jean King in heartwarming clip ahead of retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/comp-1731784526.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;zoom=1&amp;resize=644%2C361\" alt=\"A screenshot from a viral video showing Billie Jean King kissing Rafael Nadal on the cheek \" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Rafael Nadal has delighted tennis fans after a heartwarming video of him meeting Billie Jean King went viral on social media ahead of his retirement.<\/p>\n<p>In the clip, King, 80, is seen greeting fellow tennis legend Nadal, 38, in Malaga by kissing him on the cheek and shaking his hand before they pose for pictures.<\/p>\n<p>Nadal is gearing up to feature at the Davis Cup Finals for Spain, in what is set to be his final professional event before he officially hangs up his racket.<\/p>\n<p>The 22-time Grand Slam champion has raised concerns over his fitness \u2013 but according to fresh reports \u2013 Nadal looked fit and ready in practice on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>After the practice session, Nadal met up with King and the women\u2019s tennis icon can be heard telling the Spaniard: \u2018You\u2019re looking good.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>King also praised Nadal for his volleying and asked if she could hold his baby in one of the photos.<\/p>\n<p>Nadal politely turned down the request \u2013 but could not hide a massive smile and was seen giggling.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/comp-1731784856.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;zoom=1&amp;resize=540%2C303\" alt=\"Rafael Nadal is seen smiling as he speaks to Billie Jean King\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Spain begin their Davis Cup Finals campaign on Tuesday against the Netherlands, in what could be Nadal\u2019s last professional match.<\/p>\n<p>Carlos Alcaraz, the current Wimbledon and French Open champion, is desperate to help his hero \u2013 and fellow Spaniard \u2013 land a sixth Davis Cup title out in Malaga.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It is the last tournament of the year for me, probably one of the most special tournaments that I\u2019m going to play,\u2019 Alcaraz said. \u2018Last tournament of Rafa, I\u2019ll be able to be next to him in the last moments on a tennis court for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The Davis Cup is a tournament I really want to win one day. When I was a kid, I\u2019d dream about winning the Davis Cup, for Spain.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018This year we have a really special chance to win it. But I think it\u2019s most important for Rafa, for his last tournament.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I really want him to retire with a title. It\u2019s going to be really, really emotional and a really special tournament for me.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><span data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\"> MORE : Rafael Nadal fears Novak Djokovic will have \u2018small mental breakdown\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\"> MORE : Six Kings Slam makes big change after \u2018unwatchable\u2019 complaint from tennis fans <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\"> MORE : Rafael Nadal urges fans to \u2018wait\u2019 until Novak Djokovic retires to do one thing <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two legends of the sport!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rafael Nadal kissed by Billie Jean King in heartwarming clip ahead of retirement - 24\/7 News America<\/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:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rafael Nadal kissed by Billie Jean King in heartwarming clip ahead of retirement - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two legends of the sport!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-17T02:11:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/3-21.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"644\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"361\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507\",\"name\":\"Rafael Nadal kissed by Billie Jean King in heartwarming clip ahead of retirement - 24\/7 News America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/3-21.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-17T02:11:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-17T02:11:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/3-21.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/3-21.jpg\",\"width\":644,\"height\":361},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rafael Nadal kissed by Billie Jean King in heartwarming clip ahead of retirement\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"24\/7 News America\",\"description\":\"Breaking Stories, Real Insights&quot;\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rafael Nadal kissed by Billie Jean King in heartwarming clip ahead of retirement - 24\/7 News America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rafael Nadal kissed by Billie Jean King in heartwarming clip ahead of retirement - 24\/7 News America","og_description":"Two legends of the sport!","og_url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507","og_site_name":"24\/7 News America","article_published_time":"2024-11-17T02:11:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":644,"height":361,"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/3-21.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507","name":"Rafael Nadal kissed by Billie Jean King in heartwarming clip ahead of retirement - 24\/7 News America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/3-21.jpg","datePublished":"2024-11-17T02:11:53+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-17T02:11:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/3-21.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/3-21.jpg","width":644,"height":361},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=1507#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rafael Nadal kissed by Billie Jean King in heartwarming clip ahead of retirement"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/","name":"24\/7 News America","description":"Breaking Stories, Real Insights&quot;","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1511,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions\/1511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}