{"id":52743,"date":"2025-06-02T03:16:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T03:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52743"},"modified":"2025-06-02T03:16:27","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T03:16:27","slug":"rafael-nadal-mimicked-by-french-open-star-after-reaching-fourth-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52743","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal mimicked by French Open star after reaching fourth round"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\"Rafael<\/picture>\n

Rafael Nadal was mimicked by Daria Kasatkina at the French Open (Image: GETTY)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rafael Nadal was mimicked by French Open star Daria Kasatkina after the 28-year-old reached the fourth round of the Grand Slam. Kasatkina is set to take on Mirra Andreeva in the last-16 after getting the better of Paula Badosa in Paris.<\/p>\n

Kasatkina has been in fine form on the French clay and opened her campaign with a three-set victory over Katerina Siniakova. The Russian-born Australian then eased past Leolia Jeanjean in straight sets before humbling Badosa 6-1, 7-5. But she will face a tough task in her quest against Andreeva after her 18-year-old practice partner reached the semi-finals last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Kasatkina spoke to the Tennis Channel after her third-round victory. And discussing Andreeva, she explained: \u201cEvery tournament, she\u2019s improving. Everyone can see that. She likes to play here, she played in the semi-finals last year, right.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s going to be tough, of course, I mean because she is an unbelievable mover on court. And here on clay it\u2019s more difficult to make the person miss. But I will try to do that, I will try to my best.\u201d<\/p>\n

The talented star then put on a Spanish accent to perform an impression of Nadal as she exclaimed: \u201cLike Rafa, I will try to do my best, no.\u201d She followed her impersonation with a burst of laughter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\"Rafael<\/picture>\n

Daria Kasatkina will face practice partner Mirra Andreeva in the last-16 of the French Open (Image: GETTY)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kasatkina, who reached the French Open semi-finals in 2022 but suffered a second-round exit last year, will be the underdog against Andreeva.<\/p>\n

And she explained: \u201cWe\u2019ve played just once but we\u2019ve practised a lot. Like almost every tournament we are practising. I\u2019m wondering if she has the phone number of another player. No, I\u2019m kidding.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cOur match is coming in two days so I\u2019m still enjoying my win today because it was very important to me. I\u2019m going to speak to the coach about the next one but honestly I\u2019m really happy to face Mirra in the fourth round at Roland Garros. I love to share the court with good people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Kasatkina grew up as a huge Nadal fan and previously admitted she was \u201creally happy for Rafa\u201d after he defeated Novak Djokovic on his way to winning his final Grand Slam trophy at the French Open in 2022.<\/p>\n

But she also claimed last year that Djokovic was the greatest player of all time ahead of Nadal and Roger Federer because he had won the most Grand Slam trophies.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll three of them are unreachable,\u201d she insisted. \u201cYou know if someone has an idol, they’ll love him even if the results are not up to par. And it’s obvious in my case, because it started in my childhood. \u201cBut objectively, looking at the results, Novak is the greatest. It’d be silly to argue about that. And the rest is a matter of taste.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A French Open star pulled out her best impression of Rafael Nadal after reaching the fourth round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"\nRafael Nadal mimicked by French Open star after reaching fourth round - 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=52743\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rafael Nadal mimicked by French Open star after reaching fourth round - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A French Open star pulled out her best impression of Rafael Nadal after reaching the fourth round.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52743\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-02T03:16:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1-6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1350\" \/>\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<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52743\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52743\",\"name\":\"Rafael Nadal mimicked by French Open star after reaching fourth round - 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