Rafa Nadal is the world’s top-ranked tennis player, but it’s not just his skill with the racquet that has won him fans right around the world.

He’s always been a good egg, as they say (it’s impossible not to laugh when watching this video of Rafa and Roger Federer in stitches), and that was once again visible during his Australian Open second-round match yesterday against Argentina’s Federico Delbonis.

Leading 4-1 in the third and final set (Rafa won in straight sets), Nadal drilled an errant forehand down the line, and straight into the noggin of a ball girl.

He immediately sprung into action to try and make things better:

Yeah, that’s a pretty cute moment.

When quizzed on the incident after the match, he was full of praise for the young lady:

“She’s a super brave girl.” ❤@RafaelNadal talks through that special moment with the @AustralianOpen ballkid! #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/qTUrzXoUMm

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 23, 2020

Lovely.

Perhaps Rafa had the incident that occurred with Elliot Benchetrit in the back of his mind, with the Frenchman coming under for asking a ball girl to peel his banana for him during his Australian Open qualifying match against Dmitry Popko this past weekend.

Here’s a short clip of what transpired:

Elliot was widely criticised, called entitled, and a bunch of other names not fit for print. His reasoning, via Bleacher Report:

“At 6-5 in the final set, during the changeover, I asked the ball girl to peel the banana for me as I had put some cream on my hands in order not to sweat. She had done it once before at the beginning of the match. But the second time the chair umpire stepped in and told me that the ball girl was not my slave and I had to peel the banana myself.

“I could not believe that the umpire said that and I find incredible how this situation got out of control on social media without people knowing what really happened on court.”

Hang on – a situation getting out of control on social media? I don’t believe it.

Anyway, lovely touch, Rafa.

[sources:tennisworld&bleacherreport]