SPORTING prowess may run in the DNA if Rafael Nadal's young cousins are any indication: Joan and Toni Junior have just won their first International Tennis Federation (ITF) qualifiers as professionals.
Their dad, Toni Nadal, is Rafa's uncle and was his coach until 2017, when he decided to focus more on the current world number two's eponymous sports academy, bringing on stars of the future.
Under the guidance of Toni Senior, now 59, Rafa won 13 Grand Slams, and would go on to net another seven since, including his 13th French Open title at Paris' Roland Garros stadium.
Clearly, the apple has not fallen far from the tree: Toni Junior, who is just 17 – the same age his famous cousin was when he met his wife, Mery Perelló, and two years younger than Rafa was when he clinched his first Roland Garros trophy – scooped up his first-ever ITF victory in straight sets against Lennart Melzer in the Manacor M15 qualifier, and in the next round, will be up against Oleg Prihodko.
His younger brother Joan, aged 16, faced one of the top 700 ATP players, Russia's Denis Klok, and swiftly dispatched him in three sets.
After this somewhat gruelling match, his next rival will be Peter Benjamin Privara, from Slovakia.
They each still need to win two more matches if they want to get into the main draw for the M15 tournament at the Rafael Nadal Academy in the family's native town of Manacor, Mallorca.
Joan's first match as a professional was at his elder cousin's sports school, against Turkey's Kuzey Cekirge, although the recent ITF round against Klok was his first win at this level.
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