The 21-year-old has two of the best role models one could ever hope for on his side.
21-year-old Spaniard picked up his first Masters 1000 win this week in Miami, before falling to 6th-seeded Kevin Anderson in three sets on Saturday. After his first-round victory over Prajnesh Gunneswaran the rising star talked to ATP Tennis Radiso’s Seb Lauzier about his relationship with two of Spain’s greatest legends, Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer.

Munar, who hails from Mallorca and trains at Rafael Nadal’s Academy on the island, says he has forged a great relationship with the king of clay over the years.

“At the beginning he was my, maybe, work partner, or something like this,” said Munar. “Right now he’s a friend for me. We are sharing a lot of moments on court and of court. I know him a lot right now and he’s special. I think he can teach me everything I’m going to see during the years on the tour. I think he’s trying to do this because he wants me to be the best player I can be, and also I have one of the best friends of Rafa in my team—the relationships is getting closer and I’m really happy with this.”

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Munar also professed his deep respect for Ferrer, saying that he admires what the indefatigable baseliner has done over the course of his career.

“David is amazing for me, I’m in love with this guy,” Munar said. “I always say that David is my idol. I think he’s a person who is a “ten” in life and also he’s this way on the tennis court. I have very much respect for him and I think and I hope he will a wonderful career outside of tennis and a wonderful life. Something is going to change for him in the next months but I’m pretty sure that the person he is and he has been during the whole of these years on tour he will be for all his life.”

Munar has enjoyed quite a bit of success in 2019, his first full year on the ATP Tour. He entered this week with a career-high ranking of 61 and a record of 9-7 (now 10-8). He has already reached four quarter-finals this season, including three in a row during the Golden Swing in South America.

He’d like to continue his momentum rankings-wise, but is more focused on working hard and growing his game.

“It’s difficult in the situation I am right now to say numbers, but I am feeling like I am growing,” he said. “I am growing as a player, I really feel like I can do it right now. I have been working so hard for this and this is the important part right now. You have to remain clear and I think I am. I know that I will have my chances for the year. I started with the South American swing and I did well there. Just keep growing… maybe to say a number inside the Top 40 but I don’t like the numbers.”

The Aussie breaks down the weaknesses of Federer, Djokovic and NadalIn an exclusive interview with Mike Dickson of the Daily Mail, Nick Kyrgios enumerated what he feels are the weaknesses in tennis’ holy trinity a.k.a Big Three.

Read the Full Exclusive in Daily Mail Here

'They don't do anything spectacularly well,” Kyrgios explains, before taking a quick crack at explaining how he has gone about solving the relatively unsolvable games of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in recent years.

"Rafa loves to be defensive so you can really push through his forehand and expose how far back he stands. So they do have weaknesses and if you play the right way and execute it right under pressure then they can be beaten." https://t.co/FpvzCEd9ao

— jimmy soixante-dix (@hotdog6969) March 23, 2019

“Obviously Federer is unbelievably talented and the greatest of all time, but he gets tired in tight situations," Kyrgios says. "Djokovic struggles with short balls, he doesn't like to come forward. Second serve can get a bit shaky. Rafa loves to be defensive so you can really push through his forehand and expose how far back he stands. So they do have weaknesses and if you play the right way and execute it right under pressure then they can be beaten."

Kyrgios may not have figured out how to play at a consistently high level week in and week out on the tour, but he has done a great job against the biggest names in the sport.

"You just have to play the right way and for the stars to align," he said. "Of course they are a level above all of us, but they are definitely beatable, I don't think like they are Gods to the sport.”

Kyrgios is one guy that deserves to have a say. He owns a 6-6 lifetime record against the trio (3-3 v Nadal, 2-0 v Djokovic and 1-3 v Federer) and recently stunned Nadal in a tremendously entertaining three-setter en route to winning the title at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco.

It’s well known that Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have some players beaten before they even leave the locker room, but Kyrgios isn’t about to dole out too much respect to players that he feels get preferential treatment from the tour as it is.

“I don't know how much respect the others show them but I'm not going to really respect someone just because they can hit a ball over the net, that's not enough for me to give them respect,” Kyrgios told Dickson. “Why would I give them an inch? They've already got the advantage with always playing on the best courts in the best conditions, all that sort of stuff, so I don't know why you would give them inches.”

The Dane has been struggling to get healthy for a month, but looked good in her win on Friday at Miami.

One of Caroline Wozniacki‘s greatest seasons ended with what may prove to be her greatest challenge as a player in 2018. The Dane won her first major and reclaimed the WTA’s No.1 ranking last year, but by the end of the season her career was in jeopardy as she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

Wozniacki has been positive about things, but admittedly was in a state of shock when she got the news. “In the beginning, it was a shock,” Wozniacki said last year at Singapore. “Just, you feel like you’re the fittest athlete out there—or that’s in my head, that’s what I’m known for—and all of a sudden you have this to work with.”

But rather than dwell on the difficulties Wozniacki—much in the same fashion that Venus Williams has become a poster woman for what is possible for people with Sjogren's syndrome—has set her sights on being an inspiration for those afflicted with the autoimmune disease that can cause joint pain and affect mobility.

Wozniacki found out the news officially after last year’s U.S. Open and since then has played a relatively full schedule. But this winter she fell ill and had not played since the Australian Open, where she lost in the third round to Maria Sharapova, when she arrived at Indian Wells. She lost in California in her first match to Ekaterina Alexandrova but in Miami she got off on the right foot with a 6-4 6-4 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Friday.

“I feel like it's definitely not been the greatest start to the year health-wise for me,” Wozniacki told reporters. “I'm just really thankful I can be out there and play and compete. All I can do right now is just try and get the matches under my belt, try to play better.

A straight sets win for @CaroWozniacki!

Beats Sasnovich 6-4, 6-4!#miamiopen pic.twitter.com/pkfTsh9n4i

— WTA (@WTA) March 22, 2019

Wozniacki will next face Monica Niculescu of Romania in third-round action. She feels like she’s making progress with her game and hopes to take advantage of a favorable draw—Niculescu stunned Spain’s Garbiñe Muguruza on Friday and Wozniacki owns a 9-0 record against her.

“Finally the last week or so, I really feel like I'm starting to hit the ball well in practice,” Wozniacki said. “Hopefully that's going to transfer into a match and it's just going to get better.”

The Dane has had a rough go of it lately, but she’s eager to keep battling.

“It's hard when you're in bed most of the time through Doha, Dubai,” she said. “I expect a lot out of myself. Going to play Indian Wells and basically not having practiced for a month, I still wanted to play well. I thought I played pretty decent compared to how much I'd been able to practice. I was proud of my fight.

“I just have to keep putting myself out there and I have to keep just doing my best. That's really all I can ask of myself right now. Hopefully tomorrow is going to be better. That's all I can do.