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As Milos Raonic gets ready to face Rafael Nadal, countryman Daniel Nestor, a lefty, fills in on serve

Raonic gets a few last-minute instructions from coach Ivan Ljubicic after a stadium court practice session Friday morning, in preparation for his showdown with Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)

INDIAN WELLS – You see a lot of intra-country cooperation around the tennis circuit, players from the same nations practicing together, playing doubles together, even – gasp! – going out to dinner together as a group.

That has rarely been the Canadian way, for whatever reason – on either the men's, or the women's side.

So it was nice to see doubles legend Daniel Nestor, eliminated from the BNP Paribas Open a few days ago but still in town with his family, out on the stadium court to help Davis Cup teammate Milos Raonic prepare to face the great lefty Rafael Nadal.

Here's what it looked like. Nestor even threw in a few Nadalian grunts, just to get into the spirit of the thing.

 

Funniest part of it? After they were done, Nestor stayed on court and hit a few more serves. It was a moment that every club player can relate to. He only had a few tennis balls, so he hit the serves, crossed over to the other side, went chasing the balls in the nooks and crannies, and hit a few more in the other direction.

How many of us have done that, while we were waiting for an opponent to show up.

He's just like us!