It has been months former world number one Maria Sharapova split up with her long-time coach Sven Groeneveld. But guess what, it hasn’t stopped the 31-year-old from continuing with her aim to restore her glorious days of the past. In fact, Maria faced a ‘new hitting partner’ to help prepare better in the ongoing clay season. Masha’s new training partner was none other than the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal. Maria Sharapova posted a video on Instagram practising with the winner of all-time record ten French Open titles on Monday. As expected the video of tennis champions went viral in a matter of few hours, it unexpectedly led to an uproar amongst Roger Federer fans! So, what exactly happened?

After making a return to professional tennis in April 2017 post drug ban, former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova is in a quest to win her first grand slam title. And being back at the most successful turf in her career, the two-time Roland Garros champion is leaving no stones unturned to be in best shape, both physically and mentally. Ahead of the second grand slam of the year, Maria is playing some WTA events, one of them being Italian Open held in Rome. During one of the practise sessions, the long-legged Russian tennis star was joined in by Rafael Nadal, the current World No. 2 in ATP men’s rankings.

Two minutes on court with the GOAT 🐐 @RafaelNadal #BucketList Was so nervous 😱😬

A post shared by Maria Sharapova (@mariasharapova) on

Sharapova posted a video of two engaged in a long rally (she looked in form returning Nadal’s well-hit shots) on her social media handles. She captioned the video as: “Two minutes on court with the GOAT 🐐 @RafaelNadal #BucketList Was so nervous.” Now, is it not super sweet of Maria, hailed by her critics as the Ice Princess (not popular among other players in the locker room) to have such beautiful words to say for Rafa. Her choice of words, rather one word ‘GOAT’ to compliment Nadal did not go down too well with Federer, current World No. 1 player’s fans.

The full form of the term ‘GOAT’ is Greatest of All Time. And, fans and experts have hailed Switzerland tennis ace Roger Federer with this prestigious tag as the 36-year-old has marked his dominance at the all the grand slams, major events, in rivalries and records. With 20 grand slams, Federer is the leading player with the most number of titles in history for a male player followed by Rafael Nadal of Spain with 16. With Federer-Nadal being on-court rivals (off-court besties) when Sharapova referred to Nadal as the ‘GOAT’, it left King Roger fans mighty irked.

Online Trolls Had a Field Day Blasting Sharapova!

Die-hard Federer fans slammed Maria Sharapova life, right and centre for her ‘lack of knowledge’. Some fans even accused the Russian career slam winner of being jealous of Federer while many called out to her for trying to create a rift between Federer and Nadal. The Spanish World No. 2 was also not spared by the angry fans who called him ‘GOAT of Clay’ and ‘sheep’ among many ‘compliments’. In short, tennis’ controversial player Maria Sharapova continues to court new troubles for herself quite frequently. But the good bit is the rally between Sharapova and Nadal, - it is fantastic, and you must watch it!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 15, 2018 10:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).