Picture: Reuters

An interview with Toni Nadal with the Swiss Newspaper Basler Zeitung


“Rafael is almost like a son to me”
(Original German Article Translated by google)
By Adrian Ruch, Paris – May 27, 2010

Behind Rafael Nadal’s success stands his uncle Toni. The 49-year old has been taking care of the best claycourter for almost two decades now. He believes that his nephew will soon be number one again.


As agreed, Antonio Nadal Homar walks into the Roland Garros stadium through the Marcel Bernard entrance. The uncle and coach of Rafael Nadal wears tennis shoes and short trousers: he’s coming directly from the training session of his protégé. On his way to the Player’s Lounge, he crosses Fernando Verdasco who is hounded by autograph hunters. Suddenly, a little fellow shouts out: “There’s Toni Nadal!” – and suddenly, several children run with their notebooks, caps and marker pens away from the world number 9 to the 49-year old. Rafael Nadal is a world star and because of it, even “uncle Toni” has a certain amount of fame even though he mostly stays in the background.

Last year, Toni Nadal was angry about the Parisian public because they whistled at his nephew during the sensational defeat against Robin Söderling. Today however, he’s in an excellent mood: he even offers to conduct the interview in German. The Spaniard talks about how difficult last year was when Rafael Nadal couldn’t compete in Wimbledon because of injuries. As a result, he had to surrender the number one spot without a fight. He talks about how he came back on tour without self-confidence and didn’t win a tournament for the rest of the year. “Rafael was really sad, but this is normal when you can’t compete in the best tournament of the year – and it’s even worse when you’re the title holder.” In this context, the uncle didn’t only have to act as a trainer but also as motivator. “A coach has to be ready to help out in all aspects, sometimes the problems are of a technical nature but sometimes, it’s a mental issue.”

Knee problems are gone

In the mean time, the knee problem of the player have disappeared and with it, also the worries of the coach who is always acting as a protector. “Rafael” – unlike the 23-year old’s colleagues, he does not use the short version "Rafa" – “is doing well again. We can work as normal and he can do all the exercises again. In general, he does practice less than a few years ago but that has nothing to do with the injuries.” However, the duo from Manacor did adapt the tournament schedule: with a heavy heart, Rafa withdrew from Barcelona – with success: he’s the first to win all the main clay court events leading up to the French Open. However, the world number two and the 4-time Roland Garros winner declines the role of favorite in Paris consistently. His uncle views it differently at the start of the event. “Of course, Rafael belongs to the group of candidates for victory but he’s not the only favorite. Federer is one of the favorites, Djokovic is another one and Verdasco and Ferrer also belong to that group.”

Toni Nadal is a lot more for his protegé than just a tennis coach. “Like for any normal coach, the well-being of the player is very important to me. I’ve known him his entire life, Rafael is almost a son to me.” In the beginning, when his nephew was still a little boy, the strong bond between the two was not that much of an advantage. “It even made it harder, because I had to be very strict with him at times.”

Rafael and Toni Nadal do not only meet at him on Mallorca on the tennis courts. “Of course we do things together – we’re family”, explainst the 49-year old. “We go out on a boat to the sea, we play golf or we watch football.” The nephew is said to be better on the golf court, he admits. “Rafael’s playing level is at about handicap 6.”

Understanding for Federer

This week in the French sports newspaper “L’Equipe”, a team of experts chose Nadal as the best claycourter in the history of tennis. “I don’t know if that’s true, because Björn Borg was unbelievably good”, says uncle Toni who voted for the Swede himself. Without a doubt, the Spanish succesful coach is letting his humbleness speak for him. He would never put his nephew ahead of Roger Federer. Together with Rod Laver, the Swiss stands on top of the historical tennis hierarchy. That doesn’t change the fact that Federer loses a bit more than a couple of years ago. “Federer is still the best but it’s very difficult to stay at the very top. He has won everything and he has two babies. It’s very normal that he doesn’t use the same power and intensity for the smaller tournaments. “

Despite a clearly negative head-to-head – it’s 7/14 since the defeat in the Madrid final – the number one claims again and again that he likes to play against Nadal. The last one's coach however declares that he’s “happy when they don’t play against each other too often”. He’s always very nervous. “There are easier tasks than to play against the best of the best.” Tactically speaking, after 20 duels, there are no more secrets between Federer and Nadal. “But I have the feeling that some think too much about it by making it seems as if the other one played badly.”

Soon the number 1

The next meeting could be as soon as the Roland Garros final. When everything goes as normal, Rafael Nadal could overtake the Swiss as number one after the Wimbledon Championship. Nevertheless, his uncle still sees room for improvement. “He can still get better in all aspects.” Even though Toni Nadal adds that: “everybody can improve, even Federer”; this observation is not good news for his opponents.

(Berner Zeitung)