Rafael Nadal as seen by Toni, his uncle and coach

By Myrtille Rambion,
Publised on 27/06/2010
L’Express.fr


For 21 years now, Rafael and Toni Nadal are not only nephew and uncle but they’re also tied by a coach-player relationship. Quietly sat on the player’s terrace in Wimbledon, areas outside in Wimbledon, Toni confided in L’Express.fr.

Q : Is it sometimes complicated to train your nephew ?
Toni : No, it’s even very easy ! Because you have the possibility to say what you think, much more so than a normal coach. Really (smiles). In my opinion, if a classic coach would say to his player what I sometimes tell my nephew, he would be out of a job ! (laughter). But on the other hand, I think that I also have more respect for my player. It’s as if I’m training my son. Rafael has played with me throughout his entire life, we have this relationship since he was three years old, so it’s completely natural.

Toni : It has happened, yes, but not any longer. I’m used to telling him what I want, so this is quite normal for him nowadays. Sometimes he will sigh but he will then quickly move on to another topic (smiles). But in the world of tennis, it often happens that a coach has to hold back ; he doesn’t dare to really say what he thinks. With me, it’s different because I’m his uncle, you understand.

Q : When he was little, did you ever think that Rafael could one day become the world number one and win grand slam tournaments ?
Toni: Yes, since he was very young. I wanted to think like that because it pushed me to work much harder and much better. If you have a dream to become really good, your intensity of work is not the same. I’m not implying that I was crazy. What I mean is that deep down, I wanted to think like that. I think that everybody has the potential to get better. Rafael was already very good when he was young, he was one of the best in the world together with Gasquet so we could legitimately think that he would be good amongst the adults. But how  good  exactly ? N°1 ? N°40 ? This, I didn’t know but I knew that he had a good attitude on court, a good coordination and he had a certain number of promising qualities.

Q : In the Roland Garros final, we saw a lot of family and you were quite visible in particular, encouraging him like never before. Did you feel that he needed it more than usual ?
Toni : Yes, it’s true. For Rafael, it was the most important match of the year. A lot more important than the matches he’s won in Wimbledon so far. Because last year, after Australia, even if he was able to continue to win for a couple of weeks, he went through a difficult period. He lost Roland Garros, he could not play in Wimbledon because of his injury and after that, he had a number of defeats against several top players before ending badly in the Masters in London. So, to win a grand slam again was very important.

Q : Here in Wimbledon, he says that he doesn’t have pressure but that people expect him…
Toni : No pressure ? He does have pressure. There’s always the pressure to win, that’s normal. Even Roger Federer has it, even after having won here six times. But for Rafael, I think that he does have more pressure in Roland Garros than here. Because he has more chances to win a grand slam there, especially this year after having won Monte Carlo, Rome and Madrid. So he needed to win Roland to have a really good season, no ? (smiles). Because the truth is that it’s all good and well to win tournaments leading up to a slam tournament but if you then go on to lose in Roland Garros, it would be a big disappointment.

Q : The fact still is that he has no points to defend in Wimbledon.
Toni : That’s not important. Firstly because for every top player, not just for him, what matters is to arrive at a tournament, to play well there and to try and win it. Federer is only interested in winning, not in defending points. The same applies to Tsonga or Murray. Furthermore, when people talk about points and a ranking…well, for a person like Rafael, what matters is the race and it’s this you need to look at ; the ranking at the end of the year. But to defend points ? No

Q : Rafael had a complicated start in Wimbledon this year. What are his chances according to you ?
Toni : It will be difficult. But, we knew that from the start from the moment we saw the draw (pause). Pffft, it’s a very bad draw. Rafael needs to confront a lot of players who are impossible to play against because they have such a powerful serve. Well, Nishikori in the first round went well because you can rally against him. But against Haase…When he serves well, he’s practically impossible to play against. Saturday, Petzschner, the same thing! Mathieu, that’s better because you can play against him, it's not all serve. But after that, Rafael could in principle meet players like Gulbis, Isner and when those guys serve well, that’s the end for you. Note that I’m not suggesting that it will be easy against Mathieu. I’ve seen him play against Youzhny and De Bakker and I think he’s playing well at the moment. So, we’ll see (smiles).

I am not fluent in French like Sofie but ..google does the job ..sorry bout the translation!