After his extreme highs and lows of 2015 Rafael Nadal has once again affirmed his loyalty to his coach and uncle Toni Nadal.
Nadal’s uncle was the person who introduced Spaniard to tennis at the age of three. Since then, the two have worked together, claiming 67 ATP titles and 14 Grand Slam honours during Nadal’s career. Despite the success achieved by Nadal, there has been calls earlier this year for him to bring in a new perspective on his coaching strategy. Shortly after his loss to Dustin Brown in the second round at Wimbledon, former world No.1 John McEnroe called for Nadal to go in another coaching direction.
“I know that he has had other people like Carlos Costa and they have tried to gently persuade Uncle Toni [to change]. He has done a magnificent job since he was a little kid and told him it was a good thing to go left-handed – but clearly at this stage it would appear that some fresh ideas would be in order.” McEnroe said.
Despite the calls, the world No.5 has disregarded the comments and remained loyal to his uncle. The decision by the 29-year-old paid off towards the end of the season. In October he reached two finals in Beijing and Switzerland before losing to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Nadal then closed out 2015 with an impressive run at the ATP World Tour Finals. His win over Andy Murray during the round-robin stage was the highest ranked player that he has beaten since Novak Djokovic at the 2014 French Open. His run in the ATP Finals was ended with a semifinal loss to Djokovic.
Nadal is currently in Indian for the third leg of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) for the Micromax Indian Aces. During a press conference, the world No.5 recounted his time growing up and his dreams of winning a Grand Slam title, stating that he was no different to any other kid growing up.
“When I was a kid, I just dreamt about playing at Roland Garros, at Wimbledon, professional tournaments. I am no different than many kids. My motivation and passion to try to reach that dream was the key to our success”. Nadal said.
The 29-year-old openly admitted that he was only able to achieve his dreams with the help of a solid support framework, aka Uncle Toni. He went on to pay tribute to his uncle, describing him as a ‘coach forever‘.
“I had good people around me. Without (coach and uncle) Tony, nothing was possible. I am lucky that someone from my family is my coach forever. We work hard. We work with passion, with love for what we are doing and just trying to do the right things to improve every year. That’s the only secret.” The 9-time French Open champion said.
Despite winning 14 Grand Slam titles, Nadal has confirmed his uncertainty about future success in the four major tournaments. He was quoted by Indian media saying that ‘he doesn’t know what will happen‘. Instead Nadal has pledged to focus on his game in order to give him the best opportunity in the Grand Slam tournaments.
