Toni Nadal, Rafa’s longstanding coach and uncle, spoke to Spanish newspaper As today to address Nadal’s struggles in the Latin American swing, which initially was meant to rebuild the former world number one’s confidence but ended up adding further question marks. For Uncle Toni, his pupil isn’t too far away from where he wants to be, but he just needs to build up some self belief.
After the defeats against Thiem and Cuevas in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, added to the tough defeat against Verdasco in the opening round in Australia, is Rafa’s approach to the season still going to be the same? What problems is he experiencing?
The approach to the season will be just as we planned it. Although, obviously, he didn’t play well in Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro, so the overall assessment so far isn’t good.
The analysis made by various experts is that Rafa Nadal’s cross court forehand no longer hurts his opponents
It’s true that that shot doesn’t hurt opponents as much as it did some years back and anyone can see that. For me the problem is basically about staying calm.
Will you make changes?
We will talk about what we need to change but I’m going to keep that to myself.
Can you explain where the problem stems from and what the current situation is?
Everything was going well since the end of 2015, when he played very well in Autumn and at the World Tour Finals, where he won three matches playing very well and running less than his opponents. In Abu Dhabi he beat Ferrer and Raonic and in Doha, Rafa only lost against Djokovic. In practice sessions in Australia, Rafa defeated Murray and Berdych. Then came the match against Verdasco, where he was two points away from victory but he didn’t win. Every time he doesn’t win his confidence decreases and…
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When you lose your confidence and calm, you play much tighter, even on break points. Therefore, that forehand, which is Rafa’s strong point, stops hurting opponents as much as it normally does, and rivals sense that and look for their chance. Still, he had one match point against Thiem and didn’t play badly but Thiem won the point with a forehand to the line. And there were two points to go up 3-1 in the third set against Cuevas. He’s always been very close.
The impression is that, with every day that passes, Rafa Nadal finds it all a little bit tougher.
Ten years have passed since 2005 when he won his first Grand Slam but Rafa is in good shape physically. In Rio, against Cuevas, he held out very well in the third set of a very long and grueling match. He’s full of determination. But tennis has evolved greatly in these ten years. Rafa has always played strategic tennis, he hasn’t won points with his serve or from a return. That’s changed: nowadays, in Australia, 70% of points were won in rallies of four or less shots. He has to adapt and he was doing well, he was playing at a very high level in London, Abu Dhabi and Doha but then he’s gone through this spell.
What does Toni Nadal think about a change in approach or the introduction of new coaches for Rafa?
Please, I don’t think we have to keep insisting. Does anyone remember now who was John McEnroe’s coach? No, look, here we have a team working, with a collective responsibility. There’s Francis Roig, Toni Nadal and Rafa Nadal, with the latter having less responsibility and the former more. Between 2005 and 2014, together we did things that went very well and now they’re not going for us for one reason or another. We feel we’re very close and we’re going to keep trying.
