Andy Murray’s former coach Mark Petchey believes Rafael Nadal’s decision to appoint former French Open winner Carlos Moya as his coach in 2016 was a master-stroke and is the biggest factor behind the Spaniard’s recent success at Roland Garros.
Nadal captured his 11th French Open title on Sunday, defeating Austrian Dominic Thiem in straight sets.
Moya was anointed Nadal’s coach in December 2016, just a few months before Rafa parted ways with his uncle, Toni Nadal. Since then, Moya and Nadal have combined to win three Majors – the 2017 and 2018 French Open and last year’s US open. And Petchey insists Moya must be credited for Nadal’s resurgence.
“Getting Carlos Moya involved has been significant and the little change to his racket – just having somebody involved with a different voice, with the resume that he’s had, has made a massive difference,” Petchey told Sky Sports.
“Moya has contributed to his dominance. He has helped Rafa’s serve in that he is going for more on his first serve and getting a lot more free points.
“There are also far more unreturned serves than there ever were in the past, even on clay, so from that point of view he is serving better and shortening the points.
“At this stage of his career the shorter the points he can make and win – which he was best at Roland Garros last year between nought and five shots – is clearly going to extend his career and make him an even tougher player to beat.
“Carlos has also been far more willing to tell Rafa he needs to hit his backhand as his first shot off his first serve and to go for it more, so he’s far more central on the court now and he’s hurting you with his backhand and his forehand – there’s no safe zone.
“Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic were able to counter the cross-court forehand with their double-handers when Rafa was looking to run around it.
“Carlos has made a huge change to his mindset with his backhand and, I would say, underlining to Rafa just how good that shot is anyway.
“He’s flattened it out over the years and made it far more penetrative when you look at the numbers. It’s not a rallying shot, it’s a finishing shot.”
