Does Uncle Toni secretly want his nephew Rafa to fail?

Mike Sams

Mike Sams

G.O.A.T.
Reading comments from Toni who helped take Nadal to 14 majors before Nadal dumped him for Moya. Toni doesn't appear to be Nadal's biggest cheerleader. Reading in between the lines, you might sense he carries some bitterness that his nephew dropped him. Especially since Toni had never taken a penny from his nephew all these years. It almost seems like Toni wants his nephew to lose the Slam race seeing the way he's constantly praising Djokovic. Even saying that Nadal's 21 majors is not going to be enough to stop Djokovic. It's weird. :unsure:
 
prosperned said:
Sounds like motivation and truth to me. Nadal needs 24 to have a chance of winning the race.
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Sure but is that something that needs to be said by his Uncle? Almost seems like anything Nadal does just doesn't impress the old guy at all. No wonder Nadal threw him to the curb. Probably got sick of the old guy berating him always.
 
Mike Sams said:
Reading comments from Toni who helped take Nadal to 14 majors before Nadal dumped him for Moya. Toni doesn't appear to be Nadal's biggest cheerleader. Reading in between the lines, you might sense he carries some bitterness that his nephew dropped him. Especially since Toni had never taken a penny from his nephew all these years. It almost seems like Toni wants his nephew to lose the Slam race seeing the way he's constantly praising Djokovic. Even saying that Nadal's 21 majors is not going to be enough to stop Djokovic. It's weird. :unsure:
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Motivation. Something to hang up in the locker room and fuel that fire!
 
Mike Sams said:
Sure but is that something that needs to be said by his Uncle? Almost seems like anything Nadal does just doesn't impress the old guy at all. No wonder Nadal threw him to the curb. Probably got sick of the old guy berating him always.
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Google Phil Jackson....outside of MJ he constantly criticized or chastised players to media to motivate them.
 
Toni's the GOAT coach, nothing more to add.

Rafael-Nadal-1114586.jpg
 
Mike Sams said:
Reading comments from Toni who helped take Nadal to 14 majors before Nadal dumped him for Moya. Toni doesn't appear to be Nadal's biggest cheerleader. Reading in between the lines, you might sense he carries some bitterness that his nephew dropped him. Especially since Toni had never taken a penny from his nephew all these years. It almost seems like Toni wants his nephew to lose the Slam race seeing the way he's constantly praising Djokovic. Even saying that Nadal's 21 majors is not going to be enough to stop Djokovic. It's weird. :unsure:
Click to expand...
Boy, you sure don't know anything about Rafa's life and career. His nephew didn't drop him - Toni retired on his own and in fact was the one who talked to Charly Moya about taking the job. Charly said he would have to talk to Rafa first to get a feel for his motivation. Seven slams later, we know how that worked out.

Toni may not have taken a penny from Rafa but he sure took a fortune from his father Sebastian. Rafa's dad set up a deal that Toni would get half the profits from a company Sebastian was building up and twenty years later, Toni is a multi-millionaire without having worked at the company for a day.

Toni's always praising everyone else. He was still saying the other day that he thinks Federer is the best player, but then he says he can't say what he really thinks because Rafa is his nephew.
 
vernonbc said:
Boy, you sure don't know anything about Rafa's life and career. His nephew didn't drop him - Toni retired on his own and in fact was the one who talked to Charly Moya about taking the job. Charly said he would have to talk to Rafa first to get a feel for his motivation. Seven slams later, we know how that worked out.

Toni may not have taken a penny from Rafa but he sure took a fortune from his father Sebastian. Rafa's dad set up a deal that Toni would get half the profits from a company Sebastian was building up and twenty years later, Toni is a multi-millionaire without having worked at the company for a day.

Toni's always praising everyone else. He was still saying the other day that he thinks Federer is the best player, but then he says he can't say what he really thinks because Rafa is his nephew.
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Was this all covered in Nadal's autobiography?
 
Mike Sams said:
Sure but is that something that needs to be said by his Uncle? Almost seems like anything Nadal does just doesn't impress the old guy at all. No wonder Nadal threw him to the curb. Probably got sick of the old guy berating him always.
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I don't know about that but he certainly wasn't helping when Rafa needed more positivity to come out his slump in 2015-2016. You need people who can lift you up when you're feeling down. I don't think Uncle Toni was that kind of person.
 
Mike Sams said:
Reading comments from Toni who helped take Nadal to 14 majors before Nadal dumped him for Moya. Toni doesn't appear to be Nadal's biggest cheerleader. Reading in between the lines, you might sense he carries some bitterness that his nephew dropped him. Especially since Toni had never taken a penny from his nephew all these years. It almost seems like Toni wants his nephew to lose the Slam race seeing the way he's constantly praising Djokovic. Even saying that Nadal's 21 majors is not going to be enough to stop Djokovic. It's weird. :unsure:
Click to expand...
Toni always plays down expectations. He's always done it in Rafael's life. Toni thinks any big praise will go to Rafa's head. In turn, Rafa has become obsessed with routines, making sure everything is in place, staying in the moment, not getting carried away, to fight hard for every point.
 
Mustard said:
Toni always plays down expectations. He's always done it in Rafael's life. Toni thinks any big praise will go to Rafa's head. In turn, Rafa has become obsessed with routines, making sure everything is in place, staying in the moment, not getting carried away, to fight hard for every point.
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So even when he's not coaching Rafa, he still plays down Nadal's accolades and achievements? LOL
 
Mike Sams said:
Was this all covered in Nadal's autobiography?
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A lot of it. Rafa spoke of how he was often annoyed with Toni, how Toni derided him as a "mummy's boy", how Rafa would have to do a practice session without water if he forgot his water bottles, so no wonder Rafa is so precise with his water bottles being in place.
 
Mustard said:
A lot of it. Rafa spoke of how he was often annoyed with Toni, how Toni derided him as a "mummy's boy", how Rafa would have to do a practice session without water if he forgot his water bottles, so no wonder Rafa is so precise with his water bottles being in place.
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Looks like a torture chamber. Nadal broke free of this drill sergeant maniac finally :-D
 
Mike Sams said:
So even when he's not coaching Rafa, he still plays down Nadal's accolades and achievements? LOL
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One time, one of the Nadal family organized a party when Rafa won a kids' tournament, and Toni was furious. He banned the party outright, saying that none of the previous winners became famous in adult tennis, and was convinced the party would see it go to Rafa's head.
 
Mike Sams said:
Looks like a torture chamber. Nadal broke free of this drill sergeant maniac finally :-D
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Toni has mostly been good for Rafa. He kept him grounded and focused on the present. On the negative side, perhaps Rafa can become too over-cautious when things are not going so well.
 
Mike Sams said:
Was this all covered in Nadal's autobiography?
Click to expand...
Rafa's biography came out in 2010. Toni coached him until 2016 and peripherally in 2017 too, i.e., he didn't travel with him but they talked on the phone every day.

Much of the information comes from the multitude of interviews given by Rafa and Toni and Carlos, of which I have read or listened to thousands. The set-up of Toni's remuneration was mentioned in the book too though.
 
Backspin1183 said:
I don't know about that but he certainly wasn't helping when Rafa needed more positivity to come out his slump in 2015-2016. You need people who can lift you up when you're feeling down. I don't think Uncle Toni was that kind of person.
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Yes. I think even Toni realized it was time for a change in 2016. Nobody's fault necessarily, but Toni is more of a double down and do things harder type rather than bringing a fresh eye or fresh perspective that Carlos Moya has brought.
 
Mike Sams said:
Reading comments from Toni who helped take Nadal to 14 majors before Nadal dumped him for Moya. Toni doesn't appear to be Nadal's biggest cheerleader. Reading in between the lines, you might sense he carries some bitterness that his nephew dropped him. Especially since Toni had never taken a penny from his nephew all these years. It almost seems like Toni wants his nephew to lose the Slam race seeing the way he's constantly praising Djokovic. Even saying that Nadal's 21 majors is not going to be enough to stop Djokovic. It's weird. :unsure:
Click to expand...
Mike Sams said:
Sure but is that something that needs to be said by his Uncle? Almost seems like anything Nadal does just doesn't impress the old guy at all. No wonder Nadal threw him to the curb. Probably got sick of the old guy berating him always.
Click to expand...

I wonder why you are cheating readers. Rafa didn't "dump Toni Nadal for Moya." Toni himself called Moya and offered him a job at the Rafa Team (and at Rafa's academy; Moya is the Technical Director of the academy.)
www.elespanol.com

Carlos Moyà: "Entrenar a Nadal es el mayor reto que voy a tener nunca"

El ex número uno habla con EL ESPAÑOL en Melbourne sobre su nueva etapa como entrenador del campeón de 14 grandes.
www.elespanol.com www.elespanol.com
 
octobrina10 said:
I wonder why you are cheating readers. Rafa didn't "dump Toni Nadal for Moya." Toni himself called Moya and offered him a job at the Rafa Team (and at Rafa's academy; Moya is the Technical Director of the academy.)
www.elespanol.com

Carlos Moyà: "Entrenar a Nadal es el mayor reto que voy a tener nunca"

El ex número uno habla con EL ESPAÑOL en Melbourne sobre su nueva etapa como entrenador del campeón de 14 grandes.
www.elespanol.com www.elespanol.com
Click to expand...
And Moya said he wanted to speak to Rafa first, to see if Rafa was still hungry to win majors.
 
Mike Sams said:
Was this all covered in Nadal's autobiography?
Click to expand...
Yes. Rafa's father, a businessman, has worked hard to provide a comfortable life for his family and to be able to cover expenses related to coaching his son. Rafa says in his autobiography ("Rafa: My Story", 2011): ¤¤ Toni has never received any money [a salary] from me or from anyone in the family for the lifelong attention he has dedicated to me, but he has been able to do it because he owns half of my father's business, and takes half the profits, without doing any of the work. It's been a fair exchange because I would never have had anything like the same hours of coaching from Toni if my father had not worked with such purpose all his life....
...My father, two years older than Toni, has started one business after another from scratch; he's single-minded about his objectives, but he's made his family his first responsibility...He's employed dozens of people in his various businesses and created the conditions for us to live well and for Toni to dedicate himself to me.¤¤
 
Mike Sams said:
Sure but is that something that needs to be said by his Uncle? Almost seems like anything Nadal does just doesn't impress the old guy at all. No wonder Nadal threw him to the curb. Probably got sick of the old guy berating him always.
Click to expand...
Same old Toni. He was like this since he started coaching young Rafa back in Mallorca, at least if his autobiography is to be believed. Once when Rafa won the under-12 national championship, Toni pulled him out while his family were celebrating his big win, and showed Rafa a list of names.
"This is a list of all the previous winners of this tournament. Now tell me, how many of them do you recognize?"
Just to keep things in perspective for Rafa.
 
There comes a time when a change is needed, and it's not necessarily anybody's fault. Look at Tom Brady and Coach Bellichick, 20 years as the most successful Coach/QB combo in NFL history and even they were done.

Uncle Toni coached Rafa from early childhood for 25+ years until age 30, an extremely long run as coach/players relationships go. Probably the longest ever? I know Djokovic started with Riccardo Piatti in his first years on the tour and got Marian Vajda in 2006, but even then there was a break in between and at one point Novak said for 3 years Becker was his head coach.

So the the larger issue with Toni and Rafa Nadal is that it's remarkable they lasted without any breaks as long as they did.
 
Mike Sams said:
So even when he's not coaching Rafa, he still plays down Nadal's accolades and achievements? LOL
Click to expand...
Toni Nadal is not coaching Rafa, but he is a tennis expert (& the Head of Rafa's academy) and journalists are constantly asking Toni questions about tennis and, of course, about Rafa. And Toni expresses his opinion.
Toni is also a tennis writer. He regularly writes articles for EL Pais, a daily newspaper, which is the most read newspaper in Spanish online. These articles are often quoted.
elpais.com

Artículos escritos por Toni Nadal | EL PAÍS

Todos los artículos y noticias escritas por Toni Nadal y publicadas en EL PAÍS. Últimos artículos, noticias y columnas de opinión con EL PAÍS.
elpais.com elpais.com
 
It’s never been Toni’s MO to praise Rafa excessively. However he always said enough so you knew he was confident Rafa was going to surpass Federer in Slam count eventually.

With FelixAA it is a whole different ball game, there is no way anybody not his family would put up with Toni's tough love critical tactics. I suppose Toni may also welcome the change as there is not as much pressure on him as he's not FAA's main coach.
 
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prosperned said:
Sounds like motivation and truth to me. Nadal needs 24 to have a chance of winning the race.
Click to expand...


Exactly. Not sure how anyone doesn't see through the azz clouds other blow out overall to compensate for losses, lack of stats or whatever. Better to have Nadal strive to compete without fear of failure because he does not achieve xx than have him toiling in remorse because his play didn't achieve some level.

Brilliant really but Toni and Nadal, and the team.
 
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