Interview with Toni Nadal

[CMM]

It was posted in the French Tennis Magazine, so I don't have a link.
Thanks to Moondancer for the translation.

Tennis Magazine: Toni, everybody knows you as the uncle and coach of Rafael Nadal but they know less about your own background. You’ve celebrated your 50th birthday this year (T.M.: he was born on February 17, 1960 in Manacor). Could you briefly describe this half-century?
Toni Nadal: What can I say (smiles)? Like everybody in the family, I was born in Mallorca and I still live there, in Porto Cristo I have three children, one girl and two boys aged 9, 7 and 6. I was the second-born in the family after Sebastian, father of Rafael. I have two other brothers (T.M.: one of which is Miguel Angel, former football player at FC Barcelona) and a sister, quite a bit younger. As you know, we are a very sports-minded family but I was the first to play tennis. I tried a lot of sports, including football of course, but also swimming, table tennis (ping pong) which is the sport in which I managed quite well since I was the junior champion of the Balearic Islands. From the age of 14, I started playing tennis.

T.M.: What triggered your interest in the sport?
Toni: In 1972, I was able to go to the Masters that took place in Barcelona. That year, I saw Ilie Nastase win and he became my idol. So, I started to play in the Tennis Club of Manacor, Rafa’s current club and I’ve been a member since 1974.

T.M.: Quickly, you reached a very good level, by the way…
Toni: Let’s not exaggerate. Let’s say that I had a good regional or national level. I reached group A in the 2nd Spanish category (T.M.: Still, this category grouped the 30 best Spanish players). After that, I no longer disputed a lot of tournaments because I was also studying in Barcelona. I followed law studies because that’s what my father wanted and also history because that interested me more. In a broader perspective, I wasn’t very passionate about those studies. I couldn’t see myself getting a job in it because I could quickly see that I didn’t have the potential.

T.M.: What sort of player were you?
Toni: I had the same style as José Higueras (smiles). I made very few mistakes and I was physically good. The problem was that I did not have a strong shot. I lacked aggressiveness. My backhand was correct but my forehand wasn’t very good.

T.M.: How did you earn a living before becoming Rafa’s coach?
Toni: I was interested in sports so I ended up getting a trainer’s degree and I started to teach in the club in Manacor. Before becoming a football pro, my brother Miguel was in that club as well and he was very good at it because he became the junior champion of the Balearic Islands. There were quite a few very good juniors. Our tennis school has an excellent quality, it’s one of the best on the Balearic Islands.

T.M. And then, Rafa came…
Toni: Rafa was a very good youngster amongst others. I first started to train him in the tennis school where he started in 1990 at the age of 4. It’s only a couple of years later so it seems, in 1996 or in 1997, that I started to focus only on training Rafa. But that was not because we had decided that he would become a professional player. It was too early for that. It was a decision made because it was easier that way. Rafa started to play in a lot of tournaments and he needed somebody to accompany him. Rafa’s dad preferred me to do that and he also backed it financially.

T.M.: So, you took charge of little Rafa and perhaps, you made the most important decision of his life: to let him play with his left hand whereas he’s a natural right-hander.
Toni: No! That’s a legend… But it’s really not the truth. At the start, he played with two hands but using one hand to direct. I had the impression that he was stronger on his left side than on his right side. So, I figured that he was left-handed; it’s as simple as that. Besides, even if he ate with his right hand, he also played football with his left foot. However, at no point did I tell him: “He needs to play with his left hand because that way, he will be much stronger.” However, since I’m not completely stupid, I simply advised him to use his strongest hand. That’s it. Besides, I don’t think that it’s that much more advantageous to be left-handed. Just look at the world’s best players: there are not many of them there. No, the only thing I did advise Rafa was that at the age of 10, he needed to stop playing his forehand with two hands because no top player had a two-handed forehand and I couldn’t imagine my nephew being the first. So, this is all there is to this story. Would Rafa be as strong now if he used his right hand? That’s something we don’t know and we will never know.

T.M. So, when you started to train only with Rafa, was your first job a huge technical task?
Toni: No, not really. If you want to work in a healthy way with somebody, the first task is to make him responsible. Even as a kid, Rafa had to be the master of his own tennis decisions. After that, my philosophy as a coach is not to tell a player: “you have to hit that ball this or that way because that’s the way that shot is played.” That’s wrong and you can see how so many players have so many different techniques. I will rather tell a player: “It doesn’t matter how you take that ball, but you need to hit it there with this speed and that sort of effect.” What I mean is that you have to look beyond technique. First of all, you need to know and understand the game. In fact, the work is mostly done on a mental decision-making way. With Rafa, I always set him short term goals. Every day, he needed to be better than the previous one. That’s more important than technique. So, I obviously worked a lot on pure technique as well because otherwise, you wouldn’t be a coach!

T.M.: Do you still use the same training methods now with Rafa?
Toni: yes. But after all, you need to adapt your philosophy to the type of player you’re working with. If I was training Federer, I would probably do more technical work because his game depends a lot on technique and you need to maintain that. Federer is not the sort of player to do leg work (running) all day long.

T.M. Would you love to train Federer?
Toni: No, that’s not what I wanted to say (smiles). You know, when Rafa retires, I don’t think that I could train another player. It would be difficult. I think that I’ll go back to training youngsters.

T.M. Rafa's game is more characteristic game than others, less academic. Is that due to the fact that you gave him more freedom on a technical level?
Toni: Hard to say. Rafa has a very thorough foundation on a technical level. As time passed, he has developed his own game and indeed, it’s a lot different that the game style of others. Since we played a lot on clay, I focused on his forehand, his topspin and his consistency. For me, those were the three most important points.

T.M. Another point that is without a doubt at least as important for you as a trainer but also as his uncle is the upbringing. Today, people applaud him specifically for his perfect upbringing.
Toni: Yes, that’s true. It’s been essential for two reasons. Firstly, it’s a lot easier to work with somebody who has an exemplary behavior. Secondly, like you said, it’s because Rafa is my nephew. I didn’t want people to have a bad image of him. Having said that, I didn’t do much work in this department. Rafa has always been an easy boy. I don’t remember him misbehaving on a court once; he has never broken a racquet in his life. Generally speaking, I think that people neglect the upbringing all too often. I remember what Ricardo Piatti, trainer of Ivan Ljubicic, once said during a colloquium in Italy: “the problem today is that if you ask a father if he’d prefer to see his son to become the Roland Garros champion rather than a well brought up kid, he’s pick the first option.” Besides, it’s easier to win Roland Garros if you have a good upbringing because that implies that you have discipline, that you can listen and that you can accept your mistakes.

T.M.: Is it true that when he was a kid, you made your nephew believe that you had magical powers?
Toni: Yes (smiles). Rafa was the little boy in the family and everybody always had so much fun with him. As a joke, I made him believe all sorts of things: that I was a star at AC Milan, that I had won the Tour de France five times with a moped (laughs)…Indeed, I also told him that I had magical powers. One day, he must have been about 7 or 8, we lacked a player in the 12-year group to compete in a team event. I took him along with us and to reassure him, I told him that he didn’t need to worry if the match went badly because I have the ability to make it rain. It was winter. So, when the match got tight at the start, it started to rain and then, Rafa turned to me and said: “It’s alright, you can make it stop now, I’m going to win!” Another time, we were watching a match of Ivan Lendl on tv. It was a replay of an older match during which Lendl retired. Rafa didn’t know that. So, at the exact moment when Lendl retired, I told him: “Alright, I’m going to make Lendl lose.” He couldn’t believe his eyes. I have a lot of examples like that.

T.M.: When you think back to those moments and you look at him now with his incredible achievements, isn’t it you who can’t believe your eyes now?
Toni: I am surprised by his career, yes. Because I look around us and I see a lot of players who are just as good as he is: Murray, Djokovic, Gasquet, for example…These are players who perhaps have an easier touch of the ball. And yet, Rafa has by far the best career. So, you ask me whether I’m surprised. Yes, I am. I’ll go even further, I don’t understand it.

 

[CMM]

T.M.: But don’t you think that Rafa has something more than the others in this regard?
Toni: Perhaps so, yes. He has an incredible game intensity and a good mentality. I think that he has a better mental control than the others.

T.M.: At the start of his career, a lot of people said: “his game is too intense, it won’t last…”
Toni: (interrupts) But a lot of people talk without understanding what they’re talking about.

T.M.: So, you don’t share this opinion?
Toni: No. You basically need to understand one thing. When he arrived on tour, he was very young and not really ready for all of it. He made his debut among the 200 best players of the world at the end of 2002 and we didn’t foresee that to happen this quickly. However, suddenly, he needed to step it up to keep up with the tour. All year long, Rafa had to play against adults whereas he was just a boy. In those circumstances, the only thing he could do on court was to run and to run everywhere. It’s true that in the beginning of his career, he did nothing but that. However, this is the image that has stuck with him often without people noticing that gradually, his game was evolving. Today, if you really look at him, he doesn’t run any more than the other players on court. So, it’s true that his forehand is not as fast as Söderling’s because he has learned to play with more topspin. However, just look at the last Roland Garros final and you will see that Rafa ran much less than Söderling. Same when you look at the semi-final in Wimbledon against Murray but in a different context. That must mean that his tennis is good, no? If Rafa had started out on tour later than he has, when he was already fully formed, people would surely not have said this about him.

T.M. What about the future? Will you work on evolving his game some more?
Toni: (thinks). The most important thing is to make sure that you do something better than how you did it on the previous day. Because if you stop improving, you’re dead. So, rather than evolving, I would call it improvement.

T.M.: Does it make you sad that people talk more about his physique and his mental ability than about his technique and his talent?
Toni: Today, people want to talk about everything but without going deeper into the matter. You need to look at things more carefully and with more objectivity. Certain people have said that Rafa doesn’t have a very good technique. But what is that, technique? Is it hitting the ball very hard and with a beautiful movement but once out of every two hits, it lands outside the court? Is it to have a very good forehand, a very good serve but no backhand? No. For me, technique is about being able to place the ball wherever you want it to land with no matter what shot. This is what Rafa can do. So, perhaps he doesn’t have the same technique as Federer, but he does have an excellent technique. A good forehand, a good backhand that he can slice, a correct volley…He has a hand that allows him to do a lot of things.

T.M. Basically, don’t you have the impression that Rafa’s talent is often underestimated?
Toni: I don’t know. People can think whatever they want anyway. It’s not a problem for me. I do think that they overestimate his physique. If you compare him with French players like Monfils or Tsonga, I’d say that they have a better physique, they’re more strongly built. They say that Rafa is always there to hit the ball but I think that this has more to do with his excellent anticipation skills and a very good perception of the game.

T.M. You say that you don’t attach a lot of importance to what others say about Rafa. However, you were affected last year with how they whistled at Rafa in Roland Garros…(note: in 2009, the year of his first (and so far only) defeat in the 1/8 final against Robin Söderling, the public firmly supported the Swede)
Toni: I’m not saying that I don’t attach a lot of importance to it, I’m saying that people are entitled to think whatever they want. I think that the Roland Garros public was very incorrect that day. In sports, it’s good to cheer for somebody’s victory but it’s not normal to wish defeat on somebody else. I’ve often repeated it to my nephew, who is a keen supporter of Real Madrid as you know, that I understand that he wants Real to win but I always told him that he should not wish defeat on Barcelona. I know that a lot of fans are like that but I think it’s a rather dumb way of going about it. Anyway, we’re not brought up like that in our family, that’s not what we’ve been taught. It’s for that reason that I was shocked by the way the Parisian public acted and even more so for three reasons: Firstly because Rafa has always been a very correct player, secondly because he was the defending Roland Garros champion and thirdly, because he’s given a lot to that public by giving many autographs and such. So, to support Söderling, yes. No problem. But to whistle at Rafa, no.

T.M.: Have you forgiven the Parisian public these days?
Toni: I don’t have to forgive them for anything. This is my opinion on what happened, that’s all. This year, things were better, much better.

T.M.: How far do you see Rafa going from this point on?
Toni: I have no idea. If he happens to win no more tournaments, we’re not going to make a projection about it. Our only goal is to play well, to improve ourselves. That’s the best way to reach serenity: to do the things as best as you can. Rafa has the opportunity to do professionally something he loves above all else. It’s up to him to do his best and that’s easier to do when you love what you’re doing. Beyond that, we’re not focused on accumulating Grand Slam tournaments because that’s not entirely up to us. You have other players to deal with. The work we put in it is the only thing that depends totally on us.

T.M. Do you think that Rafa will be able to play until he’s 35 for instance?
Toni: No, I don’t think so. A lot of people predicted him to have a short career and this career is already going strong for 8 years now. But anyway, you have to consider that he started on tour when he was very young and I think that by the age of 27 or 28, fatigue will start to set in. We’ll see.

T.M. How do you explain that you Nadals have such strong minds?
Toni: I think that a lot has to do with upbringing. One of the key elements that’s instilled on us is that in life, you have to face difficulties head-on. You can’t think like a child that everything is beautiful. There will always be problems and you need to take them on. In tennis, like in life, you have to accept your mistakes, realize that you have to learn a lot in order to do less and you have to put in the necessary work to get there. This is what we’ve always done with Rafa. From when he was little, I made it so that things didn’t always go smoothly. So, unlike other kids today, he has learned that things don’t always happen the easy way, not right away. We had to deal with a lot of problems together like his serve which was really not good at the start. That’s a key ingredient in sports, no? Tennis means hitting the ball back and forth over the net, there is no other signification. However, tennis becomes a passion when you measure the mental effort it requires, when you sum up all the difficulties you've encountered and when you gradually, step by step, start to rise above these obstacles. This is a good summary of Rafa’s career. Whatever happens in the future, I can assure you that he’ll leave a happy and satisfied man with all that he has accomplished.

.................................

 

[Spider]

I see a lot of players who are just as good as he is: Gasquet

I stopped reading there.

 

[P_Agony]

Interesting interview

 

[veroniquem]

I agree. Probably 1 ot Toni's best.

 

[fed_the_savior]

I think that by the age of 27 or 28, fatigue will start to set in.

and yet

Today, if you really look at him, he doesn’t run any more than the other players on court.

 

[namelessone]

I stopped reading there.

Maybe you didn't catch early gasquet, he was the mini federer for the press at one point. Great BH, decent fh(better than today's fh), good movement, good volleys, in general a easy flowing game with some nice touch at the net. His problem?

He is french, which means he is pretty much a mental midget, even though he is talented. Monfils has talent. Tsonga has bucketloads of talent. But what have they achieved? Tsonga has done almost nothing after AO 08'. Monfils resorts to pushing when he actually has huge game. PHM is referred by many even today as the king of chokers. Simon has potential but like those above, he has also suffered from injury and/or mental midgetry.

In fact, I think that french veterans were more respectable than todays guys, I am talking about clement,llodra, maybe grosjean. Not terrific players but they have/had more fight in them at times than today's frenchies.

 

[P_Agony]

Maybe you didn't catch early gasquet, he was the mini federer for the press at one point. Great BH, decent fh(better than today's fh), good movement, good volleys, in general a easy flowing game with some nice touch at the net. His problem?

He is french, which means he is pretty much a mental midget, even though he is talented. Monfils has talent. Tsonga has bucketloads of talent. But what have they achieved? Tsonga has done almost nothing after AO 08'. Monfils resorts to pushing when he actually has huge game. PHM is referred by many even today as the king of chokers. Simon has potential but like those above, he has also suffered from injury and/or mental midgetry.

In fact, I think that french veterans were more respectable than todays guys, I am talking about clement,llodra, maybe grosjean. Not terrific players but they have/had more fight in them at times than today's frenchies.

Gasquet is the ultimate proof that you can have tons of talent and it will mean absolutely squat.

 

[namelessone]

and yet

It's called mental fatigue and yes, by the time Rafa is 27-28 his body will slow down, it happens to everybody. Tony's assessment is correct IMO, Rafa runs way less nowadays than in 05'-06' and 27-28 is pretty much the right age for retirement. Last year, when Rafa was in the pits, he was interviewed in Shanghai and he said 30 is the max age for his tennis career.

I understand him, the season is way too long and Rafa has been on tour since he was 16 years old. If he retires at 28, it means 10-11 seasons on tour and not easy seasons, drifting in the top50 or so, season being at the very top of the tennis world, playing lots of tourneys and going deep in every one of them.

Even Fed, who has a much easier game and has accomplished much more, is starting to feel fatigue(not only physical one but I think also mental, it's tough to motivate yourself when you have achieved everything and you have a family) because of the time he spends on tour.

 

[namelessone]

Gasquet is the ultimate proof that you can have tons of talent and it will mean absolutely squat.

To quote Tony "I prefer to rely on hard work first, talent later". It's a mentality that shows in Rafa and Federer as well. For all the "ballet tennis" jabs fed gets, people forget how hard he works in the off season. Somehow I doubt that other players with a similar easy flowing style do the same.

 

[P_Agony]

To quote Tony "I prefer to rely on hard work first, talent later". It's a mentality that shows in Rafa and Federer as well. For all the "ballet tennis" jabs fed gets, people forget how hard he works in the off season. Somehow I doubt that other players with a similar easy flowing style do the same.

People, in this forum especially, overrate talent big time. I fully agree with you and Tony on this matter.

I wonder if Gasquet is more of a hard worker or a party animal.

 

[abmk]

Maybe you didn't catch early gasquet, he was the mini federer for the press at one point. Great BH, decent fh(better than today's fh), good movement, good volleys, in general a easy flowing game with some nice touch at the net. His problem?

He is french, which means he is pretty much a mental midget, even though he is talented. Monfils has talent. Tsonga has bucketloads of talent. But what have they achieved? Tsonga has done almost nothing after AO 08'. Monfils resorts to pushing when he actually has huge game. PHM is referred by many even today as the king of chokers. Simon has potential but like those above, he has also suffered from injury and/or mental midgetry.

In fact, I think that french veterans were more respectable than todays guys, I am talking about clement,llodra, maybe grosjean. Not terrific players but they have/had more fight in them at times than today's frenchies.

gasquet's game is more suited for the olden times with more touch and finesse involved, not for the modern ball-bashing game IMO ....

 

[fed_the_savior]

It's called mental fatigue and yes, by the time Rafa is 27-28 his body will slow down, it happens to everybody.

And yet people still play. And win. Slams even.

 

[TheTruth]

Toni is so wise and so awesome. I love his philosophy.

 

[Spider]

Maybe you didn't catch early gasquet, he was the mini federer for the press at one point. Great BH, decent fh(better than today's fh), good movement, good volleys, in general a easy flowing game with some nice touch at the net. His problem?

He is french, which means he is pretty much a mental midget, even though he is talented. Monfils has talent. Tsonga has bucketloads of talent. But what have they achieved? Tsonga has done almost nothing after AO 08'. Monfils resorts to pushing when he actually has huge game. PHM is referred by many even today as the king of chokers. Simon has potential but like those above, he has also suffered from injury and/or mental midgetry.

In fact, I think that french veterans were more respectable than todays guys, I am talking about clement,llodra, maybe grosjean. Not terrific players but they have/had more fight in them at times than today's frenchies.

Gasquet is just a joke of a player. The only thing good about his game is his stylish backhand but even that is one dimensational. His slice is pretty average.

He doesn't have a big serve, vollyes badly, isn't great from the baseline. Yeah, what a talent.

 

[fed_the_savior]

Gasquet is a great player that happens to be a little weak mentally. He has some awesome shots and strokes, but when pressed hard doesn't always have that extra level, and sometimes collapses early. It's not like he sucks, though. His fitness is a bit suspect, perhaps from poor diet and training.

 

[namelessone]

And yet people still play. And win. Slams even.

Yeah, but I don't think I've seen anyone play with the same intensity as Nadal and to do it for so many seasons, it wears you down no matter how you look at it. Many of those players that had long careers had periods when they disappeared from the game or didn't stay at the very top, they went out earlier from slams and managed to grab some big wins at the end of their careers. They didn't go all out all the time like Nadal, they paced themselves. Nadal is starting to show signs of that but I think Rafa is made from a different mold than the rest.

He wants to win,likes tennis but what's more important for him is to stay competitive and most of all, HUNGRY. When Rafa reaches 27-28 years of age he will probably have 12 slams if not more, will most likely be clay GOAT, will have a career slam, so what will he have to fight for? And don't say Fed's record. Rafa already has 6 season at the very top when most counterpunchers burn out after a couple of good seasons. Just to compare, a guy like Fed has 8-9 seasons at the very top with a way easier game on the body. If Rafa retires at 27-28 and manages to stay relevant up until then he will have had 9-10 seasons at the very top of the game, that's something that's quite hard to do for a tennis player.

And this isn't taking into account things like family, maybe the guy wants a family and doesn't want to travel 11 months out of 12, maybe he wants to stay and raise a family. And his girl(providing he marries her) isn't a former tennis player like Mirka to know the realities of the tour and be supportive of a long career, Xisca went to university(she rarely attends Rafa's matches),is low key, so she would probably want a more grounded lifestyle.

 

[abraxas21]

People, in this forum especially, overrate talent big time.

not sure if its a matter of overrating. i think it's more of a preference.

i personally prefer to see a talented guy hitting the ball beautifully than a hard working guy hitting the ball rather ugly. perhaps thats why i prefer a gasquet over a nadal any day.

 

[TheTruth]

Gasquet is just a joke of a player. The only thing good about his game is his stylish backhand but even that is one dimensational. His slice is pretty average.

He doesn't have a big serve, vollyes badly, isn't great from the baseline. Yeah, what a talent.

Agree. I don't even watch him anymore. When's the last time he won an important match. When he does I guess I'll hear about it, because I'm sure not wasting my time with any expectations.

Agree, about the backhand too. A one-trick pony for sure, and soooo overhyped.

 

[Rataplan]

The good old "hard work" vs "talent" argument.

Too many people link beauty to talent, though, and that's why it's overrated in this forum. A beautiful looking backhand doesn't make you more talented.
The guy whose backhand looks beautiful but 50% of his shots land wide: is he more talented than the guy whose backhand doesn't looks as gorgeous but he can pretty much place that ball where he wants it to land most of the time?

It's like Toni indicates in this article: a lot of critics are using the "hard worker" argument, saying that it's because he's so physically fit that he's able to get to so many balls whereas it involves excellent anticipation skills and the ability to read the game very well and this takes talent.

To be a top player requires both talent and hard work. Federer had to work hard to get on top, Nadal had to work hard to get there. Both are very talented guys. Beauty is another discussion.

 

[P_Agony]

not sure if its a matter of overrating. i think it's more of a preference.

i personally prefer to see a talented guy hitting the ball beautifully than a hard working guy hitting the ball rather ugly. perhaps thats why i prefer a gasquet over a nadal any day.

I prefer watching Gasquet over many players, he's my 2nd favorite. However, if he had a little more heart in exchange of a "less beautiful game" I'd be happy. Playing nice and pretty doesn't guarantee victory.

 

[fed_the_savior]

Yeah, but I don't think I've seen anyone play with the same intensity as Nadal and to do it for so many seasons, it wears you down no matter how you look at it.

I have no beef with people retiring for any reason they want. But Toni wants to say Nadal doesn't run any more than the others. You can't have it both ways. I actually think he's right; but fatigue at 28 doesn't seem a reasonable excuse. Any other reason—fine.

I personally think Federer's game is more taxing on his body than people realize. Somehow when Federer does all the same things it looks so easy, but it's the same motions, it's not like he never has to run for a ball. I think if you measured the actual distance traveled it would be surprisingly similar.

But mental fatigue? Seriously? Sure, people get fatigued mentally, but you'd think chess players would retire the soonest of all, and Kasparov would retire at 25 not 41. Like I said, there's no disgrace in retiring for whatever reason, but I think it's a credit to play on, both for the sport, the fans, and the player's legacy.

 

[abmk]

Gasquet is just a joke of a player. The only thing good about his game is his stylish backhand but even that is one dimensational. His slice is pretty average.

He doesn't have a big serve, vollyes badly, isn't great from the baseline. Yeah, what a talent.

lol @ "gasquet volleys badly" !!!!!!

 

[fed_the_savior]

Too many people link beauty to talent, though, and that's why it's overrated in this forum. A beautiful looking backhand doesn't make you more talented.

This is a fair point. Although I think Gasquet's backhand is effective, and in my eyes, not particularly beautiful.

 

[abraxas21]

I prefer watching Gasquet over many players, he's my 2nd favorite. However, if he had a little more heart in exchange of a "less beautiful game" I'd be happy. Playing nice and pretty doesn't guarantee victory.

yeah, i see what u mean

gasquet in particular aint much of a hard worker from what i've heard. his coach said recently he doesnt like to train. i think he could make it really big if he comitted more to the sport but to each his own, i guess.

if anything, nadal shows how hard work can make you a top player even when you don't have much talent compared to others.

 

[Rataplan]

People overrate the talent in some and underrate the talent in others. Same old, same old.

I have no beef with people retiring for any reason they want. But Toni wants to say Nadal doesn't run any more than the others.

There's no contridiction in there, I think. He does run less as many indicate.

Furthermore:
What Toni says in that article is that his nephew had to play at a very high level early on. He arrived on tour when he was 16 and he got excellent results quicker than they thought he would. There was no gradual upwards evolution but he was thrown in with the "big boys" (adults) early one.
Now, he's 24 so that's 8 years already playing at a top level.
Add 4 more years for the fatigue to set in, as Toni says, and he'll be 28.

That's different from the guy who needed more time to mature and only started to have top results from the age of 23. Add 8 years and you reach 31. Add 4 more years for the fatigue to set in and this guy is 35.

 

[MixieP]

Thanks for sharing this interview!
Very interesting.

 

[raging]

People overrate the talent in some and underrate the talent in others. Same old, same old.


There's no contridiction in there, I think. He does run less as many indicate.

Furthermore:
What Toni says in that article is that his nephew had to play at a very high level early on. He arrived on tour when he was 16 and he got excellent results quicker than they'd think he would. There was no gradual upwards evolution but he was thrown in with the "big boys" (adults) early one.
Now, he's 24 so that's 8 years already playing at a top level.
Add 4 more years for the fatigue to set in, as Toni says, and he'll be 28.

That's different from the guy who needed more time to mature and only started to have top results from the age of 23. Add 8 years and you reach 31. Add 4 more years for the fatigue to set in and this guy is 35.

Agreed. It is not normal or realistic for 16, 17 year boys to be able to compete straight away on the tour. There are exceptions like Chang, Agassi, Hewitt and Nadal to give a few examples.
But even then other top juniors may take longer (e.g. Edberg, Federer) to establish themselves at the top.
Others may not have been even top juniors, late developers who need to work harder, longer.
There is no magic formula as to when the breakthrough comes, it may not come at all.
10-12 years on the tour and all that time in the spotlight is long enough...for the other players who have never experienced it...it can't come soon enough.
They are all working to get there but most are just living the dream...to play the tour. Talent is just one element...working harder, longer is another.

 

[Dilettante]

This should be a clinic for some people in this forum:

But what is that, technique? Is it hitting the ball very hard and with a beautiful movement but once out of every two hits, it lands outside the court? Is it to have a very good forehand, a very good serve but no backhand? No. For me, technique is about being able to place the ball wherever you want it to land with no matter what shot. This is what Rafa can do.

 

[fed_the_savior]

Of course. It's only hard for poor, poor Rafa, who had to start at such a tender delicate age against aggressive powerful players twice his age and size, and he had to fight ten times harder than any other player before or since. It's a miracle he can still walk, let alone play, with how difficult it was. He worked so much harder and tried so much harder than any other player, yet had to face so much more of a challenge than they did. I realize the wrongfulness of my ways now. With just a tiny bit of talent and massive hard work he luckily won the first French Open he entered. If only other players could look to his example, and we should count it a blessing he doesn't retire this year with all the vigorous mental effort he's been through. I see it all now.

 

[Rataplan]

Of course. It's only hard for poor, poor Rafa, who had to start at such a tender delicate age against aggressive powerful players twice his age and size, and he had to fight ten times harder than any other player before or since. It's a miracle he can still walk, let alone play, with how difficult it was. He worked so much harder and tried so much harder than any other player, yet had to face so much more of a challenge than they did. I realize the wrongfulness of my ways now. With just a tiny bit of talent and massive hard work he luckily won the first French Open he entered. If only other players could look to his example, and we should count it a blessing he doesn't retire this year with all the vigorous mental effort he's been through. I see it all now.

WTF?
What's the matter with you? Where in this thread did anybody even suggest any of this garbage?

It's not a matter of "poor, poor Rafa" at all. There's nothing "poor" about Rafael Nadal in any sense of the word at all.
It's just that age is a relative thing in this case.

 

[roundiesee]

Thanks for posting! Great interview! So much wisdom and philosophy behind Toni's method of training, and yet in some ways so simple and uncomplicated. Rafa is lucky to have Toni as a coach

 

[namelessone]

Of course. It's only hard for poor, poor Rafa, who had to start at such a tender delicate age against aggressive powerful players twice his age and size, and he had to fight ten times harder than any other player before or since. It's a miracle he can still walk, let alone play, with how difficult it was. He worked so much harder and tried so much harder than any other player, yet had to face so much more of a challenge than they did. I realize the wrongfulness of my ways now. With just a tiny bit of talent and massive hard work he luckily won the first French Open he entered. If only other players could look to his example, and we should count it a blessing he doesn't retire this year with all the vigorous mental effort he's been through. I see it all now.

Sarcasm aside, if Rafa makes it to 28 and retires, he will have spent 12 years on tour since he turned pro at 16. You have guys like Agassi who played tennis for 20 years but Andre fell off the charts for quite a large portion of his career, the wasted years as many call them(probably because he was getting wasted ). A guy like Sampras, with a game that gave him far more longevity(S&V) options than Rafa, lasted 15 years on tour and he wasn't really himself in the last years, though he did have some spurt of brilliance and grabbed a couple more slams in the end.

To compare with current players, Hewitt, also a high intensity guy like Rafa, but with a smaller frame, already has 12 years as a pro so far(where Rafa would be when he presumably retires) but hasn't mattered in the big events for quite a couple of years now,since 2006 to be precise(and he keeps getting injured,gets surgery, injured again).

The point is that it's not easy to maintain yourself at the top, especially when counterpunching in an individual sport. A athlete's shelf-life as a pro is usually very short, even athletes that play team sports. Imagine how tennis players fare, when they basically only have one month a half free every year, have many tourneys to play and they only have themselves to rely on.

Recent example: I read that Gonzo will have surgery and that he will be out until RG. This is after we had a young guy like delpo miss out two thirds of 2010 with a wrist injury. And you will see that players today, no matter the style, get injured more and more because they have to play a lot of tournaments and a lot of them are on surfaces that are not friendly for joints and ligaments.

Longevity nowadays shouldn't be judged as it was in the past. Guys are burning out earlier on than their past counterparts. In the past you had guys in the mid 30's beating up youngsters but they didn't have today's hectic schedule cause I bet they would have felt it in their games and bodies. And even with that schedule they mostly played on natural surfaces like grass and clay. Hell, I saw a oldie tennis match(highlights I mean) on youtube a couple of weeks ago(I think it was laver against someone, don't remember) and they were chomping on a burger and drinking pepsi on the changeover. Imagine that today.

 

[nadal_slam_king]

Toni said fatigue may start to set in at 27-28. I agree with this, I think Rafa will begin to play 'streaky' and inconsistent tennis at 27-28. He won't win slams at the same rate. But he'll still be the best in the game and continue to win slams. The physicality shouldn't be a problem, but the mind won't have the same toughness. The hardcourt slams will probably take the biggest hit, but Roland Garros and Wimbledon should be fine at that age still.

 

[babbette]

eek such a long interview. Don't have time/can't be arsed to read it. Just copied it from the official site and saved it.

 

[Nadal G.O.A.T]

You can learn from Toni alot of things not only tennis

 

[single_handed_champion]

Hell, I saw a oldie tennis match(highlights I mean) on youtube a couple of weeks ago(I think it was laver against someone, don't remember) and they were chomping on a burger and drinking pepsi on the changeover. Imagine that today.

:lol: :lol: Petrova always drinks Pepsi during changeovers, and I am like :shock:. But I guess the sugar rush is good for stop-start sports like tennis, although I am sure many sports drinks do a better job of it.

The interview is good. Commentators should be made to read it, especially the part about Nadal's leftiness. Everyone keeps harping on about how Toni 'put the racket in his left hand' and the rest is history...

 

[bolo]

"Toni: No. You basically need to understand one thing. When he arrived on tour, he was very young and not really ready for all of it. He made his debut among the 200 best players of the world at the end of 2002 and we didn’t foresee that to happen this quickly. However, suddenly, he needed to step it up to keep up with the tour. All year long, Rafa had to play against adults whereas he was just a boy. In those circumstances, the only thing he could do on court was to run and to run everywhere. It’s true that in the beginning of his career, he did nothing but that. However, this is the image that has stuck with him often without people noticing that gradually, his game was evolving. Today, if you really look at him, he doesn’t run any more than the other players on court. So, it’s true that his forehand is not as fast as Söderling’s because he has learned to play with more topspin. However, just look at the last Roland Garros final and you will see that Rafa ran much less than Söderling. Same when you look at the semi-final in Wimbledon against Murray but in a different context. That must mean that his tennis is good, no? If Rafa had started out on tour later than he has, when he was already fully formed, people would surely not have said this about him."

Exactly. Nadal is so good that he made it into the atp tour when his tennis skills were barely there compared to his competition (age 16). Now in terms of running nadal makes soderling types play like bad counter-punchers and nadal is the one who dictates play more often on many surfaces against many different types of players (soderling, murray, federer).

Vamos.

 

[Bhagi Katbamna]

T.M.: Is it true that when he was a kid, you made your nephew believe that you had magical powers?
Toni: Yes (smiles). Rafa was the little boy in the family and everybody always had so much fun with him. As a joke, I made him believe all sorts of things: that I was a star at AC Milan, that I had won the Tour de France five times with a moped (laughs)…Indeed, I also told him that I had magical powers. One day, he must have been about 7 or 8, we lacked a player in the 12-year group to compete in a team event. I took him along with us and to reassure him, I told him that he didn’t need to worry if the match went badly because I have the ability to make it rain. It was winter. So, when the match got tight at the start, it started to rain and then, Rafa turned to me and said: “It’s alright, you can make it stop now, I’m going to win!” Another time, we were watching a match of Ivan Lendl on tv. It was a replay of an older match during which Lendl retired. Rafa didn’t know that. So, at the exact moment when Lendl retired, I told him: “Alright, I’m going to make Lendl lose.” He couldn’t believe his eyes. I have a lot of examples like that.

LOL. Quite funny.

 

[FedererUberAlles]

I really like Toni Nadal, nearly everything he says I agree with, so it seems

 

[Sartorius]

Certain people have said that Rafa doesn’t have a very good technique. But what is that, technique? Is it hitting the ball very hard and with a beautiful movement but once out of every two hits, it lands outside the court? Is it to have a very good forehand, a very good serve but no backhand? No. For me, technique is about being able to place the ball wherever you want it to land with no matter what shot.

*brain-orgasm*

 

[AM95]

But what is that, technique? Is it hitting the ball very hard and with a beautiful movement but once out of every two hits, it lands outside the court? Is it to have a very good forehand, a very good serve but no backhand? No. For me, technique is about being able to place the ball wherever you want it to land with no matter what shot. This is what Rafa can do. So, perhaps he doesn’t have the same technique as Federer, but he does have an excellent technique. A good forehand, a good backhand that he can slice, a correct volley…He has a hand that allows him to do a lot of things.

LMFAO! Personal diss towards federer.

 

[President]

Great interview, really insightful.

I just wanted to weigh in on talent discussion. Beauty is NOT talent!!! For example Gasquet is considered very talented (and maybe he ios), but his "talent" doesn't allow him to even have a top 30 level FH or serve. His athleticism is a joke compared to most top players. Talent is much more than just a pretty backhand. It encompasses everything, from hand eye corrdination, to natural physical abilities and natural mental strength (both of which MANY talented players including Gasquet lack)

 

[P_Agony]

Great interview, really insightful.

I just wanted to weigh in on talent discussion. Beauty is NOT talent!!! For example Gasquet is considered very talented (and maybe he ios), but his "talent" doesn't allow him to even have a top 30 level FH or serve. His athleticism is a joke compared to most top players. Talent is much more than just a pretty backhand. It encompasses everything, from hand eye corrdination, to natural physical abilities and natural mental strength (both of which MANY talented players including Gasquet lack)

I agree about the FH, but his serve is fine, its pretty good. He's also very fast around the court and his touch at the net is very good as well (like most French players). Gasquet has two problems IMO:

1) His head
2) He sometimes plays too passively for his own good, which doesn't suit his style at all.

 

[President]

I agree about the FH, but his serve is fine, its pretty good. He's also very fast around the court and his touch at the net is very good as well (like most French players). Gasquet has two problems IMO:

1) His head
2) He sometimes plays too passively for his own good, which doesn't suit his style at all.

Yes, he is fast around the court for a top 50 player. But is he really that talented in that area that his movement is top 10??? I don't think so. His serve, again is decent but nothing great (not top 10 level). All these people saying Gasquet is an equal or even greater talent than Nadal need to get their head out of their ass and look at the facts. He has a pretty backhand, a very weak forehand, and a decent serve coupled with decent movement. This guy is just NOT that talented (relatively of course; I think he is easily top 15 level but a top 3 talent? No way...)

 

[mistik]

well you cant be a great player by just working hard.for sure someone like nadal works hard but he has also big talent that some people dont want to see.the problem in tennis at the moment some people or some commies on tv when they see one handed backhand they think it is a huge talent.i always like the player who plays the game in a diffrent way rather than classic.fed is so talented,but when ever people begin to praise the likes wawrinka. gasquet so talented,it is funny.i am watching the game for a very long time.i saw richard gasquet many years ago,he even beat fed one time early in his carrer.i said to my friends there is nothing special about him.time prove me right.i also saw rafa back in 04 from the first day,i knew that he is going to be the next big thing in tennis.my point is you cant be a top player by only working hard.if you have an undeniable talent nothing can stop you as well.someone like gasquet isnt top player,not because he isnt working hard,he isnt as good as some people beleive he actually is.

 

[jack_kramer]

It's too bad Federer wasn't raised with these kinds of outstanding morals, values, and discipline .

Had Uncle Toni raised little Rogito, he would have put an end to his constant crying and whining at a very young age. Yes, he would have taken him over his lap and given him a double dose of spanking and told him not to cry all the time and never behave like a spoiled child! :evil:

Uncle Toni is truly a wise sage and he has taught Rafa to behave like a true champion in all aspects!

 

[fed_the_savior]

Uncle Toni still has magic. He can make Federer cry.

 

[jack_kramer]

Uncle Toni still has magic. He can make Federer cry.

ROFL!! :lol: :lol:

 

[AM95]

It's too bad Federer wasn't raised with these kinds of outstanding morals, values, and discipline .

Had Uncle Toni raised little Rogito, he would have put an end to his constant crying and whining at a very young age. Yes, he would have taken him over his lap and given him a double dose of spanking and told him not to cry all the time and never behave like a spoiled child! :evil:

Uncle Toni is truly a wise sage and he has taught Rafa to behave like a true champion in all aspects!

hmm yep. especially well he has taught him how to fist pump unforced errors of opponents, pick his rear end, ask for help via on court coaching, and strategically delaying play for up to 15 seconds.