vtmike
Banned
Uncle Toni says Nadal needs to raise his level
~ Ricky Dimon
Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal's uncle and coach, says Nadal's clay-court game has to improve after the world No. 1 ran into some trouble in both his semifinal and final matches at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
When you're as good on clay as Rafael Nadal is, apparently winning a Masters Series event is not even good enough. At least not when your uncle is the one coaching you.
In the aftermath of his nephew's 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 victory over Novak Djokovic in the final of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Sunday afternoon, Toni Nadal said that the world No. 1 must pick up the pace as the clay-court season progresses.
"He played a good third set, but it's obvious he must play better than this week," explained Uncle Toni. "He was missing a little confidence in his game and you could see that his serve was incredibly weak. But it's the first tournament on clay this season for him and I hope that with some more matches, it'll get better. We know that there's a lot of work to do before Roland Garros."
Before dropping the second set to Djokovic on Sunday, Nadal squandered a break lead in the second against Andy Murray in the semifinals, only to subdue the fourth-ranked Scot in a tiebreaker.
The Spaniard, who has now won five consecutive titles in Monte-Carlo, will be seeking his fifth straight French Open crown next month. He has never lost a match at Roland Garros, and nobody other than Nadal has won the title there since Gaston Gaudio's improbable triumph back in 2004.
While Murray and Djokovic could be encouraged by testing Nadal on clay, it has to be a little discouraging that Nadal won the title in Monte-Carlo--and only lost one set the entire week--without playing his best. Even Uncle Toni could see some good news.
"But he still won," Toni admitted amidst his high expectations. "It's a very important tournament for us and to win for a fifth time is incredible."
http://www.tennistalk.com/en/news/20090420/Uncle_Toni_says_Nadal_needs_to_raise_his_level
Uncle Toni is basically saying that even though Nadal did not play his best, he still won...So that means if he plays at full potential there is no point in playing the FO...just give him all the trophies? or is uncle Toni playing mind games? Do you think he was not at his best in Monte carlo?
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