Toni Nadal: ´If I weren´t his uncle, Rafa would have substituted me.

uliks

Banned
http://www.**************.org/Toni-...bstituted-me-About-Federer-articolo30200.html

I had the luck to be his uncle, changing coach was much more difficult. If I were not his uncle probably he would have substituted me, said Toni
:(

So Toni doesn't want to go, although he knows that changes are needed! o_O
 

swordtennis

G.O.A.T.
1yada41.gif
 

tennisaddict

Bionic Poster
Toni always has a soft spot for Fed :


Toni also admitted that he would like to see his nephew hitting his forehand like how Roger Federer does. 'I would have liked to see him hitting his forehand forward, we have done it when he was little.But when we started to play in the Professional Tour, Rafael started to hit ball a little bit later, and started to bring the hand behind. Without any doubt, I like who hits like Federer,' Toni said.
 

Mainad

Bionic Poster
Toni speaks the simple truth. Rafa can never get beyond the fact that Toni is family and family for Rafa is paramount. He will never do anything that might cause tensions in the family. Also, he is probably so dependent on Toni psychologically that he can never envisage them not being together on tour. After all, he has never known any other coach than his uncle!

The prospect of any big changes to Rafa's coaching team will have to be initiated by Toni. Officially, the buck stops with Rafa. In practice, the buck stops with his uncle. It always has.
 

Algo

Hall of Fame
Hence what I said in some other topic about some other player, they should be coached by an unrelated third person who's tennis-savvy enough for the job.
For extreme examples, just look at Dokic and Tomic.

Toni might not be either. He might be some kind of tennis-uncle a la tennis-dad/mom in private and we don't know?
 

xan

Hall of Fame
Toni speaks the simple truth. Rafa can never get beyond the fact that Toni is family and family for Rafa is paramount. He will never do anything that might cause tensions in the family.
family family family. feels like a godfather movie.
 

tennisfan2015

Hall of Fame
Hence what I said in some other topic about some other player, they should be coached by an unrelated third person who's tennis-savvy enough for the job.
For extreme examples, just look at Dokic and Tomic.

Toni might not be either. He might be some kind of tennis-uncle a la tennis-dad/mom in private and we don't know?
Or Murray.
 

Rubens

Hall of Fame
Why even say such a thing if he's not planning to leave? It's like he's saying "I know I suck but I'm staying and there's nothing you can do about it". It's a big **** you to all Nadal fans.
 

mightyrick

Legend
The Nadals are doing the right thing. This isn't any ordinary situation. This is *family*. What else can Nadal really achieve? Add another slam? Big deal. The guy has lots of slams, tons of titles, made hundreds of millions of dollars... and he is one of the greatest all time. Sorry. I think they should basically retire together. A team since he was a young boy... and together all the way until he retires. I think they have achieved more than they ever expected. Good for them and good for their family. It is a great story for tennis.
 

Big_Dangerous

Talk Tennis Guru
Why not just add someone new to his team?

Yeah I agree with this. It seems as though even Toni is admitting that he's not the best coach in the world, and has for the most part allowed Rafa to kind of do it his own way, or figure things out for himself. For a while it's worked wonders, but I think sometimes you need another voice or someone different to help you along the way. I don't think that Toni would be overly insulted or offended if Rafa decided to bring someone else into the picture. I mean he's struggling with consistency right now, and has for the past 18-22 months. Plus, look at how many changes some of the other players have made? Murray, Djokovic, Federer. They've all made moves over the years. Fed's had about 3-4 different coaches since 2011-2012. Worked with Anacone, Luthi - who's been with him for years, Edberg, and now Ljubicic. Murray had his mother, then Lendl, and now Mauresmo. Djokovic worked with Todd Martin, lol, then Marion Vajda, and now Becker.
 

tennisfan2015

Hall of Fame
Nadal is Toni nephew like his son, he behaves like toni is father!
Well I am not sure how old Nadal must be to be free to make his own decisions without the influence of his father or his uncle. Maybe these two could arrange a marriage and pick a bride for Nadal, as well.
 

nolefam_2024

Talk Tennis Guru
Maybe just me but not interested in the will they won't they story of Nadal family.
Nadal would need to find good coach and change his style A LOT to be effective today and he will not do either things in all likelyhood. So, whether its because of reason X or Y, most important thing is Nadal is not winning much (may win 1 slam before retiring but that's big effort)
 

irishnadalfan1983

Hall of Fame
Toni speaks the simple truth. Rafa can never get beyond the fact that Toni is family and family for Rafa is paramount. He will never do anything that might cause tensions in the family. Also, he is probably so dependent on Toni psychologically that he can never envisage them not being together on tour. After all, he has never known any other coach than his uncle!

The prospect of any big changes to Rafa's coaching team will have to be initiated by Toni. Officially, the buck stops with Rafa. In practice, the buck stops with his uncle. It always has.


A big reason i LOVE Rafa - his values. Family is more important than tennis.

Toni needs to do the honorable thing now.
 
D

Deleted member 733170

Guest
Why even say such a thing if he's not planning to leave? It's like he's saying "I know I suck but I'm staying and there's nothing you can do about it". It's a big **** you to all Nadal fans.

Because he is trying to lay the blame for Rapha's demise at his own feet and thus take the pressure of Rapha.

A new coach wouldn't make a smidgeon of difference to Nadal's results going forward, unless the new coach could reverse Father Time.
 

Gytha

Legend
But... I don't get it? Like even if Rafa is so family oriented and would never do anything to hurt is family EVER OMG, you'd think Toni would himself realise he needs to step down and let someone else take the forefront if Rafa is to have any chance at all? Like 'Rafa, I support you 100% and I will always be a member of your team, but it's time for someone else to take charge, you will always be family regardless' sorta thing.

I mean Toni is a frigging adult, surely he understands, or is he going to start wailing and throw himself from the tallest tower if Rafa was to betray him?
 

Roddick85

Hall of Fame
Even if I fully agree that a change is needed, I believe it's too late and it probably won't have the effect everyone thinks it will have. Even if Nadal finds a new coach today to either replace or supplement Toni, to see any effect you'll need months. If he was going to make a change, it had to be done at the end of 2015, not now. Secondly, a new coach won't fix all of Nadal's problem over night. Nadal has many problems in his game right now which can be summarized as he's got not offense. The serve is weak, the forehand isn't what it used to and the movement as well. His consistency meant he could turn rallies around in his favor and grind his opponent to death and draw the error. Now that he makes more errors and still doesn't hit much winners, the margin has gotten thinner. A new coach won't magically fix that.
 

Big_Dangerous

Talk Tennis Guru
It seems to have worked well for Djokovic, Becker may be there but so is Vajda. Perhaps it could work for Rafa as well.

I think with that situation, Djokovic didn't have much of a choice though. I mean he was obviously free to find any coach that he wanted, but Vajda wouldn't commit to being his full time coach or be present at all the tournaments throughout the year; So Djokovic was left in a position where he had to either bring someone else on, or play tournaments without his coach being present.
 
D

Deleted member 733170

Guest
Naïveté factor is running higher than normal on this thread.

Consider the following please:-

Toni's remarks are a PR exercise to quash the endless speculation and more importantly to take the pressure of Rapha and his demise. Or a PR attempt to take the pressure of Rapha 'firing' him if indeed a new coach is bought in to the Rapha camp.

Do you honestly believe team Rapha have not had serious discussions about what is best for Rapha going forward!? He is a multi million dollar 'business' many options would have been put forward.

Do you think honestly believe a new coach would make any difference!? Coaches at this stage of a players career are there to talk tactics, lend emotional support, and accompany their charges as 'friends' around the tour as well as structure and organise their routine. Federer went coachless during a part of his peak for goodness sake. It's a bit like suggesting that Miles Davis needs to find a music teacher.
 
D

Deleted member 3771

Guest
Has Rafa ever tried a different shtick besides the aero range? It's very strange for him to have struggled for a few years and still not tried some different shticks. He should give the babalat pure control/storm/strike range a test drive.
 

BNinja12

New User
Bollettieri thinks that Agassi should coach Nadal, but too much cultural differences and language barriers. But, I think Guga Kuerten would be a great add-on to the team.


Nadal's most needed improvements: Drop shot.
 

vive le beau jeu !

Talk Tennis Guru
But... I don't get it? Like even if Rafa is so family oriented and would never do anything to hurt is family EVER OMG, you'd think Toni would himself realise he needs to step down and let someone else take the forefront (...)
but the nadal could also step down, retire from the tour and let tio T train a more promising player :)
 
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