Toni Nadal
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Wimbledon
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Toni remembers falling in love with tennis while watching a match between Ilie Nastase and Stan Smith on television during the Masters in Barcelona and then starting to practice it when she was 13 years old.
I was amazed at the aesthetics of that sport, of Ilie Nastase, who was a player with a special grace. From then on, I became a fan and started playing when I was 13-14 years old, which was when a club was created in our town.
The director of the Rafa Nadal Academy does not hurt garments in recognizing that he was not a good tennis player. “He was a good athlete. He played all sports, but as a tennis player I lacked a definitive blow. He was a scratchy player, who had a hard time failing, but was unable to make a winning blow” and admits that this was the first thing he wanted to avoid him to Nadal when he began his training.
What happened to me was the first thing I tried to prevent from happening to my nephew
Regarding his beginnings with Rafa, Toni admits that he saw “something special because he wanted to see it” and that “I didn’t care when I saw it”
The first thing is that I always saw something special because I wanted to see it. One is motivated in life when one has the confidence that things will go well. I saw in my nephew something special for something very simple. Before I trained a boy who was number 2 in Spain and I saw my nephew much better. Afterwards, I never worried more than necessary if he was special or not on a tennis court because I know that in life the initial talent is not decisive, but the final talent. This is built with starting talent plus work. If you are willing to work more than others, in the end your talent will be superior. I saw something special but I didn’t give it importance when I saw it
Contrary to what has been said many times about how he prepared his nephew to be the king of world tennis, Toni makes it clear that “I never prepared my nephew for defeat”.
In life one has to fight to the maximum to try to achieve victory, but knowing that this victory will elude you. I never prepared my nephew for defeat. I’ve heard that you learn more from defeat than from victory and I think that’s a big mistake. I tried to learn the same from defeat as from victory. What’s more, the victory gave me the opportunity to play another game. Waiting for defeat to improve I think it’s a mistake. From victory to defeat there was a small difference on many occasions. It was clear to me that the important thing was to keep moving forward and do things as best as possible
This is how the 14th Roland-Garros was lived and celebrated at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar
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