Toni Nadal has been the latest guest on the podcast of businessman José Elías, Find your lifeand has spoken, among other issues, about his experience training his nephew Rafa Nadal and the physical difficulties who had the best Spanish tennis player – and one of the best in history – throughout his spectacular sports career.
The Balearic coach, during the talk, revealed the hardest moment of Nadal’s career: “There were tough defeats, but the worst were the injuries, especially in 2005, when Rafael had a problem in a bone in his foot and “The specialists told us that his career was over.”
“At the end of that year, My nephew was unable to finish training due to pain and play Grand Slam tournaments without taking a painkiller… It was very hard, but he overcame it and has lasted 17 more years of career among the best in the world,” Toni himself highlighted.
On the other hand, he acknowledged that he had the great luck of training an athlete “who did not have a big ego and who let himself be guided,” in addition to explaining that this past summer he rejected Alexander Zverev: “I was lucky enough to train an athlete who did not have a big ego, who let himself be guided… So, it wasn’t difficult for me. Zverev asked me this past summer to be his coach, but I said no, basically because I couldn’t dedicate all the time he needed and because he is a difficult player to coach.”
Finally, Toni recalled a conversation with Carlos Moyá at the beginning of Rafa and He explained that he did not sign a career the same as that of Albert Costawho at that time was in seventh position in the world ranking and had been the winner of Roland-Garros: “I remember a conversation at Carlos Moyá’s house. He asked me if I agreed that Rafael was an Albert Costa. At that time, Albert Costa was the current Roland-Garros champion and seventh in the world. I told him no, I didn’t sign it.“.
