Basically, Toni Nadal thinks highly of Alexander Zverev. But he doesn’t trust the German number one to make the big splash.
von Jens Huiber
last edited: February 4,2026,5:37 p.m
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What a stir it was last summer when Alexander Zverev visited the Rafa Nadal Academy in manacor to train there for a few days.With Toni Nadal, who coached his nephew Rafael to the top in the world in the first half of his career. For some observers, this quickly looked like a new dream duo, although neither Zverev nor uncle Toni had spoken definitively about a collaboration.
Though, it was unlikely from the start that a) Toni Nadal would even want to be on the tennis tour for many weeks of the year again and b) to what extent this was Team Zverev’s concern. Be that as it may, they remained on friendly terms and further visits to the Academy were not ruled out.
Zverev serves against Alcaraz to win the match
Now Toni Nadal has of course been watching the Australian open 2026 very closely. And also said a few words about Alexander Zverev in an interview on Spanish radio. First of all, that Zverev is the only player who could break the dominance of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. A reason for this? The Hamburg native’s serve. While nephew Rafael had to fight for every point, Zverev had a real trump card with his service.
but: “Zverev has a mental problem,” explained Toni Nadal after the semi-final defeat in Melbourne against Carlos Alcaraz. “He is obsessed with winning. zverev had the match, he had the chance to win the second set on his own serve, and then he was broken. And his best shot is the serve! He comes back to win the game in the fifth set, he serves to win the match – and is broken again. fails at that moment. But for me he is a dangerous rival, considerably better than Djokovic in his current condition. If Zverev had won the match today, he would have He probably won the final too.”
Apart from Alexander Zverev, Toni Nadal sees very few challengers. “As of now, I don’t think Fonseca or Meinst will be able to keep up in a year or two. … Carlos always competes against Sinner, who is very, very good. With Zverev, you have to see how the result in Melbourne affects him. And the others who were supposed to be there have disappeared: Rublev, Tsitsipas, Medvedev.”
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