Rafael Nadal waved goodbye to professional tennis at the end of 2024 after failing to help Spain with the Davis Cup.
Nadal retired as one of the game’s greatest ever players, with his 14 titles at the French Open very unlikely to be broken at any point in the future.
The Spaniard had some scintillating battles with Roger Federer and their rivalry was epic, with Novak Djokovic forming part of the big three with those two in their prime.
Nadal won 22 Grand Slam titles in total during his glittering career and it proved a very sad day when he decided to put his rackets away for the final time last year.
But what was life like coaching Nadal? Mark Lopez, the Spanish player’s last-ever coach, has now given an insight into what life was like in the legend’s corner.
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Rafael Nadal’s last coach shares what he was like to train
It’s not hard to work out how Nadal behaved on a tennis court behind the scenes during his practice, given his meticulous approach to matches.
Clearly, Nadal trained hard during his career and he proved a perfectionist during his time out on the court as one of the game’s greats.
Lopez was in Nadal’s corner when he retired and he’s shared what he was like to work with and one big problem he had in coaching him.
He told the Madrid Open’s YouTube channel: “From minute one he said to me ‘Hey I’m hiring you as a coach, not as a friend or a sparring partner or a teammate. I’m hiring you to tell me what I have to do well and what you think. And in that case it was more of a problem for me. I was thinking inside, let’s see how I am going to be able to tell Rafa how he has to hit a forehand and a backhand or a volley.
It’s difficult but it took me a bit a bit to adapt. It helped me a lot to see Carlos Moya do it because in the end, he is also a friend and a teammate. And he’s been in that and he helped me a lot. It’s true I copied him a lot, I leaned on Carlos a lot and in the end I was able to achieve it and I told him everything I thought. It was three very nice years by his side.
“He always trained, every training session, he did everything. I will always say the same thing, not just what you see on the cart. He always tried to do his best in every training session and always with the intention of improving. Playing on clay, one might think ‘Hey, he comes to train on clay and what are you going to tell him’. Even have won 14 Roland Garros, I could see that he listened to me.”
Nadal legacy will live on
It’s quite remarkable to think what Nadal achieved in tennis and as a clay-court specialist, it was fantastic what he achieved on that surface.
Nobody will get anywhere close to that in the near future, although Carlos Alcaraz will feel like he has the game to give it a good go in the future.
Nadal has a part to play in modern-day tennis, even if it’s to merely inspire the game’s next generation towards greatness in the future.
The player had the heart of a lion on the court and with the level of determination that he often displayed, it’s no surprise he was as successful as he was.
Nadal will be getting honoured for his services to the French Open next month and that is something richly deserved given what he accomplished at the tournament.
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