Rafael Nadal’s career is among the greatest of any tennis player in history, having won 22 Grand Slam titles, including a record 14 French Open crowns.
The Spaniard’s dominance in tennis was recently celebrated at his emotional Roland Garros tribute ceremony, which saw his former rivals, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray make an appearance.
Nadal was guided from an early age by his uncle, Toni Nadal, who was his head coach from the beginning of his career until 2017, when Carlos Moya took on the role.
His former mentor recently shared the experiences he had working with his nephew for so long and spoke on his decision to end their player-coach relationship.
Toni Nadal shares why he stopped coaching Rafael Nadal
Explaining why he stopped coaching the former world number one on the Nude Project YouTube channel, Nadal said: “Because I understood that my participation was no longer necessary.
“I reached a point where we incorporated Carlos Moya into the team. I saw that Carlos Moya was doing the job well, so much so that I understand, my contribution is totally dispensable.
“I don’t like being in a place where I don’t feel like I contribute much. At that time, Rafael had set up the Academy and I thought, well, I can do a more satisfactory job at the Academy, so that’s why I stopped coaching him.
“I knew that if I stopped coaching Rafael, it wouldn’t cause him any problems. If I had been able to imagine that if I left, it would have caused him a problem, I wouldn’t have left, but since I understood that it didn’t cause him the slightest disturbance, that’s why I left.”
Toni Nadal picks the toughest moments of Rafael Nadal’s career
On the most difficult moments in his nephew’s career, Nadal said: “There were some very tough defeats like the one against Soderling in Paris, the first time he lost at Roland Garros, or especially the final in Australia against Djokovic in 2012.
“But the toughest moments were those of the injuries. In 2005, Rafael was diagnosed with a problem in a bone in his foot, and when we found a specialist in the end, he practically told us that Rafael’s career was over.
“With what Rafael had, it was practically impossible to compete at high-level sports because the other patients who had the same thing, a rare disease in the bone in the foot, did very light sports.
“Starting in 2005, my nephew was often unable to complete training sessions, and he was almost never able to play in a long Grand Slam tournament without taking a painkiller.
“Well, these were the toughest moments, the injuries. In the end, they had to put in some insoles to relieve the foot issue, but of course, the insoles messed up everything else, and in the end, he had various problems. For an athlete, the worst moments are the moments of injury.”
Rafael Nadal retired at the Davis Cup in 2024, representing Spain in the final tournament of his illustrious career.
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