ARTICLES:
The “What’s up with Nadal?” questions hit the double-digit mark this week, after his latest loss to a lesser-ranked player—on clay, no less. This time it was Pablo Cuevas, the kind of journeymen Nadal would dispatch 6–2, 6–2 not long ago.
We want easy solutions and explanations. Fire Toni! Take a year off! Quit now! But this doesn’t lend itself to hot takes. We are, undeniably, witnessing an athlete in decline. And tennis is both the cruelest of sports and the most accommodating…
Nadal is not yet 30. His body, improbably, is holding up. Nadal may never win a 15th major. But I don’t see how you flatly write off a player of his caliber. The first step is regaining that self-belief and translating that on the court. Taking more risks on the serve, in the rallies and on big points. Playing closer to the baseline. Finishing off third sets. Right now, he doesn’t need a new coach so much as needs Stuart Smalley reminding him of who he is.
- Rise and Fall | tennis.com
“Descent,” of course, is a relative term when it comes to Rafa on dirt. He reached the semis in both Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, and lost by razor-thin margins both times. For the most part, aside from his serve, I thought he played pretty well. Still, this is Nadal we’re talking about. No player has ever come as close to invincibility on a single surface. Making the semis at a clay-court event is never going to be a satisfying result for him.
Once upon a time, Nadal didn’t lose these types of rallies when he needed them. On match point, the opponent’s desperation forehand would sail long. When Rafa had the other player out of position, he would put the ball away and stride back to the baseline with his fist in the air.
AUDIO: The Tennis Podcast: Will Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal ever win another grand slam title? | The Telegraph
Roger Federer has won more Grand Slam singles titles (17), and spent more weeks as World No 1 than anyone in history. Rafael Nadal has won 14 major wins, including nine French Open crowns, and Olympic singles gold. But is that it? Will either win another major title in their careers?
PHOTOS:
- The Tommy Hilfiger Tailored TH Flex Rafael Nadal Edition Capsule Collection
- Rafael Nadal suffers Rio Open defeat to Pablo Cuevas
VIDEOS:
- Emirates ATP Rankings 23 February 2016 | ATP World Tour
- Behind The Scenes In Rio | ATP World Tour
dear rafa
i have seen rafa with fire in his eyes and anger on his face
i have seen rafa with his mind running like a computer for the shot selection
i have seen rafa getting quickly in position for the next shots and pounce on it like a cheetah
i have seen rafa whose opponent have already half match lost attitude when u enters a tennis court
i have seen rafa fighting for each point like his life depends on it
i have seen rafa who has his attitude 200 % for winning every grandslams
lastly
i have seen rafa who is capable of making comebacks when he is thrown to the corners and when all the chips are down
i believe in u rafa & sure u can make it, it is not hard to bring back what v had seen in u rafa
vamos rafa
have a great health an enjoy
Rafa needs a coach like Agassi and to stop his destructive pre serve rituals which I hate watching.
I agree 100%. His pre-serve rituals are a total waste of time, energy and focus. And they get worse every year. I recently watched his 2009 Aussie Open final against Roger and felt like I was watching a completely different player and person. The pre-serve rituals were about 10% of what they are now. He’d bounce the ball a few times and then serve it. In stark contrast to his current routine of repeatedly fiddling with his shirt and hair and then bouncing the ball 2 dozen times before serving. All that extra time to think just makes him more nervous, indecisive and tentative. A real coach would’ve spotted and corrected this problem from the jump, instead of letting it get worse and worse and worse like Uncle Toni did, perhaps to the point of no return.
I agree. The body language is not exactly: “Give me that ball and I will blow this serve through the court”. It’s more like: “God, this is gonna be hard”.
Well, Oscar Borris did help Rafa in 2010 and Rafa did destroy Djokovic with his big serve. Then again, Toni refused to adapt new things. I really think with that kind of attitude, this is the end of Rafa. He just won’t take a change of coach. His body doesn’t listen to him anymore. His footwork is way too slow for an old time defensive style in the prime.
So sad…
Anne Don’t watch then. You have a choice
Quite frankly, I’d rather Rafa retire than continue on like this just going through the motions. If he’s not willing to make the necessary changes to regain his form and ranking, he should hang it up and go home, instead of stringing his fans along wasting our time and his. Unlike some other folks on this website, I don’t get a kick out of watching him self-destruct right before our eyes.
So if it is Rafa’s mind, that is not so simple.
I am sure many people on this sight have experienced depression and anxiety, which is not as simple to fix as taking a pill if allowed by the governing body.I think we ought to keep on remembering that we are NOT the experts on what Rafa should or should NOT do.It is entirely up to Rafa.It could be that he is ready to retire, then all the negative commentors will be boo hooing about how boring tennis has become without Rafa, and the colourful, creative mix that he brings to the tennis circuit.THere has been nothing Peter Pan about that.
SOme positive comments wouldn’t go astray, as if Rafa actually does read these comments it would be enogh to make him anxious and depressed,Love Alaine/Sydney
Elaine, your comments, or Fan Love his comments, are considered positive comments by you and by the posters themselves. To others, like me, and like the Legendary MIOMO, the wonderful Prophet Who Speaks etc, those types of comments are actually very, very negative ones. For those comments contain no proposed solutions, not even a hint of a step forward. Your comments agree with defeat. Your comments look for positives in downward spiralling. Horrible! Those comments are soft words spoken to a dying patient who actually can still be saved, when the right help is called for. And despite the fact that all of you seem to feel good about chosing this approach, the truth is: not one tennis expert, not one former pro, not one columnist has written a message that would indicate that he or she would agree with you. The general consensus is very close to what the so called negative comments (in your op) call for. It’s not negative to say that Rafa Nadal should man up. It’s the feedback he needs more than the pity cries. The latter will not help him any further. I strongly believe that the more people will call for change, more likely it will come. Whether it means Nadal will quit, or hire new staff, one of the two should happen. Continuing like this, is bad for everyone around.
J. Beer, this is nothing but a master stroke from you! Honestly, I find it extremely hard to choose the better (deep thinker) between you and the incredible MIROMO. Without you two, this site would have long closed shop, because a lot of readers/commentators will have heart attack from the daily reading of posts from the likes of Elaine, the utterly ludicrous & ridiculous Fan love and the very silly Abu Parker – these guys are just so empty and have nothing to offer even themselves.
Was it not Elaine that posted something so stupid like: ”….Nadal and Uncle Toni are just pretending so that Novak can be destroyed at French Open” Even Nadal may suffer heart attack reading such fantasies!
I doff my hat to you, J. Beer for being so consistently consistent in speaking nothing but the absolute truth at all times.
BINGO!!! Brilliant comment by J Beer. One of the best comments ever contributed to this website. If not THE best. The “dying patient” analogy was pure genius. IMHO, great comments like that should be transferred to this website’s home page – or perhaps linked there – for more exposure to the general public. Well done J Beer. Very well done.
Good point J Beer about Ivan Lendl winning the Aussie Open in 1990 when he was 29 years old. But let’s not forget that he had an incredibly EASY draw that year, not having to face a high seeded player until the final against Stefan Edberg, who had to retire in the 3rd set of that match due to a torn stomach muscle he incurred in the semifinals. “A win is a win”, as Lendl said after the match, but not all wins are equally impressive.
As for Borg, McEnroe and Wilander, as I stated earlier, each of them won their LAST slam singles title while still in their mid-twenties. Not because they had Rafa’s Peter Pan mentality, but because they suffered from mental or physical burnout.
Rafa, by his own admission, is not suffering from any kind of burnout. He is suffering from his unprofessional, stubborn and childish refusal to leave the nest, clinging to his uncle like a baby clings to its mother, instead of going out and hiring a REAL coach like virtually every other top player in the history of the game did after outgrowing their initial tennis instructors and coaches, many of whom were family members just like Toni is.
Our favorite player – our champ – needs to finally grow up. Or go home.
Some people on this site make the weidest statements. So if RAFA is suffering from the Peter Pan mentality by inference so did Bjorn Bjorg, Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe.
Does anybody take into account that the type of play Nadal uses is EXTREMELY hard on his body and after winning 14 Grand Slams and a bag of other titles that his body might be over it all, and like Leighton Hewitt your body can’t keep being punished time and time again.
Give Rafa a fair crack of the whip for goodness sake.love Alaine/Australia
If it were so simple, no one here would be in the state of agony that many of us are. The sad thing is, that it is not Rafa’s body, but his mind, that is letting him down. A direct consequence of his Peter Pan status. Rafa has always been very open about the state of his physique, and for more than a year he has stated all is fine. So on the basis of that, there are a lot of reasons to shout from the rooftops that he’s ruining some of the best years of his career, by not acting like a man, but to stroll through the ATP tour with the look of a small afraid rabbit on his face. It is as if he’s doing a career path in reverse. He’s looking more insecure than most 16 year olds when they walk onto the big stage for the first time. Who would have thought that the 17 year old cocky teenager who beat Federer on hard courts in March 2014, would look like this 12 years later?
Great point J Beer. Bjorn Borg(11 slams), Ivan Lendl(8 slams), John McEnroe(7 slams) and Mats Wilander(7 slams) all won their final slam singles title while still in their mid-twenties. With each passing day it’s looking more and more likely that Rafa is about to do the same. His never-grow-up Peter Pan mentality has cost him. Big time.
I think Lendl won his last Aussie Open at 29 and was RU one year later at age 30? The way Lendl – by the way – tried everything possible to improve, especially in order to win Wimbledon, deserves admiration. Exactly the opposite of what Rafa has been doing in the last years (when no. 1 saying ‘this is not gonna last long!’).
I have been thinking about tennis greats that fell hard, and concluded that Rafa’s fall has been the hardest in decades. Here are a some other remarkable cases, feel free to add yours:
– Jim Courier. Jim, winner of 4 majors and 5 masters, won his last major and his last masters, at the tender age of 22. Jim retired due to a burn out at age 29. He had been battling it for 7 or 8 years, he said. Maronn’!
– Sergi Bruguera. In ’94 he won his second Roland Garros. He never won anything anymore after the summer of ’94 (aged 23 at the time). He has won the most Grand Slam titles for someone not elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
– Lleyton Hewitt, the man who was supposed to be a tennis revolution according to some dumb journalists who copy each other (I immediately saw him as the intermediairy medium level champ that he indeed turned out to be), won his second and last major at the early age of 21. He played his last major final, still only 23. He retired at 35, having won nothing significant in the last 13 years of his career.
And you, J Beer, what about you? No, this is not about me. This is about tennis history and the hard fall of Rafa Nadal. One can fall of the Everest, very few reach the top, and even fewer will slide all the way down when falling. Who’s gonna stop this slide?
J Beer, it is very clear to all on this site that you are the person to stop this decline of Rafa, so go for it, you apply to be his next coach and we will all be happy, good luck and Vamos to you both.
Hi Connie, thanks for acknowledging this. I am currently not available as a coach but I will keep giving the good advices, free of charge, until finally Rafa will man up or quit.
The truth is Rafa needs another Round 1 exit to enable him put his tennis in proper perspective.
in view of that, my dream round 1 match up will be Nick Kyrgios Vs Rafa Nadal.
If this dream should come true, i’m confident Nick will send Rafa packing in the 1st round and then Rafa will be forced to eiher retire outright or repair his tennis.
My wish would be that he wins RG but that is never ever going to happen again given the direction he has taken (if he would drastically change his team, maybe next year he has a chance). I am sure he will exit early at RG unfortunately. Probably in a 4 or 5 set battle, that many here will describe as ‘unbelievable’ like the low quality fights with Fognini and Verdasco (who had a tough draw indeed) in the last two majors, while in fact it is just two players going at it at mediocre level.
Uncle Toni will NEVER step down as Rafa’s “coach”, because if he did, he would lose his lucrative endorsement deal with Iberostar Hotels & Resorts. Likewise, if Rafa fires Toni, the endorsement money disappears. As far as I know, this is Toni’s primary source of income. Rafa does not pay him a coaching salary or stipend. He just covers his travel, lodging and dining expenses. At least that’s how Toni has described the arrangement in press reports.
So what’s the solution to this very awkward dilemma for both player & coach?
Rafa, IMHO, should offer Toni a full-time job – starting immediately – running his tennis academy in Majorca, with a salary equivalent to the endorsement income he will no longer receive from Iberostar. While he’s at it, Rafa should say adios to Francisco Roig, who’s obviously in way over his head as the part-time coach. Our champ needs a totally fresh start.
Rafa should then try to hire two of the best tennis minds in the business, Andre Agassi & Larry Stefanki, with each alternating as his coach on a tournament to tournament basis. Two heads are better than one, as they say, and I doubt that either Agassi or Stefanki would want to make a full-time coaching commitment.
Problem solved. Assuming of course, that Agassi and Stefanki are available, and that Rafa is ready and willing to make such a move. The latter, unfortunately, is a very BIG assumption, considering our champ’s notorious fear of leaving the nest.
Yeah it’s ridiculous. A lot of players at this age have the composure and experience that makes them win matches they would have lost at a younger age. With Rafa, it’s all in reverse now. He refused to grow up and this is now haunting him.
You will never be the person Rafael Nadal is. You, grow up and stop trying to convince people that you have all the answers. Get a life, enjoy it.
As usual you are presuming that Toni Nadal’s income comes from Iberostar. He has a share in the family business, established long before Rafael Nadal became a global star.
What a depressing state of affairs. There is no news from camp Nadal and whereas this used to be good news in the years before 2012 (cause since then we had to hear injury messages about Olympics, US Open 12, Aussie Open 13, back injury Aussie 14, elbow US Open 14, appendix WTF 14, extended to Aussie Open 15 coming too early basically), it now is bad news in fact. What will be camp Nadal’s approach towards a real comeback? No news means bad news. The website nadalnews.com has even stopped posting since Aussie Open 15. Like Eminent used to rap: “…Now how the f*ck did this metamorphosis happen
From standin’ on corners and porches just rappin’
To havin’ a fortune, no more kissin’ *ss
But then these critics crucify you, journalists try to burn you
Fans turn on you,…”.
website nadal.com doesn’t tolorate any critisim. My comments never passed their censorship that’s speaks volume about that site. I can assure anyone that my comments were not disrespectful at all.
In the mean time a good idea would be to spend more time with francis roig and give uncle toni a rest …….
So you do agree that Toni is no longer suitable? Why not a real professional?
Andrei Agassi, John Mc Enroe, Bjorn Borg,etc. They are all willing to help Rafa.
Even Oscar Borris did help Nadal having megaserve in US Open 2010. Look at how Rafa is serving now. The problem is Toni won’t walk away. He should have done it in 2015 like Serena Williams’s father. Walk away and invite a real professional. Serena did have a horrible time in FO 2012 but found her rhythm back after hiring Mouratoglou.
Come on folks…. “Rafa needs help with his confidence”. Listen to Rafa himself and you will learn that confidence comes with playing well… The better you play the more confident you become… Rafa needs help with his GAME … The game of tennis has changed and although “Uncle” Toni has guided him to greatness …that was then… Now the game is faster…the rallies are not as long… The serves are harder… The up and comers are hungry… And because of Rafa’s losses, they come on to the court against him with confidence that they can win…
Rafa needs a new perspective… He needs a weapon like Feds SABR… He needs to up his game to fit into today’s world of tennis… Let’s face it , Rafa is all about family and Toni is “la familia” … And if he wasn’t ” Uncle” Toni, I believe Nadal would have cut him loose already…Toni ought to step down for the sake of his nephew and give Rafa a chance to get a new coach who can help turn things around for his champion… And btw …When Novak brought Becker in …look what happened…Federer has changed coaches and his game might not be of Novaks caliber but he’s still hanging in there.
The handwriting is on the wall for Rafael Nadal, now he needs to do something about it…
Yeah right! Keep fooling yourself. I see no technique points in this article. Only some crazy points like “Rafa is not yet 30”. Are you-so called fan aware of that Rafa’s knees was damaged? I don’t think that many people here wants Rafa to quit. Don’t label them. They just want to take a change of coach.
Rafa since Wimbledon 2011, has never improved his serve and net play. That’s the biggest reason for early exit in that fast surface since then. He keeps losing to unknown guys like Dustin Brown, Lukas Rosol, Darcis, and so on. The point is he isn’t afraid of losing. Wimbledon? Good. If not, we still have clay court season? And when he falls on clay, he will eventually starts to panic.
That’s not a good attitude of uncle Toni. This article only shows how great Toni was but never points out a good reason to not fire Toni.
Rafa must act now. Time is gold. When both of you realise that truth it’s gonna be too late.
@Elizabeth Howard
I have supported Rafael since I first saw him, he captured my imagination and my heart. That has never wavered. I think that he is over anxious and needs to remember who he is. Re a coach, I would like to see someone in on a consultancy basis. Pat Cash or John McEnroe are the men I would like to see in that role. Little things can turn around his season. Vamos Rafaaaa
I agree 100% with your comment Elizabeth. My sentiments exactly – little things can turn things around – a new face and voice will help Rafa. Marylynn
I Rafa and Fans, since the question is being posed, I feel that another coach would help Rafa more than hurt him. They could have the new coach work with Rafa 3 or 4 days out of the week then he could be with Toni and Francisco the remaining days. Rafa needs to feel comfortable with this new coach – and I’m sure that he will. Another person could say what Toni and Francisco are saying but in a way that might get through to Rafa in a more positive way. A new voice and perspective might be all he needs. This person could possibly help Rafa feel good about himself it may inspire self-belief and a renewed desire in him. Rafa possibly would not turn a deaf ear (so to speak) to a new voice. He needs this, only if it is for a year. What in the hell could it possibly hurt. Come on, a new super coach, even part time could and just might get through to him in a way no one including Rafa and team thought possible. GIVE it a try. If Rafa still has a mental block against some new “super coach” and it is not doing any good, then by all means he can go back to the way things were, but at least give it a try for at least 6 months. Stay healthy Rafa, and God bless you. Love, Marylynn
Congratulations to Rafa’s fellow Spaniard Caria Suarez Navarro who has just won the Quatar open in Doha , the biggest win of her career and now number six . Another Spanish player like Rafa who has dignity and respect, for such a quiet and shy individual her reaction at the end was brilliant . Good luck to Rafa in his next tournament my fingers are crossed
Rafael if you think your body is near 100 percent fit n your mind in Neutral, please beg Uncle Toni to help you by engaging a past Tennis Legend to help out in your Camp. Serving Aces, Aces, Aces – these guys nowadays are more or less winning Games by serving Aces? I pray for you Rafa. God bless you. Love your Aussie Abuela.
A short extract from the autobiography:
‘While Toni’s refusal to let me off the hook has its value, in that he pushes me always to improve and do better, it can also be bad because he creates insecurity.
I often feel this way, especially in the early rounds of a tournament, and the truth is that while he deserves credit for so many good things in my career, he also deserves blame for me being more insecure than I ought to be.
The point is to hold on to the lessons I’ve absorbed from Toni but to impose my own judgment more, striving to find the right balance between humility and overconfidence.
Sure, you must always respect your rival, always consider the possibility that he might beat you, always play against the player ranked 500 in the world as if he were ranked No 1 or 2. Toni has helped me to have this very clear in my mind, maybe too clear.’
Rafa defnitely needs a new coach. Please read this article and the answer to the problem is very clear and made by Rafa’s own admission:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/rafaelnadal/8707878/Rafael-Nadal-Uncle-Toni-terrified-me-but-without-him-Id-be-nothing.html#
When we analyse the latest matches of Rafa, it is very clear that Rafa is playing with lots of tension. Normally when he is playing lower ranked players he should not be so tensed and feeling so insecure but the reason why he is facing this problem is the coach. The answer lies in Rafa’s own admission that his uncle made him a good player but also created a lot of insecurities in his game. When he was playing a lower ranked player, he was told to treat it as if he is playing a match with the top ranked players. Today he is feeling very insecure even when he playing these players because of the overemphasis to treat them as top players. This is the reason why Rafa is not feeling shocked by these losses as other players do because he treats these lower ranked players as top ranked and he is not questioning why he is losing to these players. This is the conditioning he has received from his coach since he was a child and now the insecurities are becoming permanent because the losses are increasing and Rafa is always justifying this by saying the lower ranked player played a fantastic match. He does not question why Verdasco is immediately defeated by the next opponent and why a player of his calibre is no longer surprised that he is losing matches that he never used to lose before.
Hmmnnn…..