Nineteen-time Grand Slam-winner Rafael Nadal’s uncle and mentor Toni thinks that simplicity has gone a long way in the “big three” dominance that men’s tennis has witnessed.
Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic continue to sweep the Grand Slams despite the recent emergence of the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem. The latter in particular, has shown that he can go toe to toe against the top three, coming close to winning a Major at the Australian Open earlier this year.
“Many times people ask me why are Djokovic, Federer and Rafael still there?” Toni Nadal told the TennisNow website in an interview. “It’s about technology, I think. It’s about what we say to our young.”
Toni Nadal is of the view that youngsters may be over-coached during this day and age. “Why are Rafael and Djokovic and Federer still there? Because the young ones are not too good. This is the first reason. And this is something that we have to think – at least it makes me think.”
He added: “When Rafael was young, we had tennis racquets, some balls, some sparring – sometimes good, sometimes not too good – and we had not too many things.
“Now, to play tennis, we need some video analysis, we need biomechanical analysis, we need statistical studies, we need a nutritionist and when we lose some matches, what happens? We need some psychology.
“What happened? It’s very simple – they are not too good. It’s nothing else. Many years ago, a girl asked me why I keep making this mistake? I said ‘it’s because I am not good enough’. But today, no. Today, when we lose some matches we go to the psychologist and the psychologist says: ‘Oh, you have to imagine this and this and only these things.’ Unbelievable.”
Toni Nadal suggested a back-to-basics approach for the younger crop of players, changing the pattern of results in Grand Slams.
“We have many things and the people improve later. Something’s wrong. It’s because, in my opinion, they don’t think of the most important things.
“This is true. I think in this time the people think too much importance to the secondary kind of things and not too much importance on the central things and that’s what happens today.
“They give importance to the fashion and other things, and then we think everything is good. We forget what the most important thing is.”