Rafael Nadal has 'extraordinary willpower' and can contend for any title, says Carlos Moya ahead of Australian Open

Updated 07/01/2022 at 14:12 GMT

Rafael Nadal was back on the ATP Tour for the first time in five months this week as he beat Ricardas Berankis in straight sets at the Melbourne Summer Set. Nadal has not enjoyed too much success in Australia over his career, only winning one Australian Open, but coach Carlos Moya is hopeful that he will be back to his best soon. Stream the 2022 Australian Open live and on demand on discovery+

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Carlos Moya has praised Rafael Nadal’s “extraordinary willpower” and is confident he will soon be a contender again after returning from a long injury lay-off.

Nadal played competitively for the first time in five months on Thursday, beating Ricardas Berankis 6-2 7-5 at the Melbourne Summer Set.

It was Nadal’s first match on the ATP Tour since the Citi Open in Washington in August, after which he took time off for treatment on a foot issue. He also tested positive for Covid-19 after playing at the Mubadala Tennis Championship exhibition event in Abu Dhabi in late December.

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“We’ve been through a lot of moments of uncertainty because Rafa’s foot wasn’t getting better,” Moya, who has worked on Nadal’s coaching team since 2017, told the ATP.

“Saying goodbye to last season wasn’t easy, even less so for someone like him, who loves competing so much. Then there were a lot of trips to doctors, treatments... in the past month he’s progressed. We weren’t sure how he’d respond.

"There were some pretty tough moments, but his willpower is extraordinary…He is more than ready enough for things to go well.”

Nadal will face Emil Ruusuvuori, with whom he trained earlier in the week, in the semi-finals of the Melbourne Summer Set after getting a walkover following Tallon Griekspoor's withdrawal.

If he beats Ruusuvuori he will have his sights on his first hard-court title in almost two years.

Even though he may be feeling his way back to his Grand Slam-winning level after so long off, Moya thinks Nadal can still contend for silverware.

“If Rafa returns to his best, he’s a candidate to win any tournament he plays in," he said.

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“You need matches. Nobody reaches their maximum potential just by training. As much as you train well, you have to take it to the matches. We’re confident that those competing in Melbourne will help him find his rhythm for the Australian Open.

“He is an incredible competitor. As soon as he is slightly better, there’s nothing he wants more than to keep being competitive and aspiring to win big tournaments.

“These kinds of players can think about retiring when they see that that doesn’t happen, but that’s not the case with Rafa. I don’t see that in him.”

Moya says the Covid-19 setback last month was “really tough” as it disrupted their plans ahead of the new season.

“When we arrived in Mallorca, we tested positive and everything collapsed after all the sacrifices he’d made in the previous months. So close to the season, so close to the goal, that setback put us in a situation where we didn’t know what would happen," he said.

“We knew the Australian Open would come, but to us it was key to play in Melbourne first after so many months without competing. I’m not really a fan of playing for the sake of it, but now we’re in a different situation because he hasn’t played for five months.

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“Rafa’s willpower has been extraordinary. When we saw that it would be a few bad days, but he would recover later, he was the first to decide to stick to the initial plan.”

Moya has been joined on Nadal’s coaching team over the off-season by Marc Lopez.

Nadal and Lopez won Olympic gold together in doubles in 2016 as well as five career doubles titles on the ATP Tour. The last time that Nadal added a new coach to his team in 2017 he won the French Open, US Open and finished as year-end No 1.

“It’s always good to change the team, to find people that can add something,” reflected Moya.

“Marc is someone who knows Rafa well and knows a lot about tennis. It’s a new and different voice, he can contribute his knowledge. Relationships between a team and a player take their toll and it’s good to have new people to say something different. I really believe in that, and I’m convinced that Marc can do it.

“He’s a very good addition and he’ll be with us in Melbourne. Francis [Roig] will also be there, as he has been until now.”

Nadal has spoken about Novak Djokovic’s situation this week, suggesting that he did not have much sympathy for the world No 1 after his visa was cancelled on arrival in Australia.

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