Tennis news - Toni Nadal: Tweak to forehand at early age gave Rafa a potent edge

Toni Nadal joined Mats Wilander for Eurosport's Players' Cut to discuss his nephew and the man he coached for 12 years between 2005 and 2017, to examine what makes the 19-time Grand Slam winner so special.

Uncle Toni noticed a change in Rafa's game as a 16-year-old, as soon at Rafa joined the ATP Tour, that helped him progress, and that variation in his lethal forehand has enabled his nephew to go on to achieve all he has.

"I observed his attitude, physically and mentally from a very young age, his skills and his coordination," Toni said. "And then I figured that Rafael could play with a lot of intensity, because this is how he loves the sport.

"I always wanted that Rafael to be able to hit forehand winners, but he played with a lot of a spin, maybe too much sometimes. When we arrived on the ATP tour, Rafael was really young, he was 16 years old, and then he started to play with older players, with people who were stronger.

"On clay, he has seen that with his extreme top-spin forehands were putting opponents in a difficult position because every time he could hit the ball two or three times over the backhand of his opponents pushing them to hit it back at shoulder height. Then it was easy for him to get a short ball and hit to the other side. Though, he knows that on hard court it is different."

While Rafa's superiority on clay throughout his career was never been replicated on other surfaces, the fact he was able to win seven Slams on all surfaces, despite possessing such a naturally perfect game for clay, Wilander believes, is testament to his abilities.

"That is what I think is so impressive to us, older players or people who love tennis in general, is when you see Rafa play at Roland Garros on a clay court, it is one kind of player, tactically," Wilander said. "There is one kind of forehand and then you go and watch him play at Wimbledon or at the US Open, and I always felt that you were trying to: 'let’s forget Roland Garros, now we are back to hitting normal forehands, we follow through over the shoulder'.

"So, the changes that Rafael had to make technically and also tactically, I think, is way more than other players."