Rafael Nadal may be undeniably the greatest clay-courter ever to play the game with an incredible seven French Open titles under his belt and a barely believable record of 81 consecutive wins on the dirt but in the eyes of his coach Uncle Toni, he’s not the favourite to defend his title at Roland Garros this year.
The bookies disagree. Even after his recent Monte Carlo Masters defeat to Novak Djokovic, Rafa is still the odds-on favourite to prevail in Paris so what exactly is going through Toni Nadal’s mind?
“He is not my favourite,” he explained. “I always have a fear feeling of losing, so I don’t assume the favourite role. I know Rafael is part of the group of candidates to win the final. This year I think the favourites are Djokovic, Del Potro, David Ferrer, Rafael, Murray. I’m not sure about Federer. For me these are the favorites. Rafael is just part of this group but I’m not sure he is one of the big favourites. I never see it like that.”
Rafa’s rivals would beg to differ especially after his recent win at the Barcelona Open, his eighth successive title in the Spanish city. Since returning to the tour in February, he has yet to lose before the final, winning four titles including Indian Wells in March.
Some have been surprised at how much confidence Rafa has been playing with after seven months out of the game but Toni says it’s down to how well he’s been striking the ball on the court.
“Confidence is very important but in tennis the most important thing is the hands and legs,” he said. “If both are working well, then it’s easier to be confident. It’s true that it’s been a surprise at how fast it’s been to win important titles such as Acapulco or Indian Wells but I think that the tennis level is what has made the difference. I think Rafael has a very good tennis level. Maybe the key moment was the Acapulco final against Ferrer which helped him realise that he can compete against players of a very high level. That pushes up the confidence level.”
Written by David Cox from Live-Tennis.com.
