As soon as Novak Djokovic’s second serve missed the line at Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal’s friends and family experienced such a rush of serotonin that they were practically moshing.
Image 1 of 3
Family affair: Rafael Nadal hugs his
uncle and coach Toni after defeating Novak Djokovic in the French Open
final to win his seventh Roland Garros title Photo: REUTERS
However much Nadal tried to insist that this was just
another French Open title, the fist-pumps and frenzied embraces in the
player’s box told a different truth.
Now, in the countdown to Wimbledon
2012, Nadal’s coach and mentor, Toni Nadal, reveals just what it
meant to see his nephew lift another grand slam trophy after a year of
frustration.
And he also exposes the details of the systematic reboot that he carried out
on Rafael’s game over the winter.
“I was very happy at the end because for us it was a very important
tournament,” said the man universally known as Uncle Toni. “We had lost
three times against Djokovic in grand slam finals. Another defeat would have
been terrible for us.
“The problem is that to play against Djokovic is difficult. You are more
nervous. At two sets up, and 2-0 in the third, I thought Rafael had won the
final. Then everything changed and we were very afraid. It was good when it
had finished and we had beaten a great champion like Djokovic. It was very
satisfying.”
When Toni talks about Nadal, he uses the first person plural, so that “we won
the tournament” and “our movement was very good”. It can perhaps be
explained by the fact that he is speaking in his second language (or third,
if you count Catalan), but this verbal tic is also appropriate. Nadal would
never have become the world’s pre-eminent player had Toni not moulded his
game from the age of four.
It was Toni who recommended Nadal’s extreme grip, which was inspired by the techniques of table tennis, and Toni who encouraged him to play with his left hand even though he writes with his right.
And when Nadal appeared to have hit a brick wall last year in the shape of Djokovic — the first man to challenge him at something resembling his own attritional game — it was Toni who sat him down and came up with a strategy for turning the tables.
“When we finished the 2011 season, I talked with him for making some changes in his game,” Toni explained. “First I want that he make a change in his racket with more weight because we need a little more power in the decisive shot to finish the point. In 2011, Rafa hadn’t made enough winners.
“We also made some changes in his movement. Not his movement around the court, but his movement through the ball. I wanted more bounce in his legs.
In 2011, he hit the ball and he was standing with two legs on the floor. I wanted him to jump more.
“These were important things to change, and I remember in the first game at the Australian Open, he hit many, many winners. It was a good sign.” The principle of jumping into the shot is straightforward enough: the extra power from the legs is transferred into the ball, which explains why professional tennis players are always airborne when they hit their serve.
But over the early stages of this season, Nadal has achieved a new level of buoyancy. During the early exchanges of the French Open final, there was one moment when he rose up off the ground in the middle of a full sprint to his left-hand side, and unleashed a scorching forehand down the line. It was such an improbably physical feat that you would have sworn he was wearing a hoverpack.
The final part of Nadal’s game to come under his uncle’s scrutiny is his serve. Earlier this year, Rafael admitted that serving at his top speed of 132mph does not suit his game particularly well. He maintained that sort of maximum pace during his victorious campaign at the 2010 US Open — a fortnight that completed his career Grand Slam. But since then he has dropped back to the mid-120s.
“Is not a problem with the shoulder,” says Toni now. “But we have a problem with our serve. Sometimes when you serve quickly, the ball comes back so fast, and for our game it is better not to have so much speed in the point.
“It is difficult for him,” Toni added, “and maybe that is because he is right-handed. I don’t know why, but when he makes this movement” — he mimes a left-handed serve — “it is never natural. But I think in Roland Garros this year, in the fourth set of the final for example, he served really good. It’s always difficult to have consistency with the serve: sometimes he is good, sometimes not.”
Toni is notorious for being a tough marker. Nadal’s book — Rafa: My Story — describes how “Right from the start, he demanded a lot of me, pressured me hard. He’d use rough language, shout a lot, he’d frighten me”. Has Toni mellowed? Apparently not, judging by his stormy demeanour when rain showers interrupted Friday’s practice session. Yet he has seen enough progress to be satisfied with the way his protege has started this season.
“He is No. 1 in the race, and No. 2 in the rankings, and we are happy in our game,” Toni said. “But maybe we play here on Tuesday and we lose. And then you ask me next week and I am not too happy. In sport it can all change very quickly.”
If that happens, you can bet that the two Nadals will go straight back into planning mode. These men will try anything — even a form of sporting levitation — to get ahead.
It was Toni who recommended Nadal’s extreme grip, which was inspired by the techniques of table tennis, and Toni who encouraged him to play with his left hand even though he writes with his right.
And when Nadal appeared to have hit a brick wall last year in the shape of Djokovic — the first man to challenge him at something resembling his own attritional game — it was Toni who sat him down and came up with a strategy for turning the tables.
“When we finished the 2011 season, I talked with him for making some changes in his game,” Toni explained. “First I want that he make a change in his racket with more weight because we need a little more power in the decisive shot to finish the point. In 2011, Rafa hadn’t made enough winners.
“We also made some changes in his movement. Not his movement around the court, but his movement through the ball. I wanted more bounce in his legs.
In 2011, he hit the ball and he was standing with two legs on the floor. I wanted him to jump more.
“These were important things to change, and I remember in the first game at the Australian Open, he hit many, many winners. It was a good sign.” The principle of jumping into the shot is straightforward enough: the extra power from the legs is transferred into the ball, which explains why professional tennis players are always airborne when they hit their serve.
But over the early stages of this season, Nadal has achieved a new level of buoyancy. During the early exchanges of the French Open final, there was one moment when he rose up off the ground in the middle of a full sprint to his left-hand side, and unleashed a scorching forehand down the line. It was such an improbably physical feat that you would have sworn he was wearing a hoverpack.
The final part of Nadal’s game to come under his uncle’s scrutiny is his serve. Earlier this year, Rafael admitted that serving at his top speed of 132mph does not suit his game particularly well. He maintained that sort of maximum pace during his victorious campaign at the 2010 US Open — a fortnight that completed his career Grand Slam. But since then he has dropped back to the mid-120s.
“Is not a problem with the shoulder,” says Toni now. “But we have a problem with our serve. Sometimes when you serve quickly, the ball comes back so fast, and for our game it is better not to have so much speed in the point.
“It is difficult for him,” Toni added, “and maybe that is because he is right-handed. I don’t know why, but when he makes this movement” — he mimes a left-handed serve — “it is never natural. But I think in Roland Garros this year, in the fourth set of the final for example, he served really good. It’s always difficult to have consistency with the serve: sometimes he is good, sometimes not.”
Toni is notorious for being a tough marker. Nadal’s book — Rafa: My Story — describes how “Right from the start, he demanded a lot of me, pressured me hard. He’d use rough language, shout a lot, he’d frighten me”. Has Toni mellowed? Apparently not, judging by his stormy demeanour when rain showers interrupted Friday’s practice session. Yet he has seen enough progress to be satisfied with the way his protege has started this season.
“He is No. 1 in the race, and No. 2 in the rankings, and we are happy in our game,” Toni said. “But maybe we play here on Tuesday and we lose. And then you ask me next week and I am not too happy. In sport it can all change very quickly.”
If that happens, you can bet that the two Nadals will go straight back into planning mode. These men will try anything — even a form of sporting levitation — to get ahead.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon/9351399/Wimbledon-2012-Uncle-Toni-helps-lift-Rafael-Nadals-tennis-to-new-heights.html
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire