Toni Nadal is the uncle and ex-coach of tennis player Rafael Nadal, the elder brother of Spanish professional footballer Miguel Angel Nadal, and the current coach of tennis player Felix Auger-Aliassime.
31 Facts About Toni Nadal
2.
Toni Nadal was born into a Spanish family and has two siblings, brothers.
3.
Toni Nadal tried participating in several sports including football, table tennis, and swimming.
4.
Toni Nadal achieved the title of junior champion of Balearic Islands in his table tennis career.
5.
Toni Nadal was the first of his siblings to play ground tennis when he started doing so at fourteen years old.
6.
Toni Nadal was inspired to join the sport when he saw Ilie Nastase win the Barcelona Masters in 1972.
7.
Toni Nadal worked as a tennis coach and as a manager for a tennis club.
8.
Toni Nadal obtained a trainer's degree and taught at the tennis club his brother Miguel was a member of in Manacor.
9.
Toni Nadal became a manager of the Manacor tennis club while teaching younger students.
10.
The majority of Toni Nadal's coaching career has been spent with Rafael.
11.
Toni Nadal feels being such a hard coach would make his pupils better tennis players.
12.
Toni Nadal required that his pupils show respect for their equipment, and stated that he would immediately stop coaching Rafael if he ever threw his racket out of frustration.
13.
Toni Nadal believes that throwing a tennis racket showed a lack of respect towards people who could not afford the same equipment and the sport itself.
14.
Toni Nadal strives to teach players to be responsible for themselves.
15.
Toni Nadal trained Rafael on poor tennis courts with old tennis balls to show that it was not the equipment that would decide if he won or lost.
16.
Toni Nadal believed that losing was a fact of competing in sports and that the only one responsible for winning or losing was the player.
17.
Toni Nadal had an authoritarian attitude with the players that he coached.
18.
Toni Nadal wanted his opinions to be important to players he was coaching rather than it just being advice.
19.
Toni Nadal did not want to be paid by Rafael Nadal because he believed that it would make him less of an important figure.
20.
Toni Nadal was the record holder of the most Grand Slam titles won as a coach with 16 until February 2,2020, when Marian Vajda and Novak Djokovic won their 17th Grand Slam title together in the Australian Open, giving Vajda the sole possession of the top position in the history of tennis.
21.
In 2015, after Rafael Toni Nadal lost in the second round at Wimbledon to Dustin Brown, who was ranked No 102 at the time, former world No 1 John McEnroe said on BBC Radio 5 Live that the Spanish tennis star should "get a new damn coach".
22.
In February 2016, at the Buenos Aires Open, Toni Nadal admitted that Rafael would have probably already replaced him had he not been his uncle.
23.
Toni Nadal was the first one to contact Moya to see if he would be willing to join Rafael's coaching team, thinking it was the perfect time to include him.
24.
In late February 2017, Toni Nadal announced he had decided to retire from his nephew's coaching staff.
25.
Toni Nadal had informed Moya and his brother Sebastian of his intentions.
26.
Toni Nadal originally withheld the knowledge of his plans to separate from Rafael, who found out when the news was released to the press.
27.
Toni Nadal did not tell Rafael about his decision because he did not want to distract Rafael from playing tennis.
28.
Toni Nadal stated that he later regretted keeping this information from his nephew.
29.
Toni Nadal stated that he wants to work with younger players and develop their talent.
30.
Rafael mentioned that he is happy to know Toni Nadal is doing what he wants and does not hold any resentment towards his departure.
31.
Rafael said he believed it was a good time for Toni Nadal to focus on projects like the Academy.