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Rafael Nadal ‘has not retired as he would have liked’ reveals uncle


Rafael Nadal ‘would have liked another good season on clay’ according to uncle and former coach Toni Nadal, who has given an insight into how he was told the news.

Nadal (Rafael) announced that he would be retiring last Thursday, with his final event coming at the Davis Cup Finals representing Spain in Malaga next month.

In the social media video that Nadal used to announce his retirement, the Mallorcan claimed that it was ‘an appropriate time’ for him to end his career.

However, uncle Toni, who coached his nephew for 27 years until 2017, has suggested that this was not Rafa’s ideal situation and he wanted to play another clay court swing.

“Rafa would have liked another good season on clay and that means winning or at least performing at a good level,” Toni Nadal told Marca. “He has not retired as he would have liked. I always told him not to complain because life has treated us better than we expected.

“Looking back now, you can say why he put it off, but Rafa had the hope of still giving his best version and when he was not convinced, he retired. It’s just that his body doesn’t respond. When he forces his body, it suffers from one part or another. The same thing happened to [Roger] Federer, he tried for two years and left.”

Rafael Nadal has only played 21 singles matches in the past two years, with various injury struggles preventing him from competing consistently.

After announcing his retirement, Nadal was congratulated by many people across the sporting globe including former rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

And now Toni Nadal has revealed what the reaction was from those within the family when Rafael Nadal announced the news in a group chat.

“We have a family chat and Rafa said on Thursday that in a few hours a video was coming out announcing his retirement,” explained Toni. “In the group we are the five brothers and older nephews. I’m a pretty dry guy and I wrote to him: ‘Congratulations, you’ve had a good career.’ The others went on a bit longer. I say things up front, which makes me less lazy.”

Before Nadal heads to Malaga for his final farewell next month, he is playing at the ‘Six Kings Slam’ exhibition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, alongside the aforementioned Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune.

Inside the baseline…

What Toni Nadal has said about Rafael Nadal makes sense, as he kept saying that he may return to certain tournaments next year and did not want to make any definitive statements at the time. However, it just feels that at 38-years-old Rafael Nadal’s body has finally had enough and although it will not be on the clay of Roland Garros, representing your country in front of your home crowd is certainly not a bad way to go out!

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Matthew Johns, Tennishead Writer, is a professional tennis journalist with a specialist degree in Sports Journalism. He's a keen tennis player having represented his local club and University plus he's also a qualified tennis coach. Matthew has a deep knowledge of tennis especially the ATP Tour and thrives on breaking big tennis news stories for Tennishead.