Toni Nadal, Rafa Nadal's uncle and trainer, gives his point of view on the method that allows awareness and winning. Whether one is for or against, his vision of competition deserves to be listened to.

Toni Nadal has nothing more to prove to anyone. Now part of the Rafa Nadal Academy, he takes care of training the youngest in competition. A frank method that requires awareness.

Frustration

According to Toni, this is one of the things that is quickly invading today's players. We get frustrated as soon as the task becomes difficult. And it comes from the fact that society accustoms us to hear beautiful things: "you are good". What does it mean ? You can never be good enough. You have to work and work harder. A good player like Rafa can have moments of weakness, and this is where you have to realize that you are not good. In these moments, there is no point in complaining, on the contrary, you must be silent, concentrate, and fight on each point as if it were the last.

Progress

Toni explains to us that there is the talent of a sportsman, but what we must especially look at is his capacity for progression. The difference among professionals in all sports is made by this ability to work and make the difference not at the intermediate level, but at the high level. Toni compares Rafa and Richard Gasquet when they were 15 and at the same level. Shortly after we know the trajectories of the 2 players. Maybe Rafa has a higher capacity to progress. It all depends on what everyone really wants to do.

Get more involved when it doesn't work

This is the remark made by the Spanish coach. He notices that the young people of today are very good when all is well, and when that does not go well, they do not try to change the things or to try different tactics to shake up the course of a match. He compares young players with a Roger Federer “always” present on the circuit. Roger plays very well on days when everything is fine, and never plays badly when it is a bad day. He adapts, thinks, to adopt the best possible game that will disturb the opponent. Maybe all of this is acquired over time, but young players should already be aware of it.

Have a plan B

You have your own style of play, but sometimes you play against people better than you, that's how it is. It doesn't matter, you have to have a plan B. Try, if your game doesn't disturb the opponents, to try different things; slow the ball, play more lobs ... try to show that you will try things to the end, and who knows, a moment of weakness in your opponents will make you take advantage. So you will be better.

The evolution of the game

Both in tennis and in padel, the game evolves and changes. In tennis it's more like I hit, it fits so much the better, it comes out too bad! At padel, we also play faster and faster. For Toni, although the game is evolving, one thing should never be forgotten: tactics, so as not to enter a game without thinking.

Precocity

For Toni, you don't necessarily have to be precocious to become good, whether in sport or in everyday life. Some start very early and others start later. The only difference is that to get to the same level, one will have to work a lot more.

Julien Bondia

Julien Bondia is a teacher of padel in Tenerife (Spain). Columnist and advisor, he helps you play better through his tutorials and tactical/technical articles padel.

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