Nadal Mulls sacking Uncle Toni

First topic message reminder :

http://www.rediff.com/sports/report/nadal-mulls-sacking-coach-toni-following-us-open-loss/20110919.htm

This anti-Toni stuff is crazy. Toni is responsible for creating Nadal - without him he'd be playing right handed and might have won a RG or two, and nothing else.

I suspect Toni is also responsible for the whole mega-determined thing Nadal has going for him. He shaped the kids mind from the age of 4 ffs!

No Toni = no tennis for Rafa, and the die is now cast. Forget about him being part time, he's full time in charge of his attitude, approach and behaviour. As a Federer fan I'll be very happy if he changes coaches because I can assure you that'll be the end of it for him.

Rafa has 10 years as pro, Federer has 13 years as pro.

Perhaps Rafa can learn from Federer, on how to beat Djokovic.

None of those LF...like I said I could only see him hiring Agassi (if he was available). Brad G would be too mouthy for him.

Yep socal, he just needs the odd tweak here and there, its not like he's a million miles away from beating Djokovic. He needs a different game plan, and introduce something different - like more BHs down the line, Nole has got used to Nadal firing crosscourts all the time, so waits for the shot then blasts his own down the line. Djokovic's gameplan is actually very very simple...basically smack it down each line! (sounds easy of course, doing it is another matter...)

Agassi? that's a strange idea. Do you think Andre would be able to teach him to take the ball early?

Why not asking Murray to hit his FH like federer?

"Why not asking Murray to hit his FH like federer?"


I wouldn't mind, either

I don't see it that way lydian; I watched that USO final and knew even at 2-0 first set that the match was only going one way. The only time Rafa looked like a likely winner was when Djokovic started to wilt in the 3rd, but once he took a break and Nadals cramps set in the game was decided.

Nadal is looking much less likely to win one of these matches than Federer has with Nadal on clay, indeed I think the match up is more reminiscent of Roddick v Federer.

bogbrush wrote:This anti-Toni stuff is crazy. Toni is responsible for creating Nadal - without him he'd be playing right handed and might have won a RG or two, and nothing else.

I suspect Toni is also responsible for the whole mega-determined thing Nadal has going for him. He shaped the kids mind from the age of 4 ffs!

No Toni = no tennis for Rafa, and the die is now cast. Forget about him being part time, he's full time in charge of his attitude, approach and behaviour. As a Federer fan I'll be very happy if he changes coaches because I can assure you that'll be the end of it for him.

Wasn't it you who once wrote if my aunty had balls she'd be my uncle? Moot point as to how Nadal would have done. Some people make it so simple. Hope my brother has a little boy who I'll train to be fit and play left-handed. Hey presto, 10 slams! If tennis is a sport we purport to love then it's a damning indictment that such a rudimentary tactic can lead to such great success.

Nadal, maybe needs a new approach and new insight into his tennis tactics and technical points as well. But I don't think its Toni fault for what has taken place. One player has just grown more and developed to a higher level than Nadal can currently reach. I like the fact that Nadal is deadly serious about figuring out what he can do to beat Novak. It shows his level of commitment and his desire as a competitor. I don't think it will be a disaster for him, he certainly owes a lot to Toni. But maybe he needs a fresh approach and new ideas at this stage in his career.

Positively 4th Street wrote:

bogbrush wrote:This anti-Toni stuff is crazy. Toni is responsible for creating Nadal - without him he'd be playing right handed and might have won a RG or two, and nothing else.

I suspect Toni is also responsible for the whole mega-determined thing Nadal has going for him. He shaped the kids mind from the age of 4 ffs!

No Toni = no tennis for Rafa, and the die is now cast. Forget about him being part time, he's full time in charge of his attitude, approach and behaviour. As a Federer fan I'll be very happy if he changes coaches because I can assure you that'll be the end of it for him.

Wasn't it you who once wrote if my aunty had balls she'd be my uncle? Moot point as to how Nadal would have done. Some people make it so simple. Hope my brother has a little boy who I'll train to be fit and play left-handed. Hey presto, 10 slams! If tennis is a sport we purport to love then it's a damning indictment that such a rudimentary tactic can lead to such great success.

Playing left handed doesn't make you a Slam winner, but I am not alone in saying that if Nadal was right handed he'd be nowhere near the same success. Agassi said the same. For one thing, Federer would eat him for breakfast as the high shot to his backhand wouldn't exist.

He has to thank Toni for that.

bogbrush wrote:Playing left handed doesn't make you a Slam winner, but I am not alone in saying that if Nadal was right handed he'd be nowhere near the same success. Agassi said the same. For one thing, Federer would eat him for breakfast as the high shot to his backhand wouldn't exist.

He has to thank Toni for that.

Excellent point. And we know in a FH to FH or BH to BH battle who would win!

Toni can lead the horse (Nadal) to water, but cannot make him drink. This is a problem for Nadal to solve, not Toni. No amount of white-board theoretical strategy will help Nadal.

Having said that, Toni architected Nadal's game to beat the likes of Federer, not himself, which is what Djokovic has become (someone called Djokovic = Nadal v1.1) .

The price Djokovic is now paying for beating Nadal, are injuries, similar to Nadal's.

Well, Laverfan I think Novak is dealing with getting to the final of every single tournament he enters. And playing in that many intense finals. Its not just the number of matches he is being asked to play but the intensity of the competition week in and week out. He already has 11 matches against Fed and nadal this year. Those type of matches not only take something out of you physically but they take something out of you mentally as well.