Nadal says coaching tennis is easy

I think I've interpreted this correctly, with relevant quotes.
http://www.sport360.com/article/mubadala-championship/17883/nadal-keep-it-simple-quest-2014-success

In a shock verbal dismissal of an entire profession today Rafael Nadal said that coaching tennis was “no big deal”. In what could be seen as a dig as Uncle Toni, Paul Annacone, Darren Cahill and many other respected coaches, he indicates that coaching is not a very difficult job, because "tennis is a simple game .
He continued his verbal onslaught by saying that other players (i.e. lesser players such as Djokovic, Federer and Murray) need great champions to tell them what to do, but that he basically doesn’t need a top coach because “it’s more about the player”, leaving the public in no doubt who he thinks is the player who is good enough to get the job done without a good coach.
The tennis public are amazed at the arrogance of the current tennis No 1. and are wondering if such a brash approach indicates that Rafa has a lot to learn about humility.

Uncle Toni was unavailable for comment when approached outside the local job centre in Majorca.

Lol...I like the editorial creativity but I tend to agree with Nadal actually. No surprise there I hear you shout! But to be fair the vast % of a players prime success comes from them not the coach. At this level the importance of the coach is overhyped.

Federer is mentioned but we all know he amassed many of his slams with no coach whatsoever! Federer is probably even more arrogant about the (non) importance of coaches than Nadal! Sure, when someone like Murray is struggling to break through and he needed some magic ingredient then fine go for the experienced slam winner but he was already top 3-4 player though despite many coaching changes and playing in an era of unreal tennis talents in the other 3. You could argue his time was bound to come if he just hung in there and became more comfortable in his own skin. Nadal never needed that, he was slam-ready from an early age. Toni had a god-given talent in Rafa to start with.

People like to pin all Nadal's success onto Toni, sometimes to make out Nadal is a talentless, moon balling robot who needs to be told what to do. Not that the OP is trying to do that but many do. However, there a lot more under the bonnet of Rafa than meets the eye if you listen to him talk across the years. Tennis pro playing is a very lonely job with huge mental and physical pressures...to have got anywhere near the top to start with these guys are a breed apart, coach or no coach. For some players the coach can help with the increasing pressures as they get nearer slam success and to help them stay strong under pressure. Nadal is basically saying he doesn't really need Toni for fundamental success..and he's his own man. I also suspect he gets narked by Toni constantly giving the 'official' word and status on what's happening. This has been a source of animosity between them before. I think Nadal is asserting himself more as he gets older that he's been the main component in his own success.

Borg, Mac, Connors and Lendl all got by without household names coaches. Sampras won his first slam before Gullikson. All the very best players have mostly what they need within themselves. Outstanding athletic ability, mental strength, an unreal will to win and dedication to hard work. For these guys coaching isn't a difficult job, its more a case of maintaining their core attributes. Most of the core coaching work is done from 8 to 18 anyway...but again the coach needs the talent to begin with. The best coach can't polish a t*rd.

How many slam winners have so obviously needed a big name coach to help them win that elusive first one? Not many I reckon.

Funny how Lyd diverts Nadal's onslaught on coaches to Federer   , just shows how much a people can get die hard crazy on their hero.

Nadal's comment is extremely unacceptable but I don't think he really would have mentioned all these things, either the translation might have be corrupted or the editor might have been biased against Nadal, I certainly do believe Nadal is smart enough not to pass dumb comments like this at this stage of his career, if not then I am sorry for him.

I tend to agree with Rafa as well, although it's surprisingly easy to twist words to misrepresent his quotes. Now I only need to do it another 50+ times

Murray, as is generally acknowledged, was a fraction below Djoko, Fed and Rafa (OMG did I just put Djoko up there with Fed and Rafa?! Slap my wrist) and ended up in an almost unique position. So it made sense that he would turn to the one guy who had been in the same position.

Given that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (except when I imitate HE of course ) it speaks volumes of the Murray/Lendl partnership that Djoko and Fed consider worthwhile to call upon Becker and Edberg. As Rafa says, it depends on the player, and also, crucially, where they are at a particular point in time.

PS. Connors was coached by Segura from an early age, Becker by Tiriac (GS doubles champ)
In their later careers (a la Djoko/Fed) Lendl and Rafter were coached by Roche - I'm sure there must be other examples.

Ferrer splits from long-time coach Javier Piles

http://www.sport360.com/article/mubadala-championship/17812/ferrer-splits-long-time-coach-javier-piles

To the OP…

Nadal: It was in the last game, when I was serving for the match . . . I didn't know where to serve. Down the center, to the middle or to try the classic play of the wide serve and then try to hit the forehand. They told me to serve wide and that's where I served."

http://www.ubitennis.com/sport/tennis/2010/09/16/385737-nadal_admit_cheating_during_open_final.shtml

Since Roig is now out of a job, he has decided to play doubles to compensate for loss of revenues.

Pancho never had a coach, IIRC.

Nice HE pastiche, JHM.

Although for the highest accuracy you should have concluded by saying Rafa has a lot to learn!

On the subject of coaches, I feel that the adult Rafa succeeds in spite of Toni rather than because of him.

kingraf wrote:
Past a certain age in sport, you're better off hiring a mentor (for the mental) and a video analyst. Coaches are really only necessary to get you to the stadia.

Honestly - coach? I actually prefer the train even that function.

Oh Julius you are such a laugh! But don't forget to provide an explanation on the other thread. In the mean time I will show the quote that you are referring to

Nadal, who has been coached by his uncle Toni all his life, says he doesn’t need a tennis legend to guide him on tour. “My feeling is that is depends on the player,” said Nadal. “I think coaching tennis is not a big deal. We are not doing something very very difficult – tennis is a simple game at the end of the day.

“It’s more about the player believing in the work that his coach is doing. Some players need somebody who was a great champion in the past to believe in them. Someone for example like me, I don’t need to have a great champion in front of me coaching to believe that what that person is telling me is the right thing.

“So in my opinion it’s more about the player than the coach. In my case, I never needed a former champion to be my coach. What I’m saying is that there are different ways to have the right coach.”

http://www.sport360.com/article/mubadala-championship/17883/nadal-keep-it-simple-quest-2014-success

I also have a little story about celebrity coaches   

There were three players. All had been playing since they were three or four and knew how to hit the ball but they all had different coaches. Each of their coaches worked with them so they would know what shot to play when they got to a critical point in an important match. And also told them not to let nerves get to them otherwise they might miss.

Player 1 hired a tennis legend celebrity coach and when he got to a critical point he attempted the required shot. A forehand straight down the line... But his attempt landed short in the middle of the court and he lost the point. Player 1 looked at his celebrity coach but remembered in time how much he was paying him and did not yell **** at him.

Player 2 also hired a tennis legend celebrity coach. His critical shot was a smash. His coach had told him to put it anywhere in the court (just like his non celebrity coach did) but he put it into the net...

Player 3 had a common or garden coach. When his critical shot came he was serving and he knew he should serve as wide as possible. He did and it hit the line as an ace.

What this shows is that tennis is a simple game. Just hit the ball were it's difficult for your opponent. Coaching is no big deal just tell your player to hit the ball were it's difficult for their opponent. But sometimes it is a little tricky to actually hit the ball were it's difficult for your opponent. Also you are more likely to be nice to your coach and listen to them if you respect them. Different players respect different things in their coaches   

Of course all my examples are fiction.

Early season mind games from Rafa.   

These top players don't need coaches in the traditional sense. They are magnificent players who instinctively know how to play. Murray/Lendl was more about sharing Lendl's experiences. I can't see what Becker will add to Novak and Fed/Edberg strikes me as a bit more of a relaxed arrangement. Rafa's a little unusual in seemingly needing more traditional coaching assistance - needing to be told where to serve during a match is a bit bizarre.

IC, there's nothing funny about the diversion, nor is it a diversion. Federer illustrates the case perfectly how top players can succeed at the highest level without coaches, plus Federer is creatively referenced in the OP as needing great champions to tell them what to do. Clearly he doesn't...nor does Rafa. You're trying to create division where there is none, it doesn't always have to be Rafa vs Federer....  

I don't put much overall credence on the being told where to serve thing...he's played dozens of crunch slam matches and been fine. Probably just a mental haze one off. My point is these guys don't need coaching per se so appointing guys like Lendl, Becker and Edberg has nothing to do with actual coaching...just alternative input when the players feel they need something new to analyse.

The Nadal comments are more about him stating he's his own man, he's probably tired of coaches being seen as key appointments and doesn't believe you need to have won slams to be a suitable coach. So in a way he's interestingly both supporting and undermining Toni at the same time!

hawkeye wrote:Player 3 had a common or garden coach. When his critical shot came he was serving and he knew he should serve as wide as possible. He did and it hit the line as an ace.

Player 3 can't be Rafa then - he looks at Toni to get him to tell him where to serve just before he serves

lydian wrote:My point is these guys don't need coaching per se so appointing guys like Lendl, Becker and Edberg has nothing to do with actual coaching...just alternative input when the players feel they need something new to analyse.

That's my feeling also - it's additional input from someone with 'inside knowledge' of what it's like to be there.
It's also very good for the marketing of the game and generates a lot of fan interest - clearly an area where Rafa has a lot to learn.   

Just read the article linked to and then also read an article on Murray/Nadal on the same website. Came across this gem of a statement:

"If Nadal and Murray do meet during the coming week, the world number one may be more mindful that he has not prevailed since their meeting in the US Open semis of 2011 rather than the winning 13-5 head-to-head record he holds."

A great example of using a true fact without adding the correct context.

Quite JHM, and in that regard this is where these slam-winning ex pros can add input where Toni can't. As players mature into the second half of their careers their mental outlook can become a little stale so getting a very different viewpoint from older top players is no bad thing.

BTW...people forget that Nadal has received and still gets input from Carlos Moya, his very close friend from 12 years old. So he's actually getting critical input from a great ex-player anyway.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/emilio-sanchez-we-had-to-find-andy-murray-in-his-room-and-get-him-to-train-8707679.html?action=gallery&ino=4

Quite BS. The next match between them is the pairing I'm most looking forward to seeing.

lydian wrote:Quite JHM, and in that regard this is where these slam-winning ex pros can add input where Toni can't. As players mature into the second half of their careers their mental outlook can become a little stale so getting a very different viewpoint from older top players is no bad thing.

BTW...people forget that Nadal has received and still gets input from Carlos Moya, his very close friend from 12 years old. So he's actually getting critical input from a great ex-player anyway.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/emilio-sanchez-we-had-to-find-andy-murray-in-his-room-and-get-him-to-train-8707679.html?action=gallery&ino=4

It did occur to me about Moya and Rafa, but I wasn't sure if Moya counted as a genuine "celebrity".

Lol, yeah compared to Boris' broom cupboard escapades and German celebrity ex-wife Carlos is a nobody. What I hear...he won the French Open and ex-No.1? Pffft....mere detail....where's the infamy? (...cue Kenneth Williams' joke...)

The infamy joke is just an update of this classic at 0:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ust6bUwqqUc

I've also just realised I missed a chance to twist Rafa's words. Clearly when he says he doesn't need a "great champion" he means that he doesn't regard Moya, with just a single FO, as a "great champion". Imagine that, putting down the guy who's helped you along since you were a junior.

All this selective quoting stuff gets pretty boring, pretty quickly, doesn't it?

Loved Groucho....this clip is a forerunner/inspiration for Harry Enfield's Angry Man sketch too...



...and who can forget the infamous (!!!) Swordfish password sketch. So many to choose from...so much modern comedy is recycled. And not only were they good at comedy but great musicians too from their Vaudeville underpinnings. Ever see that piano sketch between Harpo & Chico? Unreal!

Julius - your imitation of a certain someone is pretty good. I particularly like your last one, Nadal's words are actually him slagging off Moya. You should be a red top journalist, you twist the words well.

Can you create a few more articles like this? I want to see if you can twist really innocuous quotes into something more sinister.

Murray's SPOTY acceptance speech was as polite and inoffensive as they come... Reckon you can drag a scandal out of that?

I love this one from Federer being present for Brisbane:

"Clearly being here now in Australia, it's probably a bit more special. I always wish him [Hewitt] the best. I hope he can win tournaments and move up in the rankings to give himself better opportunities to move forward in the draw.''

Well it's obvious he's saying Australia is more special when he's present. That's the good old narcissistic Fed we've all come to know and love

But then I think he gets confused because don't you have to move forwards in the draws to have better opportunities with rankings  and tournament wins...rather than the other way? Even the best get confused when they don't have their celebrity coaches in tow! A salutary lesson.

Federer in "England is less special than Australia " shock!