Rafael Nadal liked football more than tennis as a kid, says uncle Toni
In an interview, Toni Nadal recalled when his nephew Rafael took a crucial decision: focusing on tennis full time and leaving football. Toni's brother, Miguel Angel, played for FC Barcellona for many years and Rafael would have loved to follow his footsteps. "Rafael didn't play a lot of tournaments as a kid", Toni explained. "He only played one junior tournament, at Wimbledon. As a 13-year-old he was still playing football and tennis, he liked football much more than tennis but in the end he decided to be a tennis pro because he won some tournaments. Playing tournaments is important, but the most important thing is to try to do your best every day. And you have to be responsible for yourself. Today we see many parents, many kids saying: "The problem is his coach, the wind, the court, the balls".
Toni also commented on players taking more time than the past to breakthrough: "When we came to the Tour, the best player was a Swiss guy, Federer, who was one of the best, Coria, Nalbandian, Roddick, all of them were 21 years old. Roddick was 20. Then Ferrero 23, Safin 24, Moya 27, Agassi 30. Now the best guys are past 30 years old. Now we have many more things like technology. We studied bio mechanics, we have doctors, we have nutritionists. And the other people are wrong. The most important things are always the kids, the passion, the players. The difference between us and animals is that we can improve. Now younger players do not think when they hit shots, while I always told Rafael: hit the ball stronger in practice, because during a match you will not hit it as strong. And when he was training, I told him: "You have four shots left to come to the net".
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2BJP9nE
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