I never saw Rafael Nadal as a genius, says Uncle Toni
Toni Nadal has full admiration for his nephew Rafael, but he downplayed praises heaped on the latter. Speaking to Bein Sports, the 57-year-old said: "I never saw him as a genius. People told me: "He is an amazing person." An amazing person would not play tennis. I do not consider anybody amazing and not even a person who makes a ball go through the net."
Toni also recalled Rafael's beginning in tennis: "When he won the first Spanish Championship, I asked the list featuring the last 20 tournament winners. I read him the list and I told him: "This guy was the Spanish Champion like you, and we do not know who he is. This is another Spanish champion, I do not know him." In a happy moment, I always wanted to set an unsatisfaction point, because to improve you have to set a key condition: not believing yourself as somebody who is good enough."
Turning the two-handed forehand on one-handed was the key of his success: "He started playing everything two-handed and he was playing well, but when he was ten years old, I told him: "How many two-handed top ten players do you know?" He told me: "No one". And I told him: "You will not be the first." I did not care that he would overcome him, so I told him to change, and I did not know very well if he was a lefty or right-hander. But when he was hitting a strong ball, he would do it with his left hand, not right. But he is lefty just when he plays tennis."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2IMTIUb
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