I was very tough with Rafael, says Toni Nadal
In an interview the Rafael Nadal's uncle, Toni, recalled his beginnings at the Real Club de Tenis in Barcelona that has been hosting the ATP 500 event for decades. "When I was 12 years old, I saw a Masters match that took place in Barcelona in 1972, Ilie Nastase defeated Stan Smith in five sets and I got excited from there. Before, I had played some times in the club, but we always played football most of the times. From that match, I started liking tennis a lot", said Toni.
Then he went to Barcelona to study law. What marked him the most? "The police is the thing that marked me. I was living near Catalunya, and for me it was something crazy how people could use violence that way. I was very surprised, and that may be the worst aspect. On the other side I could see the Barça every week and I enjoyed it a lot. We were a good group of friends and we enjoyed a lot."
A few years after he came back home and he realized that his nephew had something special. "Everything was very natural. I was the club tennis coach in Manacor. I think he had not even turned three when one day he came with his father to the club, I threw him a couple of balls and I saw he had a very good co-ordination."
He also reflected on the concept of being a strict person: "Strict is a person who looks at rules and is not able to change them. I am able to. I am tough. The rankings do not influence me. I am very tough with my sons and I was with Rafael. I would never be it with someone who I do not care of or with someone who could not deal with the toughness of my words. The key values of the life are above all to be good people, taking care of others. If you get used to listen only the good things, you are never real. When people tell you that you are very good, they may say that without believing at it. The second thing is that if you look at all the bad things it's never good. People who triumphes are used to have a little wrong image of himself. They believe they did something amazing, and sometimes you should instead reflect a bit more."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2G9UfuG
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