Toni Nadal is one of the main architects of the success of the world-class tennis star Rafael Nadal. His experience and ability to understand the game and the psychology of an elite player have worked to perfection to ensure that the innate abilities of his pupil could develop to the fullest.
Toni Nadal, who also competed in tennis for six years, introduced his nephew Rafael Nadal to this sport at the tender age of four and taught him to play. Rafael Nadal also played football and could have been a professional in that too, but when he was 12, Toni Nadal told him that he could achieve greater success in tennis. From that point, Toni became the coach, mentor, support, strategist and emotional anchor of one of the best tennis players in the world, Rafael Nadal.
“I always dreamt that someone I coached would make it big. That was my motivation and it kept me going when I went to coaching sessions”
Toni Nadal, who directed Manacor Tennis Club, decided to start training Rafael Nadal on tennis courts that were in bad condition, using poor quality tennis balls, just to show him that winning or losing did not depend on the quality of the court, the strings, the lighting or the type of balls you used, but rather on attitude, discipline and approach.
For him the most important qualities for winning, those that he instilled in Rafael, are modesty, mental balance and keeping one’s feet firmly on the ground. His philosophy is that you can only achieve success through hard work and that there is always room for improvement. Apart from that, another of his priorities was to develop Rafael’s character because he knew that this would have a profound impact on performance and motivation. Besides tennis, Toni Nadal manages Rafael’s foundation that sets out to offer opportunities to children.