Key Takeaways
- Toni Nadal used to be one of Felix Auger-Aliassime's coaches and he's offered to mentor the Canadian again, on one condition.
- Nadal told RG Auger-Aliassime he can come to the Rafa Nadal Academy and get free coaching.
- Auger-Aliassime won four titles in 2022 under Nadal's guidance.
Toni Nadal (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Toni Nadal swears up and down that he will hardly ever return to coaching, that he cannot find the motivation to spend weeks and weeks with a player on the tour. But he has not forgotten his achievements as Felix Auger-Aliassime's advisor, and he has a proposal for the Canadian: to help him. And to do so for free.
‘I told him. If you want to come to the academy, I will always be willing to help. Without charging,’ Nadal said during an interview with CLAY, also published by RG Media.
Toni Nadal, who coached his nephew, Rafael Nadal, for most of his career, was recently seen in Mallorca, at the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy, alongside Germany's Alexander Zverev. Is he going to become his coach? No, Zverev, who was fascinated by the experience, apparently took advantage of the same offer that Toni Nadal is making to Auger Aliassime: free advice.
The difference with the German is that the Canadian worked with Nadal for a long time, between 2021 and 2024, and the relationship was fruitful. Auger-Aliassime kept Frederic Fontang as his coach but added Nadal as an advisor. In 2022, the Canadian won four singles titles, as well as the Davis Cup, and reached sixth place in the world rankings.
That season, the Canadian won in Rotterdam, Florence, Antwerp and Basel and racked up 16 consecutive victories.
In an interview at the end of 2024 with ‘The Slice Tennis Podcast,’ Auger-Aliassime recalled what his relationship with Toni Nadal meant to him: ‘I have enormous respect for him, he helped me with several things and I had a great 2022 when he was part [of the team].’
How far is Toni Nadal from coaching a player today? If you listen to him, quite far.
“Look, I can't rule it out 100%, I like coaching. But I especially like helping the kids at the academy, even though I'm no longer the director,” the former coach explained, who now spends much of his time giving lectures and talks for different companies, focusing on topics such as motivation and leadership.
“To be a good coach, you have to be very dedicated; that's the main thing. You stand out when you're immersed in what you're doing, when you're obsessed. I was obsessed above all with Rafael (Nadal), with him becoming very good. That led me to always look for solutions, to look for the best strategy. At my age, what I think I can offer is tennis advice.”
Did that work with Auger-Aliassime? Can you give advice, without getting fully involved, and still be successful?
"Besides the fact that I enjoyed being back on the circuit for a few weeks, I think we did a good job. He reached 22nd in the world rankings and climbed to sixth the following year.
For me, it was stimulating, it was a great stage, but I told Félix myself: “You need someone who is much more involved.”‘
But that doesn't mean the relationship can't be rekindled.
“I also told him: ‘If you want to come to the academy, I'll always be willing to help. For free.”’
“For free" is not the most common offer in the world of tennis.
“I'd be happy if he came to the academy for a week. I'd be delighted to work with him,” insisted Nadal, who was brutally honest before starting to coach the Canadian in 2021.
"When Felix came to see me about working together, I asked him, “What's your goal?”. And he said, “To be world number one”. He was ranked 22nd at the time, and I said, “What do you want me to tell you now, what you want to hear or what I think I have to tell you?” And he said, “No, no, I came to listen to you.”’
Toni Nadal's story is part of a recent interview on the Spanish podcast ’El vestuario" on the sports website relevo.com.
"I replied, “Well, I don't see you as number one right now. I don't know how you can beat Djokovic, Zverev, Medvedev or Rafael, especially Rafael. But let's see if in a year or two we can achieve what we set out to do.”
Nadal, known for the extreme pressure he put on his nephew as a child and teenager, explained:
“I get people used to telling them what I think. I understand, of course, that you have to be careful, it's not a question of being cruel to anyone, you have to be careful, but you have to tell them things.”
The possibility of a new Nadal competing in professional tournaments is remote. Rafael has already admitted that he would support his son, Rafael Jr., if he wanted to be a tennis player, but Toni's children will not play on the tour, the coach told CLAY, despite the fact that at one point there seemed to be a possibility in that direction.
“No, no, no... My son is at university and plays, but... he wasn't good enough.”
