"Rafa would have retired if he hadn’t evolved" - coach Moya on Nadal's evolution
ATP
Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer are not the youngest anymore, but they still keep winning Grand Slam titles, and the Spaniard's coach explained why.
The 36-year-old Spaniard often needs to adjust his game because of different injuries. Not only because of that. At 36, he's not able to move as well as he used to a few years ago.
In the fourth round of the 2022 US Open, Nadal will face Frances Tiafoe, and he will need to come up with some special tactics again, as his opponent has yet to lose a set in Flushing Meadows this year.
Ahead of the match, his coach, Carlos Moya, talked to ATPTour.com. The Spanish coach discussed the changes that Nadal had to make in New York to be more efficient. The main change was his serve.
"In New York, he’s playing with a different serve. During the training sessions, we saw that he was struggling to serve like before, going after the ball at the top, reaching. To protect the area, we changed to a serve that allows him to be competitive."
"So far, he’s serving pretty well. It’s a different method, but on a fast court, or even at Wimbledon, it’s a serve that can be very effective. He’s getting more confident and he hasn’t lost any speed. And the bounce is livelier with the new serve, the spin he puts on it is having more effect."
Moya also spoke about Nadal's 2022 season. He has won two Grand Slam titles so far, which can be considered a great success, even though he was often stopped by injuries.
"It’s a perfect year, but one that has been full of incidents. When he’s played, his level has been spectacular, above all at important moments."
"But it’s true that there have been incidents, preventing him from having the continuity he would have liked. We mustn’t forget one thing: he’s a 36-year-old player, with a lot of miles under his belt. It’s normal for the body to gradually start faltering."
Moya also spoke about how Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic are simply ahead of the rest of the field. According to him, they keep evolving despite being near their 40s, which allows them to continue dominating.
"A 35-year-old player like Djokovic, 36 like Rafa, or 37 like Federer when he came back in 2017... for them to still be capable of winning Grand Slams, they have to evolve. They have beaten the new generations for all these years."
"Everyone knows them better, but almost nobody can stop them, they can’t find a way. Rafa would have retired if he hadn’t evolved. Without that evolution, all three of them would have retired."
