Rafael Nadal's 'Only Downside' Revealed By Roger Federer's Ex-Coach
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Rafael Nadal will always be remembered as one of the best tennis players ever, but even he had a downside, according to Roger Federer's former coach, Paul Annacone.
Nadal retired on Tuesday after Team Spain's defeat to the Netherlands in the Davis Cup quarterfinals. That ended one of the most legendary careers in tennis history, spanning over 20 years.
The 38-year-old won 22 Grand Slam titles, including an unprecedented 14 French Opens at Roland Garros, became the No. 1 on multiple occasions and secured an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 games in Beijing.
Several factors helped shape Nadal into a tennis legend, such as his unique and thunderous forehand, superb athleticism, underrated volleying, and never giving up, no matter the score in a match.
Nadal will also be remembered for his incredible rivalries against Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Those three players are widely considered the best in the sport's history, and the era when they competed near their primes was a special time for tennis.
The trio retains respect for one another. Federer and Nadal have an especially close relationship off the court, and the Swiss player wrote an emotional message to his great rival on the morning of what turned out to be his last day as a professional.
Although Djokovic and Nadal are not as close off the court, their relationship is still strong. Djokovic's video tribute to the Spaniard was also touching and filled with genuine admiration for the 14-time French Open champion.
However, even the best athletes have weaknesses, and Federer's ex-coach Annacone thinks he has identified what negatively impacted Nadal the most throughout his career.
Speaking to Tennis Channel's Inside-In Podcast, Annacone outlined how Nadal's humility sometimes hindered him during matches, but that is complicated because his humble nature was also an asset.
"Rafa’s only downside was also his biggest asset. His only downside was his humility and that’s also his biggest asset. There are times where I would look at him and wonder how he didn’t actually have a bigger ego."
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"He was always so gracious and so humble about what he’s doing that sometimes that hindered his ability to step on a court and just crush the ball."
Federer's former coach thinks Nadal's humility prevented him from ripping the ball when he felt vulnerable, pointing to his performance in his final singles match against Botic van de Zandschulp as an example.
"And when Rafa was vulnerable, he didn’t crush the ball and we saw that yesterday because he hasn’t played and it’s on his worst surface, his ball gets very spinny and it sits up. But because of that humility, he didn’t just walk on that court and star ripping balls everywhere."
"He felt like every match he had to be at the top of his game, he was vulnerable and because of that he sometimes played a little bit tentatively until he got the match reps in and then when he did that, he played more aggressive."
"But again the biggest liability, if he even had one, his humility and if you swap that for how gracious that is and what an asset that is, I’ll take that balance."
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