Follow us on Google Discover Toni Nadal is undoubtedly one of the best tennis coaches of all time, having guided one of the greatest players ever to a legendary career.
Nadal, the uncle of Rafael Nadal, coached the 22-time Grand Slam champion from the beginning of his time on the ATP Tour until 2017.
During that period, Rafael won 14 major titles, including nine French Open crowns, two Wimbledon championships, as well as two US Opens and an Australian Open.
Toni was in Rafael’s corner for a large portion of his success before leaving his coaching team and allowing Carlos Moya to take charge.
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Toni has never been one to keep the tactics that helped his nephew a secret, having publicly shared his coaching style on numerous occasions.
In 2013, after Rafael won his second US Open title, Toni revealed the ‘biggest mistake’ any player can make on their forehand.
Toni Nadal’s advice to amateur tennis players for hitting a forehand
In an interview with Tennis World that year, Toni said that to hit a great forehand: “You need to be able to move the wrist very quickly. Also, the arm needs to be relaxed.
“The biggest mistake you can make when hitting a topspin forehand is when you move the racket too quickly up. If you move the racket up too quickly, it won’t be a good shot.
“You need that forward movement. If you just move up, you will get lots of revolutions on the ball, lots of spin, but the ball bounces on your opponent’s side of the court, boom, and it will lose all its speed.
“If you generate too much spin, you have another problem. Sometimes the ball goes a little short; it’s not so easy to put the ball deep into your opponent’s court. So make sure that you swing through the ball, and make sure that you follow through, that’s key.”
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He then added: “In this game, there is not only one way to be a good player. Playing with lots of spin, that’s not always so good, because of different conditions and different opponents.
“When you play against taller opponents, against Juan Martin del Potro rather than David Ferrer, topspin isn’t so effective.
“Top spin is good at Roland Garros and at other clay-court tournaments, but not always so good on hard courts when the ball doesn’t bounce so much.”
Toni Nadal’s potential future in coaching
Four years after leaving Rafael’s team, in 2021, Toni was appointed by Felix Auger-Aliassime, and he worked with the Canadian until 2024.
Since then, however, Toni has not been the coach of any ATP or WTA player, but has recently spent time working with world number three Alexander Zverev.
Zverev trained with legend ahead of the North American hard-court swing, and recently revealed he has been in touch with him since.
The German, who has struggled on tour this year, stated that he wants Toni to join his team before the 2026 Australian Open.
With Zverev still looking to capture an elusive major title, the appointment may be exactly what he needs to achieve the feat.