The Sun (Malaysia)

No Toni for Rafa

> Nadal begins new era without mentor and uncle in Australia

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RAFAEL NADAL showed that talk of his demise had been exaggerate­d by winning the French and US Open titles last year although he faces a battle to repeat those feats without his lifelong coach and uncle Toni while also fighting familiar injury troubles.

He returns to the Australian Open, where he lost a thrilling five-set final to long-time rival Roger Federer in 2017, after overcoming his chronic knee problems just in time and hoping to continue last year’s progress under new coach Carlos Moya.

Former world No. 1 Moya will lead the Mallorcan’s team, after spending last season with Rafael and Toni preparing for the latter’s retirement, having helped Nadal roar back to life after a barren three-year spell without a grand slam trophy.

He can take some credit for the vast improvemen­t in Nadal’s second serve, which helped the Spaniard win a 10th Roland Garros title without dropping a set and saw him blow away Kevin Anderson to lift the final major of the year in New York.

“I increased my serve by several kilometres per hour and I think I did better overall with my second than first, and I can say I won some points almost for free as a result,” Nadal said in an interview with Spanish daily AS in December.

“We’ll have to keep working on that because in my career there are two vital things, the serve and the return, where I start the point and where I have to attack so I don’t have to run more than I need to.

“It’s a new era and will be like adapting to a different routine. Moya has come with new ideas and new methods of working that have worked well and we are excited.” – Reuters

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