Nadal’s camp admit Spaniard had easiest of paths to glory
World No 1 avoided ‘top’ players on way to title Coach Moya reveals how champion fazed his rival
Funny old tournament, this US Open. Despite some early cameos – notably from Canadian prodigy Denis Shapovalov – finals weekend felt distinctly flat. And Toni Nadal, the veteran coach who is about to abdicate from the tour, was not afraid to admit it.
“During the match I thought Rafael was better than Kevin,” said the man universally known as Uncle Toni, in the wake of Nadal’s uneventful 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 victory over first-time finalist Kevin Anderson. “For us it’s normal that he’s a little more fresh than when he plays here against [Novak] Djokovic. It was not the same. This tournament was different because we play against [Alexandr] Dolgopolov, [Andrey] Rublev, good players but not the top. I don’t want to say anything bad for our opponents but this time some lost [or, rather, got injured] before playing Rafael – Murray, Djokovic, Wawrinka, Nishikori, Raonic. And then Federer lost. But Rafael has played well and was the best of the people who has played.”
Does this sound like a mean-spirited verdict? It should not, because Toni Nadal is a congenitally honest character with a boiled-down approach to life. To take one example, he refuses to get married because “if we are friends, you know it and I know it, and we don’t need to announce it; it is the same with my girlfriend”.
When asked about his departure from Nadal’s player’s box after this tournament, in order to concentrate on running the family’s new tennis academy in Majorca, Toni Nadal said: “For me it’s nothing special [to finish with a victory]. No different than the other times when he won a grand slam. Rafael has Carlos Moya and Francisco Roig and he doesn’t need me [at tournaments]. I can be in my house.”
It is hardly as if he is leaving his nephew in the lurch. The hiring of Moya during the last off-season was such an obvious declaration of intent that your correspondent, in a rare moment of clairvoyance, predicted at once that Nadal would win a slam in 2017.
As it happens, Nadal has added two more majors to his trophy cabinet this season, taking the running total to 16, as well as Masters events