Biggest challenge is to keep Nadal off court, says Moya
As the resurgent Spaniard hits 31, less is more, his charismatic head coach tells Simon Briggs in Paris
Coaching can be a contrary business. If your client is an emerging player such as Nick Kyrgios, the trick is to chivvy him into extra practice, better nutrition, and eyeballs-out effort in the gym. But when you are working with Rafael Nadal – the future Hall of Famer who celebrated his 31st birthday yesterday – you need to be pulling in the opposite direction. Carlos Moya, the former world No1 who joined the camp in December, identifies his greatest challenge as keeping Nadal off court.
“We try to keep the practices shorter,” Moya told The Sunday Telegraph this week. “Sometimes I cannot do it, because he likes to practise and he has been used to long practices. But I prefer shorter [sessions] with high intensity, and very specific.
“It’s different when you are 16, 17, 18, when you are in [a stage of ] formation, and you need hours. Now he has to be fresh, and that’s why you have to be careful.
“Sometimes it’s more important what you do off the court than on. Resting is part of training. You have to see and detect when more is better and when less is better. I have been in the same situation as he is. I guess that’s what experience gives you. You know better what you need.”
As Moya leans on the bar of the Lavazza Lounge at Roland Garros, shirt unbuttoned down to the solar plexus, you would hardly guess that he turned 40 last year. He won the French Open in 1998 and looks like he could make a decent fist of it today.
With his soulful eyes and wavy hair, Moya still possesses the charisma of a leading man. And soon he will be in charge of this coaching team, because Toni Nadal has already revealed that he will end an 18-year term as his nephew’s day-to-day companion in December, stepping down to run the Rafa Nadal Academy in Majorca instead.
A modest man, Moya gives Toni the credit for Rafael’s recent resurgence, which was rooted in an unusually long pre-season. While Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic kept scrapping over the No1 ranking until Nov 20, Nadal – who had been battling the aftermath of a wrist tendon injury – called time as early as Oct 12.
Stepping back from the lure of points and prize money might feel unnatural to the modern player but it is smarter than playing hurt. Look at Nadal’s greatest rival, Roger Federer, who returned from a six-month break to lift his 18th major title in January.
“I only came in for the last three weeks of pre-season,” said Moya, “because I had other commitments. But Rafa did two months in all. It’s probably the longest pre-season he ever had. And that’s been one of the keys for sure. When I saw him, I knew he is hungry to win again. He is willing to compete. He is healthy. We are talking about one of the best players here, so when you have all these things in the mix, sooner or later results will come.”
What, then, are the specifics that have taken the uncertain Nadal of 2016 – a man beaten by second-tier players such as Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki – and lifted him to the point where Nikoloz Basilashvili scored just a single game on Friday?
The cues are many and various, but we can trace adjustments in his equipment, his physique and his stroke production.
“To start with, Rafa has put more lead tape in the head of the racket,” says Moya. “It was a great idea, which came from Toni before I got there. It brings him more power.”
And what about the muscles, which are bulging to an extent we have not seen since the singlet days? “Yes, nutrition is having a big impact on him. The more muscle you have, the more protection you give to the joints.”
Finally, Moya agreed that the style of Nadal’s game has been refined. Once, it was all about the bloodcurdling forehand. Today, he has lost a hint of intimidation on that side, but the other side of the bargain has been an improvement in his all-round play.
“That’s probably true,” Moya replied. “But the forehand is big in a different way. Maybe it is not jumping that high, the ball. But we are trying to work on getting more speed through the court. Balls are different now, probably a bit heavier, so we have to adapt and try to do some damage in other ways.
“The backhand is much better than it used to be. And I told him in the beginning that we had to work a lot on the serve. Toni also thought that, and Francis [Roig, the third coach in the triumvirate]. We increase the speed on the second serve to be less predictable, to change more directions, to keep the other guy thinking. We don’t want his opponent to hit hard with the forehand and dominate the point.”
Andre Agassi’s return to the tour might be dominating the headlines. But who would bet against Moya – the guiding hand behind Nadal’s latest reinvention – being the supercoach in the winner’s enclosure next Sunday?