ATP > “Arriving on the circuit at the age of 15, Rafael Nadal went from “dominant” to “dominated” by coming across pros who had much more strength than him, and he had to start running more to defend”, explains his former coach, Francisco Roig

After explaining why Rafael Nadal was not an example to follow from a technical point of view, his former coach, Fransisco Roig, in a very beautiful article published by our colleagues from L'Équipe returned to the evolution of the game of the Spaniard when he took his first steps on the main circuit at just 15 years old.

“At 13–14 years old, Rafael played aggressively, with a rather flat hit ball. Arriving on the professional circuit at the age of fifteen produced a big change. Because what was enough in the youth categories came up against a completely different reality. He came across pros who had much more strength than him. From “dominant”, he became “dominated”, and we had to start running more to defend. And when he reached second place in the world, barely three years later, he was already fully aware that he would still have to add elements to his Tennis to hope to land number one. But not a revolution, just lots of developments, key by key. »

Published on Saturday November 23, 2024 at 4:16 p.m.