With the tennis season already over, Carlos Moyá, Rafa Nadal's coach, takes stock of the course in an interview with Libertad Digital. The Spaniard believes that the performance of his pupil has been “positive” despite the “rare” season that has caused the coronavirus pandemic and values the victory achieved at Roland Garros, the 13th of his career: “Winning a Grand Slam always makes the year a great year.”
Moyá believes that the thorn has been not being able to reach “the final of the Masters Cup.” ANDIn terms of upcoming goals, the next Australian Open appears in red on the Manacorense calendar, which will be delayed compared to its usual dates due to the health situation: “Right now what we know is that, to this day, you cannot go to Australia until January 8 and for that and other reasons there are many things in the air.”
In another vein, Moyá reviews the state of tennis today. He believes that talent and strategy are giving way to physique, but also that there are still exponents of a more cerebral game, like Nadal himself: “There is always room for strategy. Rafa is a good example of this because he has a wide range of possibilities within his game and that is to be appreciated when building the points strategically (…) If you watch a Rafa match in London, you can see big differences from what he did a month before at Roland Garros. But it is true that this sense of adaptability and strategy is being lost. Players hit harder each time, points last less and depending on the opponent you play against, you hardly have room for strategy during the point. “
Rafa is a player whose mental strength has always been praised, and in that sense his coach assures that he has never seen him resort to professional help to control that aspect: “Since I've been with Rafa and without knowing if he has resorted to them before, I have never seen him need this type of help. It is also true that it depends on each player. There are those who have a stronger need in this regard, more insecurities or directly that they see it as something more necessary. It is a figure that, depending on the player, may have a greater or lesser importance because in this sport the head plays a very important role. But going back to Rafa, he takes it as standard “. And he clarifies that it is not a matter of arrogance: “If his ego were big he would not listen to us as he does.”