In this interview, Toni Nadal describes what was the philosophy that guided him in coaching Rafael Nadal.
These are very useful ideas for anyone who wants to direct themselves in guiding a young person.
The principles and values - “In a passage from the essay The Civilization of the Spectacle, Mario Vargas Llosa writes – What does civilization of the spectacle mean? That of a world in which the first place in the current scale of values is entertainment and where having fun, escaping boredom, is the universal passion – in this way, not being bored, avoiding what disturbs, worries and distresses has increasingly become for social sectors from the top to the bottom of the social pyramid, a generational mandate. I would add that this has contrary, if not devastating, consequences for good character formation.”
Value of difficulties - “I don’t like things to be too good. As Quevedo (a Spanish writer and poet) said, “He who expects that everything in his life will be to his liking, will have a lot of problems,” and I think that’s the case. Also, I think people learn much more in the difficulty than in the ease, so that was my idea. Especially that it was understood by Rafael as well.”
Winning and continuing to work hard - “When you get used to winning a lot, sometimes you forget your principles, you forget what made you win. That’s why I think you always have to pay attention to these things. When Rafa gained a lot, I remember always telling him to work harder to prolong the positive moment. Then when things got a little bad, I told him to train harder to get out of this tunnel as soon as possible.”
Always wanting to do well and get better - “All my life I thought that if we didn’t do things right, others would be good enough to overtake us. The historical moment has been very high, at all times we have been very close to victory but also very close to defeat.”
Respecting opponents - “The first thing is that respect is not only with Federer, it’s a respect for everyone. I don’t understand another way of understanding tennis and life if you don’t have respect for others. Then, when the bad times came, we always overcame them in the same way, through reflection and acceptance of adversity.”
Living life outside of tennis with simplicity – “Rafa has experienced that emotional maturity like any other tennis player. When he’s on a tennis court and there are 25,000 people watching, it’s clear that it’s something very special. But when he leaves the court, he’s a totally normal person. I never tried to make Rafael an example, I just tried to never make him a bad example.”
Accepting mistakes and defeats – Understanding and accepting that even if we did all that, things wouldn’t necessarily go well. He grew up listening to and especially absorbing a whole series of phrases I repeated to him tirelessly: if you can’t defeat your rival, at least don’t help him defeat you. Doing everything we touch does not guarantee success; not doing it almost certainly guarantees failure. When we fight in an entirely adverse situation, we will almost always end up losing; but there will be a day when we can turn the tide. And that day will justify all the previous ones. It is very difficult to master the ball if you are not able to master your will.”
