Rafael Nadal announced on Saturday that former world No. 1 and fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya is joining his coaching team. Moya will be part of a long-time staff that features Nadal’s uncle, Toni, and Francisco Roig.
“I am very excited to announce that Carlos will join my team immediately and will be working together with Toni and Francis Roig,” Nadal revealed. “To have someone like Carlos who is not only a friend but also a very important person in my career, is something special. He will be next to me on my practice and competition. At the same time he will also join the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar working with Toni and the rest of the technical team.”
Moya was part of Milos Raonic’s team in 2016, when the 40-year-old helped the Canadian finish with a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world. Raonic’s best season ever included a runner-up showing at Wimbledon and an epic semifinal battle with Andy Murray at the World Tour Finals in which he almost denied Murray a chance at finishing the year No. 1.
Like Roger Federer, Nadal endured an injury-plagued 2016 campaign. He was forced out of the French Open with a wrist injury and missed Wimbledon became of the same problem. The world No. 9 returned to capture the doubles gold medal at the Rio Olympics with Marc Lopez, but he never got on track in singles. Nadal played only two fall tournaments after losing to Lucas Pouille in a fifth-set tiebreaker during fourth-round action at the U.S. Open.
“Toni called me while I was at the IPTL competition,” Moya noted. “It was great to receive that call. To be able to help Rafa is something special for me and I am sure that, together with Toni, Francis, and the rest of the team, we have a great common project.
“Rafa is a special player and, above all, a great person. I have a lot of trust and confidence that he will be able to continue winning important titles. At the same time, the academy is an important challenge in an already very professional structure with great professionals that do an excellent work.”
“When I knew Carlos had stopped with Raonic I called him,” Toni said. “Carlos has always been a special person for us. He was always there to help us. We think it is the right moment to have him join our team.”
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Good move by Rafa and his team. Moya is someone they know and trust. I think they’ll work well together, hope to see a better Rafa next season and the seasons after.
Right moment????
#2Yrs2L8
Glad to see Moya joining Rafa’s team, but I don’t think it will make a difference. The only thing that would help Rafa is staying healthy and I really don’t think he can do that and win a lot any more.
Why won’t Rafa be healthy? His knees and back seem ok these days; his wrists issues were relatively new and not chronic so once he recovers, I doubt he can’t be fit and healthy again.
The most important thing is not to overplay, and to end points quickly i.e. plays more offensively and improves his serve to earn some cheap points. He enters 19 events next year; I hope that once he starts winning tournaments, he drops some of those 19 events so as not to overplay.
I think Rafa can reach top four again if not better.
This is good news. Regarding Rafa, I think the serve is the biggest problem. Lately Toni said in an interview that they still have not been able to develop a good serve. He was talking about being focused more on character development of Rafa Nadal rather than on technical skills.
The serve is an issue.
Yeah, we are/were talking about Rafa’s serve our whole life time! As I’d mentioned in the past, Toni lacked the foresight of helping Rafa developed his serve into a weapon. He should know all along that to succeed on surfaces other than clay, a good to great serve is essential. Perhaps Toni himself had doubted Rafa’s abilities and thought Rafa could only succeed on clay?