Clijsters Wins Second Straight Open Title
Uncle Lends Steady Hand in Nadal’s Unsettled Life
hang W. Lee/The New York Times
Rafael Nadal practicing with his first and only coach, his uncle Toni Nadal, before his Open quarterfinal victory Thursday.
It was nearing midnight at the United States Open on Thursday and Rafael Nadal was late for his postmatch news conference because he was in the men’s locker room shaving.
In the vainglorious world of professional tennis, there are worse breaches of civility than a 12 o’clock shadow. But Nadal, the men’s top seed from Spain, is his uncle’s nephew. And Toni Nadal, his first and only coach, views his job as making sure Nadal puts his best face forward.
Nadal, 24, has advanced to his third straight Open semifinal — without dropping a set — and is two victories from completing a career Grand Slam. He faces Mikhail Youzhny on Saturday.
On the court, Nadal is like a Spanish fighting bull, a snorting, charging aggressor who has lost his serve once in 76 games in this, his eighth Open. Away from the court, Nadal does not lower his head and charge ahead. He is polite to security guards, respectful of other players, accommodating to fans — cheek-kissing the actress and singer Grace Jones, 62, on his way out of the locker room.
The task of keeping Nadal grounded when he is away from home falls largely to Uncle Toni, as he is known around the tour. As jobs go, it is like being the makeup artist entrusted with Angelina Jolie’s face.
“I am happy when Rafael plays good tennis, but I take more pleasure when people say Rafael is a very good person,” Toni Nadal said. “For me, it is so much more important to be a good person.”
Nadal’s uncle is the one who steered him through his parents’ divorce; who acts as his coach and conscience. Toni Nadal grew up aspiring to play professional tennis and was among Spain’s top 50 players. Married with three children, ages 6, 7 and 9, he keeps such a low profile that television commentators who have interviewed Nadal say they know little about him.
Toni Nadal is reluctant to be interviewed, but his voice comes out of Nadal’s mouth during his news conferences. On Thursday night, Nadal tamed brutal weather and his quarterfinal opponent, the Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 victory that was a triumph of will over wind.
Nadal produced 18 winners and had 16 unforced errors, but he was out of sorts when his uncle found him in the locker room. Toni Nadal said his nephew was obsessing over his inability to settle into a rhythm. He adjusted his attitude by stressing how beautifully he had handled the beastly conditions.
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Nadal was asked by the news media to assess his performance and said, “Today I played — for the conditions — I think I played a great match against very difficult opponent like Fernando.”
At least twice in the match, Nadal raised his hand in apology to Verdasco — once after a bad challenge and the other after he pulled off a magician’s shot to win a point. His acts of sportsmanship pleased his uncle, whose favorite player growing up was Ilie Nastase, the former No. 1 from Romania whose tantrums often overshadowed his tennis.
“When Rafael was young, I thought he could be a good player but never did I want to see him be bad on the court,” his uncle said. “I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.”
Nadal has talked about how tough a disciplinarian his uncle is, telling El País in an interview this year, “It’s pressure to go to practice and know that you have to do well because, otherwise, there will be problems.”
Toni Nadal is constantly reminding his nephew that his worst day on the tennis court is better than most people’s best day. He drove home that point after Nadal sported a long face throughout his first-round match against the 93rd seed, Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia, who extended him to two tie-break sets.
After the match, his uncle talked to him about his demeanor. “I tell him you must be always grateful of the life,” Toni Nadal said. “I think one of the most important things I say always to Rafael is to have a good face. Because in this life, the ball going out is not a very big problem.”
Toni Nadal is in business with Nadal’s father, Sebastian, back in Mallorca, where they operate a restaurant and a glass and windows company. He said he can speak freely to Nadal because he accepts no money to coach him.
Nadal agreed, telling The Guardian last November: “It’s important to have people around you with enough confidence to say if you are not acting in a good way. Normally, when you are at the top, people say everything is fantastic. Probably in that moment it is what you want to hear, but it’s best to be reminded how to act properly."
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In 2005, Nadal was No. 2 in the world, behind his longtime rival, Roger Federer, when he arrived in Shanghai for the season-ending event featuring the top eight players.
One night, Nadal, his uncle and his publicist, Benito Pérez-Barbadillo, decided to dine at their hotel’s rooftop restaurant. As Toni Nadal recalled, on the elevator ride up, Pérez-Barbadillo noticed that Nadal was wearing long shorts and told him that there was a dress code but that the restaurant would surely be willing to relax the rule. Toni Nadal said he turned to his nephew and said, “Rafael, you must go change.”
And Nadal did.
“When you think you are the king of the world,” Toni Nadal said, “you are really stupid in my opinion because in this life every person is important.”
José Higueras, a former pro from Spain who is a director of coaching for the United States Tennis Association, said that story “would describe Toni right there in terms of what’s right or wrong in his mind.”
At a tournament in Barcelona a few years ago, the organizers approached Nadal in the locker room after a match, Higueras said, and offered to arrange for him to slip out a back exit to avoid autograph seekers.
“Rafa said: No. No,” Higueras said. He left by the main exit and signed for everybody.
Higueras described Nadal’s relationship with his uncle as “very unique” and said, “I think Toni has made a great impact on Rafa tennis-wise and the way he conducts himself.”
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