By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, March 16, 2020

Toni Nadal is the most influential coaching voice in nephew Rafael Nadal’s head and the pair share the same view on on-court coaching.

Toni Nadal favors coaching from the box and opposes face-to-face coaching on-court during matches.

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Last week, the man who taught the king of clay tennis starting when he was just four, led the Toni Nadal Camp at the Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre in Costa Mujeres, Mexico.

The camp at the tennis paradise that is the TRS Coral Hotel was part of the 50th anniversary of Palladium Hotel Group. Tennis Now was part of a group of seven media members to attend and will report on that unique experience later this week.

These days, Toni Nadal heads the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy in his native Mallorca and still talks tactics and technique with his nephew on the phone. But Uncle Toni says he would not want to coach on court if he was still coaching on the ATP Tour.

“For me, I would not like to go on court,” Toni Nadal told Tennis Now following a morning training session in Costa Mujeres. “But I liked to talk when I was the coach. Because when you’re in the stadium of the whole crowd the only one who cannot talk is the coach—it’s unbelievable.

“I think for me it was normal [to coach from the box]. In tennis you don’t talk because what can you say? It’s not like football. There’s not too much you can talk about [during a game].”

Pointing to fact coaching from the box doesn't disrupt the flow of a match while potentially inspiring players and engaging fans, Toni Nadal suggests coaching from the box already occurs so often "it's normal" to legalize it.

“For me, it’s normal that you can talk a little," Toni Nadal said. "To say something positive, encouraging—it’s part of competition. Sometimes tactics, but not too much. For me, the life has changed so we have to change something [in tennis]. So yes, I would support coaches to be able to talk from the box—not on the court.”

Mid-match adjustments may be one of Rafael Nadal’s most underrated assets. Renowned for shotmaking muscularity, Nadal showed strategic acumen altering his court positioning and winning 51 of 66 trips fighting off Daniil Medvedev in a dramatic four hour, 49-minute US Open final last September.

Though the 19-time Grand Slam champion has been massively successful playing under current rules, Nadal says prohibiting coaching from the box at majors is "a little bit stupid."

"I gonna say always the same,” Rafael Nadal said at the US Open. “It’s a little bit stupid that you have a coach traveling with you during the whole season and practicing with you every day, and is a little bit stupid that in the most important moment, he cannot tell you anything.”

In a nod to a popular Laver Cup feature, the ATP Cup created a “team zone” at each end of the court for its debut in January.

It allowed captains—including former Grand Slam champions Boris Becker, Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt, Gaston Gaudio— personal coaches and teammates to offer coaching advice during changeovers, set breaks and while the match is ongoing.

Novak Djokovic, who topped Rafael Nadal in singles then partnered Viktor Troicki to top Pablo Carreno Busta and Feliciano Lopez in the decisive doubles propelling Serbia to a dramatic 2-1 victory over Spain in the inaugural ATP Cup final in Sydney, expressed support for team zone coaching.

"That's the positive thing about this competition is that you have, you know, most of your team members actually sitting on the bench with you," Djokovic said in Sydney. "They are literally behind you, so you get to interact and talk and ask them about, you know, things that they see that you can't really see what you're doing right or wrong or what the opponent and the other player on the court is doing."

Last month, the WTA Tour began a trial rule permitting coaching from the box at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and Hungarian Ladies Open. The rule will remain in place at all WTA Premier and International events throughout the season.

It allows coaches to use hand signals from the box and to verbally provide “quick coaching tips consistent with the manner they currently engage a player” from the box. 

Both Toni Nadal and Rafael Nadal strongly support un-muting coaches from the box—though neither actively advocate for on-court coaching as the WTA Tour permits.

"In my opinion, will be good if—I don't know if coach have to come on court—but would be good if the coach can talk,” Rafael Nadal said.