He does Rafa no favours. Talked far too much as usual at a press conference in Argentina and also said this gem. It's nothing new - Nadal has said the same thing i.e., when Roger gets into a rhythm and plays very fast then the match can go very quickly. So obviously it suits Nadal for the game to be slower but Toni does Rafa a disservice by focusing on that rather than his nephew's game.
He even said, Roger v Rafa is like a Ferrari facing a BMW - you need to take the Ferrari down a winding road. [All via @BATennis]
Toni Nadal: Federer is better than Rafa, but the ATP favours the Swiss.
French Open champion and King of Clay Rafael Nadal recently described the ATP calender as 'negative' as it gives a preference to the hard courts over clay and other surfaces. Now uncle Toni has also come out in support of his nephew by saying that the ATP favours hard courts and other faster surfaces which favour Roger Federer.
Toni Nadal invited by sponsors to talk tennis to children in Sao Paulo, Brazil was very vocal when asked a few questions. To his surprise a lot of questions asked were about Roger Federer and not his nephew, most believe that Federer is the greatest player of all time, to this Nadal responded by saying:
"This sentence does not bother me. It’s the truth. Federer is better than Nadal and the titles say this. It's also true that we play on a circuit that is in his favor, made of tournaments that are held on super fast courts. But the debate on who is the best in the history of the sport should not be done with Rafa but with Rod Laver, who was unable to play for several years and we all know he could have won more titles. Regarding the matches, Rafa is winning the matches played against Federer but for me it does not matter that much, for example, Davydenko has a favorable record but we all agree that Rafa is better than the Russian."
As the question changed to the off court relationship between the two legends, the coach was once again open about it,
"I would say that they have a very respectful relationship more than friendship. Federer is 31 years old; he is married and has two daughters. Rafael is 26 years old and although he respects and admires Roger he prefers to have friendships with people like Mónaco, Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez. Tennis for both of them is very important but if we see it from our point of view, I would certainly have preferred that Federer was not there, this would allow Rafael to win more titles and to remain number one for the longest time. But the same goes for Roger, at Roland Garros he could have won three more."
Re: Toni Nadal: Federer is better than Rafa, but the ATP favours the Swiss.
As much as I like to hate uncle Nadull the title is a little bit misleading. He doesn't say the ATP favours Fed but that HCs is the main surface all year long, which is true but this is how the circuit was made long before Roger or Nadull became players.
The "super fast courts" stuff is pure garbage though.
What would all you guys do without Nadal to hate....even when he is gone, he is the focus of most of your hating. Now that's true dedication to a pathetic cause
It's so painfully obvious that your (mostly) man-crushes on Federer were sorely tested due to Rafa (and to a lesser extent Djokovic more recently) and you have never forgiven him.
If Federer never existed there would still be a large contingent of tennis followers who detest Nadal for his cheating, slow play, fake humility, whining and butt picking. It is a shame Nadal is such a prick because his clay court game is tops.
I can't wait for Nadal to make his return. His disgusting behavior and outlandish antics take on a quality of high comedy whenever he haplessly attempts to compete on a reasonably fast surface. Come on Nadal. Quit your cowardly hiding and play the indoor season and WTF. Everybody loves a good joke!
Toni just blew my mind. I always thought the idea for Rafa was to go for broke against Roger. All those booming aces and outright forehand winners deceived me.
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