Uncle Toni's stunning admission about Djokovic win
Toni Nadal has made a startling admission about what nephew Rafael could have done to stop Novak Djokovic clinching a record seventh Australian Open title.
The 17-time Grand Slam winner from Spain was swept away by Djokovic in just over two hours as he suffered a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 loss at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday night.
As Nadal’s former coach and someone who knows the Spaniard’s game perhaps better than anyone, uncle Toni has shared some eye-opening post-match analysis on the final.
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He was quick to credit the Serb for his near-flawless performance and admits that when he is playing in the form that saw him sweep Nadal aside in Sunday night’s decider, there is essentially nothing his rivals can do to stop it.
“From the beginning we saw an opponent ready to attack and play at a high speed, Toni Nadal wrote on his website.
“On many occasions, a good attack from my nephew served as food for a winning return of the Serbian.
“I do not know if there is a possible tactic against such an inspired opponent.”
Nada’s aggressive approach had served him superbly throughout the tournament, as the Spaniard dominated lesser opponents.
However, in Djokovic, the World N0.2 found an opponent that thrived on the aggression and simply could not be bullied like Nadal’s other victims.
“Maybe I would have agreed to play more for the centre and try longer exchanges,” uncle Toni added.
However, the Spanish star’s uncle doesn’t believe Djokovic’s victory represented a widening of the gap between the Serb and the rest of his rivals.
“I think the result of the final gave the feeling of a wider distance than, in fact, there is,” Nadal wrote on his website.
“Djokovic touched perfection and Rafael was less successful than in the rest of the tournament.”
Nadal agreed afterwards that Djokovic’s own aggression and faultless tennis simply pressured him into making uncharacteristic mistakes.
“I make more mistakes because he pushed more. That’s all. It’s not about being more nervous,” Nadal said during his post-match press conference.
“I have been having normal nerves, like the final of a Grand Slam. But the things started so quick and he was pushing me to every ball. What on other days have been a serve and a ball that I can have in offensive position, today have been in defensive position. That’s not nerves. That’s things that happened quicker than what happened the previous days.
It wasn’t the end he was hoping for, but the Spaniard is still pleased with how he performed over the two weeks at Melbourne Park as it was the first time he had played competitive tennis since the US Open in September 2018.
However, he admits he was well sort of Djokovic’s standard on the day.
“It was unbelievable the way that he played, no doubt about that,” he said. “I played fantastic tennis during both weeks, but probably playing that well, I didn’t suffer much during both weeks.
“Five months without competing, having that big challenge in front of me, I needed something else. That something else probably, I don’t have it yet, to compete at this super high level.”
With agencies
