ATP Tour - Nadal coach unhappy

Eurosport - Tue, 21 Apr 23:53:00 2009

Rafael Nadal wrapped up a fifth consecutive Monte Carlo Masters title and is overwhelming favourite to make it five in a row at the French Open, but his uncle and coach Toni is still not happy.

TENNIS 2009 Monte Carlo Masters Nadal - 0

World number one Nadal enjoyed a 6-3 2-6 6-1 victory over Novak Djokovic in the final to equal the record of five titles set by New Zealander Anthony Wilding a century ago.

He is now 23-1 in clay court finals, with his only loss coming at Hamburg in May 2007 to Roger Federer and has pulled level with the Swiss with 14 Masters crowns.

Uncle Toni however wants more.

"He played a good third set, but it's obvious he must play better than this week," said Nadal senior.

"He was missing a little confidence in his game and you could see that his serve was incredibly weak. But it's the first tournament on clay this season for him and I hope that with some more matches, it'll get better.

"We know that there's a lot of work to do before Roland Garros. But he still won.

"It's a very important tournament for us and to win for a fifth time is incredible."

Nadal, who now has a 139-4 winning record on clay since 2005, insisted that thoughts of a fifth French Open triumph are at the back of his mind with the Barcelona and Rome Masters to come in between a return to Paris.

"I'm not thinking about Roland Garros yet, I'm focused on Barcelona and Rome - there are more important tournaments before Paris," said Nadal.

"It's unbelieveble to win five titles in Monte Carlo. If I had to pick one Masters Series to win before the season it would be here.

"I felt well physically and mentally on the court."

Djokovic, the world number three, praised Nadal's clay court power.

Nadal's next task is to bid for a fifth consecutive title at the Barcelona Open.

The Spanish star, who hails from the island of Mallorca, considers the city something of a second home, with his past title runs at the Real Club proving real crowd-pleasers for the Catalan public.

Nadal last lost at the venue in the 2003 second round, going out to Alex Corretja, current clay court coach of Andy Murray, the man he defeated in the Monte Carlo semi-finals on Saturday.

Barcelona is part of another ambitious spring schedule for the world number one, who is tuning up for his assault on a fifth straight French Open triumph at Roland Garros from May 24 by playing four out of five weeks.

And despite dominating on the surface, the reigning Wimbledon, Paris and Australian Open champion warned: "I haven't played to my level on clay yet, I'm still not at my best.

"So I have to improve if I want to have chances."

That is considered fair warning to second-seeded compatriot Fernando Verdasco as well as returning Russian Nikolay Davydenko, the third seed, out for much of the season with a heel injury but revitalised by a Monte Carlo quarter-final.

Spaniard David Ferrer and wild card Fernando Gonzalez of Chile make up the top five seeds.

Russian Marat Safin, the 2000 champion, has been given a wild card as he plays what he says is his final season. He begins his campaign against Juan Monaco.

Reuters

Comment 37 - 56 of 56

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  1. HA HA HA !
    No thanks, I already have a girfriend :-)

    From Igor K, on Wed 22 Apr 12:34PM

  2. Hey Igor..are you suggesting that you want to kiss my­ @#$% too?

    From vamos.rafa, on Wed 22 Apr 12:10PM

  3. Ha ha ha guys, you know to be funny sometimes :-)
    what­ about a brokeback mountain ?
    ;-)

    From Igor K, on Wed 22 Apr 11:25AM

  4. Better than being a hunchbacked servant to Frankenstein­ or some mad scientist, Igor!

    From vamos.rafa, on Wed 22 Apr 11:19AM

  5. Nice shot Igor. I didnt know that show reached your­ place.

    From Ray V, on Wed 22 Apr 10:07AM

  6. Yeah, but Nadal had a streak of 32 in 2008, lots of­ buttheads started spreading drug rumours. Nobody says­ RF was on drugs. Nadal's style demands more­ physical input,yes, but it's also true that­ he's GOT more physical resources to invest. Work­ ethic plus gym training equals strength and stamina.

    From James W, on Wed 22 Apr 10:03AM

  7. James W

    Federer's style doesn't need much­ effort as Nadal and Murray .as they almost call him­ "the effortless player" he won these matches­ with his metality that's why over 50% of tennis­ fans pick him as the best

    From ola azmy, on Wed 22 Apr 2:45AM

  8. novak je zakon

    From milivoj s, on Tue 21 Apr 11:20PM

  9. HA HA HA ! Vamos and Ray like beavis and buthead :-)

    From Igor K, on Tue 21 Apr 9:46PM

  10. elenstep.....stop talking out of your @#$%

    From R, on Tue 21 Apr 9:14PM

  11. So comment 44: what are you talking about?

    From James W, on Tue 21 Apr 7:43PM

  12. Federer won 41 matches in a row between 2006 and 2007.

    From James W, on Tue 21 Apr 7:42PM

  13. Hi Hanna. It seems others are picking up on this now.­ Yes, Rafa has seemed to go walkabout at the beginning­ of the second set on several occasions. Indian Wells­ was a strange match: Murray never came to terms with­ the wind and Rafa used it to advantage so it was a bit­ of a walkover. It'll be interesting to see how he­ plays in Barcelona, maybe a chance to relax and enjoy­ himself.

    From James W, on Tue 21 Apr 7:22PM

  14. Thank you Ray V! Happy to be back and ready to jerk a­ few chains.
    U shld go to topic "Rankings- top 4­ pull away" and have a good laugh!
    Igor K­ didn't like it that I said Djoker was on his knees­ in the match...which every spectator saw him do. Not­ easy with the back aching and all.

    From vamos.rafa, on Tue 21 Apr 5:03PM

  15. Hey vamos rafa. Nice to see you back here . Our dear­ friend Igor was so happy with Djoker being the second­ best in Monte Carlo.

    From Ray V, on Tue 21 Apr 4:51PM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    It's good that Nadal is so silly he decided to play­ three straight weeks in spite to his early loss last­ year in Rome. I hope he will have the same result this­ year. If not it will mean that he uses drugs. Nobody­ may win three tournaments in a row if he does not­ support himself with doping. By the way, once I heard a­ very strange thing from a TV commentator: in tennis a­ player is checked when he loses, they never check a­ winner. In any other sport the winners are checked­ first of all. It shall be introduced in tennis too.

    From elenstep, on Tue 21 Apr 4:40PM

  17. Hello, fans!I'm an amazing girl from UK. I like­ Nadal very much. I have a blog on
    -- Seekingtall Co m­ -- I like to share the funny things of him with other­ fans,esp handsome guys~~

    From zonablk01, on Tue 21 Apr 4:33PM

  18. faeelisabethcoleman,I know exactly what you mean!
    I­ noticed in almost every match, he seems to have a lapse­ for about 10-20 mins..like his mind was­ elsewhere..that's when his forehand goes loose,­ ball in the net and all the uncharacteristic errors.­ Almost as if, he's letting his opponent catch­ up.
    And then all of a sudden, he comes back. But­ certainly not with del Potro in Miami.

    From vamos.rafa, on Tue 21 Apr 4:06PM

  19. I personally thought that Rafa played better in the­ semi-final than the final, he definately has not­ reached his peak on clay yet and he served dreadfully,,­ I for one found myself screaming at the t.v saying­ "for god sake Rafa, where's your first serve?­ or for the love of god, please Rafa, hold your serve­ now!" it was soo stressful until the 3rd set, why­ does he stress me out like that? I watched him in­ Miami, and that was heartbraking, he was all over the­ place, and his lost to Del Potro was exactly like he­ said, he's bad play, not Del Potros unbelievable­ game, Please!! I haven't seen him play so bad as­ Miami, so I have to say I am relieved to see him­ improve with each match in Monte-carlo and of course­ win, he;s too resilient not to. Lets hope he still­ continues with good matches to improve like he did last­ year and take his first RG as No.1...Go Rafa! God bless­ U! and best of luck being perfect for Roland Garros­ and Wimbeldon.XXX

    From faeelisabethcoleman, on Tue 21 Apr 2:55PM

  20. Uncle Toni don't push Rafa so hard or you will push­ him over the edge and it will ruin his career.You­ expect so much of him he is great just as he is please­ be aware of that.
    Rafa is only 22 years old and has­ done so mich for tennis already let him have a break­ sometimes.Just thinking of Rafa and his health uncle­ Toni ok.

    From AJ, on Tue 21 Apr 1:46PM
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