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Rafael Nadal’s goodbye is approaching. This Tuesday, Spain will debut in the Davis Cup in Malaga against the Netherlands in what is the Manacorí’s last tournament as a professional. The form of the former world number one is unknown, but Carlos Moyá – a member of his team – has no doubt that Nadal has to say goodbye through the front door. Before the microphones of ‘El Partidazo de COPE’, Moyá has acknowledged Juanma Castaño that if it were up to him Nadal would play, since it is ready.
“It’s something private, I haven’t asked Ferrer. It is a delicate decision and when you want to communicate it, you will tell me. It’s a ballot -for David Ferrer-. Whatever the decision, it will be 100% the captain’s decision, unless Rafa says no”, Moyá acknowledged, who still knows nothing about it.
I don’t see any other ending other than a happy ending to an incredible career.
Carlos Moyá, on Nadal’s goodbye
However, if he were captain it is clear that his pupil would play, since he sees him ready to take to the court in the individual. “I would take a chance on Rafa. I am always optimistic and positive and I don’t see any other ending other than a happy ending to an incredible career. I keep dreaming and I believe it can happen. Today I saw him well, training with Alcaraz and prepared”, he sentenced.
Just as positive as always, They don’t believe that tomorrow is the day of retirement of Nadal, although a defeat like that would mean it. “I don’t think that tomorrow will be Rafa’s last day in professional tennis, and it can happen. “It would be a shock to me.” confessed, also anticipating that when the time comes “It will be difficult to hold back the tears.”
Nadal and Moyá during training.
Moyá, key in Nadal’s career
Carlos Moyá also delved into the idea of goodbye Rafa, and in the bad moments of recent years that led him to make the final decision. “They have been two complicated years since he was injured at Wimbledon 2022. You feel empty, that you can’t help in any way. There comes a time when your head doesn’t work, even for a superhero like him,” analyzed. Rafa’s goodbye will also mean a time of mourning for him professionally, since “I have been with a friend, “I’ve known him since I was eleven years old.”
I told him that I was sure that he had Grand Slams left and that he could be number 1 in the world again.
Carlos Moyá, coach of Rafa Nadal
Their relationship has always been very good, with a talk in 2016 that was key for the future. “At that time Rafa had had two bad years, without winning a Grand Slam and I wanted to talk to him. I listened to him and told him that I was sure that Grand Slam left and that he could be number 1 in the world again. There was Federer at his best and Djokovic appearing. Rafa, 100% motivated, is a number 1 in the world. Tennis is super sacrificial and I know how difficult it was to do what I told him, but I saw a total predisposition”, he confessed.
A friendship beyond the professional
The fact that Rafa says goodbye does not necessarily mean the goodbye to Moyá as coach, but the friendship that unites them will make it take a rest time. Both for him and out of respect for a friend. “My plans are to be at home, calm, with my wife and my children; travel and be with them. It wouldn’t be honest to start with someone now, I don’t have the energy. Leaving him with Rafa requires a period of mourning on my part, there is an important emotional connection, I have been with a friend”, he stated.
However, said friendship It hasn’t altered their relationship in the slightest. professional, since both have known how to mix these two factors to be together during eight years of accumulating success. “I had my doubts about how it was going to affect our relationship because He became under my command. I had some ideas and having played so much against him, I knew I could explore. I have never asked for the impossible and at first it shocks a little and I had to convince him,” advanced.
I took statistics from his game and there have been times when I didn’t agree
Carlos Moyá, coach of Rafa Nadal
Despite the normal friction that arise in a relationship of this style, everything flowed in a healthy way from the beginning. “I got statistics from his game and there have been times when I didn’t agree. We have gotten along well, he is super respectful of everyone and even more so of his friend. I think it is the only person that I could work having had that friendship without resentment”, he concluded.
