In an interview to L’Equipe, Rafael Nadal’s uncle Toni spoke about the younger players trying to breakthrough over the older ones. The 58-year-old believes they need to make more effort. “The new generation needs to reach a top level, or Federer will still be playing finals at 45”, said Toni laughing.
“What’s abnormal is that the youth aren’t ensuring a succession. But it’s not just tennis. Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are still there, I’ll try and say what I want to say tactfully: perhaps the young players lack some commitment towards their sport and careers.
I think they could be a bit more dedicated. They’re very good, Shapovalov, Zverev, Tsitsipas etc. But I sometimes get the impression that, when they’re winning, everything’s good, and when they play badly, they don’t do all they can to try and change something.
Turn it around and look at Djokovic, Federer or Rafael. When it’s going well, they play well, and when it’s going badly, they’re not playing badly, and they still win. They find some way or other to get there.
I saw Rafael against three young players in Australia in January and I didn’t see them try and change anything. When Rafael was seventeen against Hewitt, he was present all the time, and he tried to win one way or another.
He lost (7-6, 7-6, 6-2) but he tried. Still, some of the young players behave very seriously, very consistently, like Borna Coric or Jaume Munar. I tell the students at Manacor that they need to watch Munar
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