Toni Nadal, the coach and uncle of Rafael Nadal, believes it is impossible for a coach not to encourage and communicate generally with a player during a match.
The issue of coaching from the sidelines has been a controversial one at SW19 this year with the Wimbledon champion, Novak Djokovic, forced to field numerous questions regarding a controversialdebate that has escalated following an interview given by his coach, Boris Becker.
Becker stated that Djokovic’s team sometimes provide verbal assistance to the Serb during matches. Section VIII (i) of the ATP’s rulebook states: “Players shall not receive coaching during a tournament match. Communications of any kind, audible or visible, between a player and a coach may be construed as coaching.”
Nadal, who has coached his nephew to 14 grand slam titles, does not expect the rules to change because the tennisauthorities rarely modernise the regulations. The 54-year-old also said it is natural for coaches to give encouragement on the sidelines.
“You pay a coach to watch the game. It’s unbelievable that all the other people [in the stadium] can say what they want and the coach can say nothing. It’s unbelievable. You pay a coach to go all the way to Australia, then all the crowd can say what they want and the coach has to sit four hours silent. I say things like pay attention, come on, move your legs, but nothing else. It’s impossible [to say nothing]. In our federation in Mallorca they had rules where coaches could say nothing to the kids. I said it’s a problem because it’s difficult for them to learn when they are young.
“Encouragement is because you want to help your player; it’s all to help your player. It’s the same [as instructing]. For me the most important thing is the spectacle. The net is the same, the materials give players more power, but tactics disappear on court. The problem is the ITF [International Tennis Federation] don’t want to make change. In every other sport there are changes.”
Rafael Nadal plays Dustin Brown of Germany on Thursday after beating the Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci on Tuesday. Toni said of Brown: “He is a player with a very good serve. It’s an unpredictable game. It’s difficult to play against people like him.”
