‘Rafael Nadal copying Andy Murray’s coaching move is 99.9% impossible’, claims Spanish tennis great
Former world No 2 Alex Corretja has assessed that the prospect of Rafael Nadal coaching a player on the tour is “99% impossible.”
Nadal played the final match of his remarkable career last week at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion was beaten by 6-4, 6-4 by Botic van de Zandschulp in the first leg of Spain’s surprise 2-1 quarter-final defeat to the Netherlands.
Carlos Alcaraz downed Dutch No 1 Tallon Griekspoor in straight sets in the second singles match to force a deciding doubles rubber. The 21-year-old then partnered Marcel Granollers in the doubles — and the duo were beaten in two close sets by van de Zandschulp and Wesley Koolhof.
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray — two of Nadal’s biggest former rivals — shocked the tennis world last week by announcing they are set to join forces in a player-coach partnership.
Like Nadal, Murray also retired last year — with the British legend partnering Dan Evans on the doubles court in his last match at the Paris Olympics in August.
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Speaking to Eurosport, Corretja addressed the possibility of Nadal following in Murray’s footsteps by becoming a coach.
“In my opinion, it’s impossible. 99.9% impossible, because you can’t say totally impossible in life. But I would be very, very surprised,” the two-time French Open finalist declared.
“I think he’s going to need time to realise what he really wants to do. I have the impression that even if he has children and is busy at home, Andy has less to do on a daily basis.
“Rafa lives in Manacor and he has his academy. So I don’t see him moving around much. Maybe Andy still wanted to travel, to have this experience.
“I don’t really see Rafa as a coach or a consultant for anyone. I would see him more as a consultant for something big like Real Madrid, contributing something to the club by giving a few speeches.
“I would see it for a short period of time. Three months or six months. But on a daily basis, I don’t really see it.”
The Spanish tennis legend also gave his thoughts on Nadal’s farewell in Malaga after the ceremony came under fire from several high-profile figures.
“We all felt that it was not an epic moment. There were not very emotional feelings going on,” Corretja said.
“It was very difficult because Spain just lost a few minutes before and everything seems to be very cold. It was because it was not just an exhibition. It was a very important tournament for everyone.
“Once Spain lost, it was like now we need to make this recognition to Rafa, but no one was ready for that. Plus, then the images they showed and the people that were in the videos or whatever, which even if they were stars, they were great. But at some moment, we felt like we were expecting something else on court, some of his ex-colleagues or whatever.
“They were not ready for that, because they were thinking that maybe to do the whole thing on Friday, but they forgot that tennis, you know, you can lose to anyone. And that’s what the Netherlands did against Spain.
“It was good because they tried their best and Rafael was quite emotional with the crowd and everyone and everything, but not as deep as we felt. Rafael is always epic, and we didn’t feel that epic on his goodbye.”
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