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Rafael Nadal Remodeled Team For The Final Stage of His Career.
Rafael Nadal Remodeled Team For The Final Stage of His Career.
The departure of one of his coaches, Francis Roig, leaves the Manacorí with a changed and remodeled team for the final stage of his career.
There are times when a break in time can be a victory for both parties involved. Rafa Nadal knows what painful changes are, although sometimes more than necessary. The two coaches with whom he won his first Grand Slam, back in 2005, will no longer accompany him next season.
Francis Roig, the historic coach in Rafa’s triumphs, has decided to embark on a new professional project on the ATP circuit, stopping training the man from Manacor for the first time in 18 years. It hasn’t been an ugly break or anything like that, but Rafa needed a new impulse for this final part of his career.
“I have made this decision after thinking about it a lot and I understand that the time has come to start a new project that includes more than one player and that allows me to form my working group for the coming years,” said Roig about his departure from a team Nadal that is now made up of Carlos Moyá and Marc López.
The departure of Toni Nadal
The departure of Francis Roig joins that of Toni Nadal at the end of 2017. At that time, Rafa’s uncle decided to dedicate himself to the academy and also to advise players. Top-level tennis players such as Félix Auger-Aliassime or Casper Ruud have emerged from his factory, which is a 100% product of the Nadal school.
Toni is the mirror in which Roig will look at himself after dedicating a lifetime to improving the game of Rafa Nadal who has reached impressive heights. Now, the best tennis player in the history of Spain faces a new stage with coaches completely different from the original ones.
The differences between each other
While Roig and uncle Toni had an impact on long points and the psychological exhaustion of the rival, the duo formed by Moyá and López seek to extend Rafa’s career through shorter, explosive, and dynamic points. Since Moyá entered at the end of 2016, Nadal’s serve has experienced a significant improvement to the point of turning it into a strength when before it was a weakness.
Rafael Nadal Remodeled Team For The Final Stage of His Career.
The transition from Toni’s departure as Rafa’s coach to make way for Moyá lasted exactly one season and the sequence has been repeated with Roig leaving his place to Marc López. The latter was a fundamental piece in Nadal’s career when he experienced one of his lowest points at the 2016 Brazil Olympics, winning a gold medal in doubles together.
De López highly values Rafa’s ability to see tennis as easy and also his quality when it comes to improving the game on the net. As a good doubles player, this coach has pushed his pupil to improve in this facet as Federer did in his day to winning Grand Slams close to 40 years of age.
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These changes are not the result of any improvisation, but of an evolution of Rafa Nadal as a tennis player. Few things remain of the boy who did not give up a ball for loss and who was a real fronton for his rivals. The winner of 22 Grand Slams has been expanding his repertoire until physicality is not the key to his game.
Now he has a more than important serve and some hard groundstrokes that give him a power capable of counteracting the best on the circuit. Nadal, at 36, wants to continue winning and knows that the road ahead is not easy. He is sure that with the help of Moyá and López he can continue to enlarge his legend.
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A former Ferrari engineer has criticised the decision to bring in Lewis Hamilton and thinks the Brit’s presence will mean “a lot of potential for drama”.
At the age of 40, seven-time Formula 1 champion Hamilton will form a formidable driver partnership with Charles Leclerc. His big switch comes at the expense of Carlos Sainz, who has performed well for the Italian squad but who was axed so they had room for their blockbuster new signing.
But not everyone of a Ferrari persuasion is convinced that it will go well. Ernest Knoors, who spent many years as an engineer at Maranello, specialising in power units, worries that Hamilton’s presence could do more harm than good for a team that is finding its groove under Frederic Vasseur.
“A big name like Hamilton also brings a lot of politics and if politics within Ferrari are not managed well, then there is a lot of potential for drama,” he told Formule1.nl. “Hamilton has the tendency that if things do not work out, he turns his whole car upside down and starts experimenting.
“Ferrari believes very much in the big personalities and will follow him. But Hamilton is just someone you have to guide a little bit and not give the freedom to rebuild the whole car, because then it will go completely wrong. So I do not know if it is such a smart move, but of course it is nice for the sport.”
News of Hamilton’s planned move broke on February 1, coinciding with football’s Transfer Deadline Day. That the back pages of many newspapers were dominated by the decision of Hamilton to swap Mercedes for Ferrari was testament to the magnitude of the announcement.
Sainz was not surprised as he had been informed by his team of the plan ahead of it being made public. But the Spaniard responded well with two victories to date this season and five further appearances on the podium, on the way to what looks likely to be a fifth-placed finish in the championship – two spots and 54 points ahead of Hamilton.
Sainz has signed for Williams next year and, after several years of running at the front of the grid, will focus on his new challenge of helping restore one of the grid’s most historic teams to its former glory. But Knoors believes he should have been kept on by Ferrari instead.
The Dutchman added: “I see Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari more as a PR move. With all due respect, Hamilton is not going to take that Ferrari from P6 to P1. He will get the most out of it, but what Ferrari has to do is make that car faster. And if you make that car faster, you can easily drive at the front with the current line-up.
“Besides, as a team you have to look further on the horizon. If Hamilton becomes champion in the coming years, he and Ferrari will become immortal. But if you want to build a team with talent for the next five years, are you going to build on Hamilton? No, because he will really be finished after two or three years. That is why I would have kept the very strong line-up that Ferrari has now.”
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Chase Elliott had a front-row seat for one of NASCAR’s most bizarre moments of the 2024 Cup Series season. At the start of Stage 2, the pace car dove onto pit road in front of Elliott; however, it was a tad too late. The pace car made contact with the sand barrels at the entry of pit road and caused a red flag for cleanup.
Initially, there was some speculation on the NBC Sports broadcast, even from the No. 9 team, that Elliott made contact with the pace car. Fortunately, the pace car didn’t slide across the No. 9 car’s nose, but it undoubtedly provided one of NASCAR’s craziest red flag moments in recent memory.
Below, you can listen to Elliott and the No. 9 team react to the pace car crashing into the sand barrels on pit road at Phoenix during Championship Weekend!
Reflecting on the recent retirement of 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., Earnhardt didn’t mince words about the toll NASCAR takes on its drivers. Speaking candidly, the two-time Daytona 500 winner admitted that the pressure to perform every week left him feeling miserable for most of his racing career—a sentiment he believes is shared by many of his peers.
“Right or wrong, racing made me a miserable person 90% of the time,” Earnhardt confessed. “And him too. I mean, ask Kyle Busch, ask anybody—unless you’re winning, you’re not happy.”
For these elite drivers, the sport is a relentless grind. A podium finish might bring temporary relief, but anything short of victory is often a source of frustration. The immense effort poured into preparation and execution rarely feels like it pays off unless the checkered flag is theirs.
Earnhardt highlighted the mental toll of falling short, explaining how the relentless focus on winning can overshadow the joy of simply competing. Even a solid performance feels hollow compared to the euphoria of a win.
“Unless you’re winning, you’re not happy at all,” he said. “You’re okay with a good run, but for the most part, all the effort it takes just to run good—it doesn’t weigh out.”
For drivers, the stakes are sky-high every week. Sponsors, fans, and teams demand nothing less than excellence, leaving little room for error or personal satisfaction in anything less than a dominant performance.
Earnhardt also shared insights into his friendship with Martin Truex Jr., who recently announced his retirement. While the two often spend time hunting together during NASCAR’s off-season, Earnhardt noted that the stress of racing even creeps into their leisure activities.
“When I’m with him during hunting season, it’s always in the back of his mind,” Earnhardt said. “It’s that stressful part of the year when he’s as miserable as he’s going to be.”
Now, with Truex stepping away from the track, Earnhardt looks forward to seeing a lighter, happier version of his long-time friend. Without the weight of weekly competition hanging over him, Truex might finally be able to relax and enjoy the outdoor lifestyle he cherishes.
“It’ll be fun to see him loosen up,” Earnhardt added.
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