Alex Corretja doubts Rafael Nadal will follow Andy Murray’s footsteps after retirement: "I don’t see him as a coach"

Former world No. 2 Alex Corretja assessed the possibility of Rafael Nadal becoming a coach for a player on the Tour in the future, considering it "99% impossible" for Nadal to follow in Andy Murray's footsteps. The two-time Roland Garros finalist, who knows Nadal closely, doubts the Spaniard would want to stay connected to the Tour as a coach due to his personality.

Nadal played his final match as a professional a few weeks ago at the Davis Cup Finals, marking the end of his 23-year career. The Spaniard was defeated in the opening match by Botic Van De Zandschulp (4-6, 4-6), a crucial point for the Netherlands to advance to the semifinals.

Nadal’s retirement came just a few months after his colleague and one of his biggest rivals, Andy Murray, also retired. Recently, Murray surprised everyone by being hired as Novak Djokovic’s coach for 2025, creating a quick turn of events for the two-time Olympic singles gold medalist.

In a recent interview with Eurosport, Corretja spoke about the possibility of Nadal making a similar decision and becoming a coach for a player on the Tour. "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," Corretja said.

“I think he’s going to need time to realize 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,” the former world No. 2 added. “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,” said the 14-time ATP Tour-level champion. “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.”

Furthermore, the former Spanish tennis player mentioned that Nadal’s farewell left a bittersweet feeling, after criticisms emerged about the absence of high-profile figures like Djokovic or Roger Federer. “We all felt that it was not an epic moment. There were not very emotional feelings going on. It was very difficult because Spain just lost a few minutes before, and everything seemed 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,” Corretja added. “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.”