Toni Nadal admits Rafael Nadal isn't the same player than he was 10 years ago: "But in his head, nothing has changed"

Toni Nadal, the uncle of the former world number one Rafael Nadal, has admitted that his nephew’s is not the same as it was before.

The 37-year-old is currently recovering from a lengthy injury layoff and it was because of this reason he ended up missing three out of four Grand Slams. Toni was recently quoted in a report where he expressed optimism that his nephew might have a good run at Roland Garros in 2024 after regaining full fitness.

“Rafael is doing well,” he said. “He’s back in training with good intensity, with the most important thing being the (dream) of playing the French Open again. I don’t think he’s thought about retiring, for one simple reason, which he’s told me many times. He doesn’t want to retire with the feeling of being injured.

“What he dreams of is having a good year, trying to play at a very high level again. He knows it’s going to be very difficult, because every year it gets harder and harder… But his dream is to try to be here again, especially to play in Paris again. If his body is fine, he thinks he’ll have the chance to do really great things at Roland Garros.

“His movement wasn’t very good at first but over the last three weeks he’s been training at a good level,” he said. “The important thing is not to try to win, but to have the feeling of playing well.”

“He has the will to still be here, he loves tennis, he loves competition, he loves the game. It’s his dream to play the tournaments he loves one last time. The more he plays, the more competitive he will be. We know that his legs aren’t the same as they were 10 years ago, but in his head nothing has changed. He still has the same determination.”