Carlos Moyà: The luck of being with Rafa Nadal | ATP Tour

Rafael Nadal

Moyà: The luck of being with Rafa

The coach and friend reflects on his time with Nadal

November 20, 2024

I met Rafa when I was 11 years old, in Stuttgart. He was playing in a Nike Junior Tour tournament, in the junior category, and I was playing in the Masters 1000 in that city. I think that at that time it was part of the Super 9 or Masters Series category, I don’t remember now. I was playing with Becker and Rafa came to training the day before accompanied by a person from Nike, who introduced me to him. They asked me to play 10 minutes with him, and we fought a little. That was the first contact we had. I had heard of him, but had not seen him in person. He seemed to me to be a very shy and polite child, who hardly spoke. Then on the court he transformed and had a very high intensity for someone of that age.

Then, in 2016, it was an incredible joy to receive the call from the team, but first I wanted to have a conversation alone with him. He came from two seasons where things had not gone well for him, he was 30 years old and did not know how he faced the future. We sat down to talk at my house and he made it clear to me what his objectives were. I didn’t have the slightest doubt in accepting because I saw that I would be able to achieve them. I had a lot of faith and when I saw his enthusiasm to try to get back to where he deserved to be, which was at the top and winning Grand Slam titles, I did not hesitate to embark on that project.

With that hope, I knew that I would be perfectly capable of achieving it.

Honestly, I thought my new role would be more difficult because it was something very different. We had been friends for more than 20 years, shared many things together, both on and off the court, and becoming his coach… I had my doubts about how it would work. It is true that I knew that Rafa is very polite and respectful, I had never seen him say a bad word towards his team or family. That is something that I also valued and that helped me when working with him. I don’t like the word boss, but sometimes you make decisions or have conversations that are not easy and there is a lot of wear and tear when traveling and spending so much time together. I was afraid that would erode the friendship part, but it hasn’t.

During that time, I would say there is nothing that surprised me, but I admired it. It hasn’t surprised me at all because my expectations for him have always been very high. But it is true that you continue to be amazed by its ability to evolve and improve.

Personally, I am fascinated by the fact that he can play each point as if there had not been a previous one, which is something very complicated in tennis. Rafa manages to put aside everything bad that has happened and forget it. That is one of the keys that allow you to fight for every point, every set and every match; one of the keys that have allowed him to reach such heights. The meaning of resilience, a word that is very fashionable, is Rafa. He has fallen many times, especially with injuries, and he has always come back and gotten up. All of these abilities are incredible and would surprise me in anyone else I didn’t know, but I know Rafa… It doesn’t surprise me, but it does make me admire him a lot.

Now that everything is over, I take with me many memories of an incredible time that will be unmatched. It’s something I’ll take with me forever. I’m grateful that he thought I could be part of his team on this adventure. I have learned a lot, I have had the opportunity to spend eight years with some of the greats in the history of this sport and my memories are wonderful.

Obviously, there will be things I will miss, but I take it as part of that gratitude. Having enjoyed all this time with a player like him, with a person like him, all the experiences we have had together with the team…

Surely there will be times when I will look back and feel nostalgic, but I always view new stages as something positive. Fortunately I have a wonderful family with whom I will be able to share a lot of time. Sure I’m going to feel nostalgic, but above all what I feel is gratitude and appreciation.

*Carlos Moyà has been Rafael Nadal’s coach from 2017 to 2024