Do you think nadal should hire a second coach?

Question

There is no doubt Uncle Toni is great coach. He mentored nadal to being one of the greatest if not the greatest clay court player. He even coached nadal to be a grass court champion by winning Wimbledon. But he openly said he does not want nadal to play on hard courts because it is punishing to nadal's knee's when playing on that surface. Although nadal has won 4 masters tourneys, yet he does not have the proper hard court play. HE still brings his clay court style on hard courts. I think he should hire another coach to help him upgrade his hard court play. Let us face it. Eventually he will be the number 1 player. He cannot stay at this position if he will not upgrade his hard court play. Imagine 32 of the 62 annual tennis tournaments are played on hard courts. Five of the 9 masters events are also played on hard courts and 2 of the Grand Slams. Federer is on the decline. Djokovic, Murray are beginning to make waves as hard court favorites. If he will not make an immediate move, these guys will finally catch up on him and strip him off his number 1 ranking.

Answer 1

i agree, maybe a part time hard court specialist to advice him! he does play a good hard court game but once in a while he starts playing a clay court game oh hard! if he doesn't put in lot of effort into improvin his hard court game then its his loss because he has the potential to get 10+ slams! atlat leastw he doesnt lose against nobodies like blake,berdych,etc! no disgrace losing to federer or djoko on hard but if he wants to win slams he needs to beat these guys!

Answer 2

I think what Rafa needs more than anything is inspiration and confidence....that is why we now regularly see on-screen his spanish girlfriend...dont be too technical about this...Rafa is also human....

Answer 3

no

Answer 4

If its not broke, don't fix it.  Uncle Toni has taken him so far, and I worry that a change might hurt more than it would help.  

From what I've seen, the one aspect of Nadal's game that suffers the most is his forehand on hardcourt.  It's too loopy to be a real threat, and when the topspin makes it jump up, players like Djokovic can really crush it.

However, Nadal still does respectably well on hardcourts and has a few hardcourt titles.  Even if it is not his best surface, he plays well enough on grass and clay that he should be able to get and hold #1 no problem.

To get back to your original question about a new coach, it's hard to say.  It could help, or it could to nothing.  With Roddick for example, Brad Gilbert helped a ton, but Jimmy Connors didn't really do much.  Mabe Rafa could work with Gilbert, but he's doin just fine with old Uncle Toni

Answer 5

No, he's fine, leave him alone. He's #1 for a reason.