Carlos Moya: The privilege of being with Rafael Nadal | ATP Tour

Nadal's retirement

Spirit: The privilege of being with Rafa

The coach and friend reflects on his time with Nadal

November 20, 2024

I first met Rafa when I was 11, in Stuttgart. He was playing in a tournament on the Nike Junior Tour, in the under-12 division, and I was playing in the Masters 1000 in the same city. I think at the time it was part of the Super 9 or the Masters Series, I can't remember now. I was playing with Becker and Rafa came the day before with someone from Nike, who introduced him to me. They asked me to play with him for 10 minutes, we hit it off a bit. It was the first time we jumped. I thought he was a shy and well-behaved boy, who never spoke. Then on the court he was transformed and his intensity was very high for a person of his age.

Later, in 2016, it was a great pleasure to receive a call from the group, but first I wanted to have a private conversation with him. He was coming off two seasons where things didn't go well for him, at the age of 30 he didn't know what to do going forward. We sat down and talked in my house and he set his goals for me. I did not hesitate at all to accept because I saw that he would be able to achieve it. I was very confident and when I saw his desire to try to get back to where he should have been, which was at the top and winning Grand Slam titles, I did not hesitate to join the project.

With that wish, I knew he would absolutely be able to achieve it.

In fact, I thought my new role would be very difficult because it was a big change. We were friends for more than 20 years, we shared a lot together, on and off the court, and we became his coach… I was skeptical about how it could work. It is true that Rafa is well behaved and respectful, I have never heard him say a single word against his team or his family. I also valued that and it helped me when I worked with him. I don't like the word 'boss', but sometimes you make decisions or have difficult conversations and it's hard to go and spend a lot of time together. I was afraid that might ruin the friendship, but it didn't.

Meanwhile, I said that nothing surprised me, but I admired many things. I wasn't surprised at all because I always expected a lot from him. But it is true that you are always surprised by his ability to evolve and improve.

Personally, I am happy that you are able to play every point as if the previous one never existed, that is very difficult to do in tennis. Rafa is able to put anything bad that happens to one side and forget about it. That is one of the keys that allows him to fight for every point, every set, every match; one of the keys that allowed him to go this far. The definition of fitness, a very fashionable word, is Rafa. He fell many times, mostly due to injuries, and he kept getting back up and coming back. All those skills are amazing and would surprise me to anyone else I don't know, but I know Rafa… It doesn't surprise me, but it makes me love him more.

Now that it's all over, I have so many memories of an amazing time in my life that will never be matched. It's something I will always take with me. Thank you for thinking that I can be a part of his team in this application. I learned a lot, I had the opportunity to spend eight years with one of the legends in the history of the sport and my memories of it are amazing.

Yes, there will be things I will miss, but those are the things I am grateful for. As we enjoyed all that time with a player like him, with a person like him, all the experiences we had together with the team…

I'm sure there will be times when I look back and feel nostalgic, but I always look at new beginnings as something positive. Fortunately, I have a wonderful family that I can spend a lot of time with. I'm sure I'll feel nostalgic, but what I feel above all is gratitude and appreciation.

*Carlos Moyà was Rafael Nadal's coach from 2017 to 2024