Top tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou revealed that he was surprised by Rafael Nadal’s Australian Open victory, saying no one expected it to happen.
Nadal stunned the world at the Australian Open when he won his 21st Grand Slam. He beat a stubborn Daniil Medvedev in the finals after being down two sets, wrapping up the match with a stunning comeback.
It was sweet redemption for the Spaniard, who had spent the last year recovering from an injury. To come back at 35 years of age and beat some of the best players in the world for a record-breaking achievement is no mean feat.
The tennis coach revealed that he was surprised by Nadal’s Australian Open victory, saying it was a complete shock and upset.
“I think everybody saw him lose this match. He was dominated, he was extremely nervous, he was missing much more than usual,” Mouratoglou said on Instagram, as quoted by Tennis World USA.
“I think everyone will agree his number one quality is resilience and love for the fight.
“He loves the fight, he loves it when it’s tough, where most players don’t like those moments, he loves them. That’s where he feels alive and himself. And that made his career.”
Forcing mistakes
“He (Nadal) started to use a lot of slices to bring (Australian Open final opponent Daniil) Medvedev to the net, where he won important points,” he continued.
“The fact that he won points in situations when Medvedev was supposed to win made him doubt a lot.
“That was the turning point, the key. To bring Medvedev in a situation where he was uncomfortable, to make him miss kind of easy shots.”
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