Felix Auger-Aliassime is no longer working with Toni Nadal, and he explained why they stopped working together.
The young Canadian and the experienced Spanish coach started working together a few years ago with the hope of improving Auger-Aliassime’s tennis, especially on clay. Their collaboration looked promising at times, as the Canadian made it to the Top 10 while also playing at the ATP Finals.
He played amazing tennis for a while, but things went south after that one amazing year. Last year wasn’t very good, and this year hasn’t been that good either. Their split came short after, and many wondered what happened.
Auger-Aliassime spoke recently about it, admitting that it wasn’t anything against Toni personally, but his own preference for a smaller team of people. With the split, Auger-Aliassime remained with his lifelong coach, Frédéric Fontang, physical trainer, and dad, who are part of his small team.
“I have a lot of respect for Toni and we maintain a good relationship. Some time ago, I decided that I wanted to have a smaller team, with my lifelong coach, my physical trainer, and my father.”
The partnership with Toni Nadal was not in vain, of course, because Auger-Aliassime improved under him and learned a lot. He even admitted it himself, and it’s something he’ll carry with him forward, but it was time to end it, according to the Canadian player, who is trying to re-discover his form.
“I have learned a lot from Toni in relation to the philosophy of life that he has applied to tennis and his experiences with Rafa. I really liked his approach that you have to push yourself every day, be humble in difficult moments. I think I accept difficulties better and I learn more from defeats. to his approach.”
