Rafael Nadal could be up for a new job in tennis, less than a year after retiring. The 22-time Grand Slam champion is reportedly set to take on a mentorship role with Alexander Zverev after the world No. 3 was spotted training at his academy in Mallorca.
Zverev has struggled for form in recent months and suffered a shock first-round exit at Wimbledon. The German has since headed to the Rafa Nadal Academy, where he has been seen on the court with Nadal’s uncle and former coach, Toni.
According to Sky Sports Germany, Toni could become Zverev’s new head coach, while Nadal will mentor him. The 28-year-old has long been coached by his father, Alexander Zverev Sr., but he reportedly did not make the trip to Mallorca.
Nadal has not worked with any players since retiring from professional tennis at the Davis Cup Finals last November. The former world No. 1 has yet to address the rumours, but his uncle Toni has been seen on the practice court with Zverev and has plenty of coaching experience.
Toni worked with Nadal until the end of the 2017 season, guiding his nephew to 20 of his 22 Major titles. The 64-year-old also had a stint working with Canadian star Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The news of Zverev’s new coaching hires comes just a couple of weeks after he was dumped out in the first round of Wimbledon and later suggested he was struggling with loneliness and a lack of motivation.
“I would say [the issue is] more mental, probably. It’s funny, I feel very alone out there at times. I struggle mentally. I’ve been saying that since after the Australian Open,” he said after losing to Arthur Rinderknech in a five-set match that spanned two days.
“Yeah, just don’t know. I’m trying to find ways, trying to find ways to kind of get out of this hole. I keep kind of finding myself back in it in a way. Yeah, I don’t know. I feel, generally speaking, quite alone in life at the moment, which is a feeling that is not very nice.”
Zverev seemed keen to take a brief break from the sport, and he pulled out of this week’s ATP 250 event in Gstaad, citing ‘personal reasons’ off the back of his revealing Wimbledon press conference.
But it seems he changed his mind and jetted to Manacor, Mallorca, to train at Nadal’s base. And he may have been convinced after seeing Toni’s recent El Pais column, in which he said Zverev’s comments “filled him with sadness”.
The Mallorcan tennis coach added: “I have a great deal of affection for him, and I wouldn’t want him to read this as criticism, but the truth is that all these years he hasn’t managed to correct what he needs in order to become a Grand Slam champion.”
And he may well get the chance to impart his advice.
Zverev has already worked with several high-profile coaches in the past. He hired Juan Carlos Ferrero – who now coaches Carlos Alcaraz – in 2017, but they parted ways in early 2018.
Ivan Lendl joined the team a few months later but was gone by mid-2019. And David Ferrer had a brief stint with Zverev in 2020, which also lasted less than a year.
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