Rafa cousin Toni Nadal also makes ITF debut
Uncle Toni's kids get a taste of the professional air: after Joan Nadal Vives , who appeared for the first time in the men's ITF tournament in Manacor last week, the older brother Toni Nadal made his debut.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Jan 11, 2021, 08:24 am
Both start with a wildcard in the qualification tournament - and both were successful at the beginning: 17-year-old Toni Nadal beat Luxembourg's Lennart Melzer 6: 2, 6: 2 and now meets Oleg Prihodko, who was seeded at eleven.
His younger brother, the 16-year-old Juan Nadal Vives, defeated Denis Klok (currently number 661 in the ATP ranking), who was listed on seven, with 6: 2, 5: 7, 10: 8. He now meets Peter Benjamin Privara.
Both Nadals are still without a ranking.
The Nadals would need two more victories to move into the main draw of the tournament at the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy. An ITF event took place there last week, here Juan Nadal Vives was also in the qualification , but lost at the beginning.
Junior tennis? It's not for the Nadals
Both sons of Toni Nadal - Rafa's long-time uncle coach - have so far been without appearances on the tour. Also in the junior division, only Juan Nadal Vives played a match last year. Not surprisingly, Rafael Nadal only played two official ITF junior tournaments at the time, one of them at Wimbledon, where he reached the semi-finals (2002). Instead, he entered early on in the then Futures and Challenger tournaments.
The fact that the Nadals are extremely talented in sports is nothing new: before Rafael Nadal, Muguel Angel Nadal (uncle of Rafael, brother of father Sebastian and Toni Nadal) made a name for himself as a footballer at FC Barcelona and as a 62-time national player for Spain.
Toni Nadal, who trained Rafael Nadal from an early age and accompanied him on the tour, had withdrawn from the coaching team of the now 20-time major champion at the end of 2017 in order to devote himself to the youth work at the Rafa Nadal Academy.