Rafael Nadal’s former coach and uncle Toni Nadal has revealed that his nephew has not retired as he would have liked. Nadal announced his retirement in a social media message and said the Davis Cup will be his swansong.

Toni said Rafael would have liked to hang his boots on a high but it wasn’t the case as he was struggling to play consistently on the tour due to injury and fitness woes. 

“Rafa would have liked another good season on clay and that means winning or at least performing at a good level,” Toni Nadal told Marca. “He has not retired as he would have liked. I always told him not to complain because life has treated us better than we expected.

Toni said the 22-time Grand Slam champion decided to call it a day when he knew that he couldn’t play at his best level.

“Looking back now, you can say why he put it off, but Rafa had the hope of still giving his best version and when he was not convinced, he retired. It’s just that his body doesn’t respond. When he forces his body, it suffers from one part or another. The same thing happened to [Roger] Federer, he tried for two years and left.”

Toni coached Nadal for 27 years and played a key role in his success. The veteran coach revealed that his nephew revealed his retirement news in a family group chat.

“We have a family chat and Rafa said on Thursday that in a few hours a video was coming out announcing his retirement,” explained Toni. “In the group we are the five brothers and older nephews. I’m a pretty dry guy and I wrote to him: ‘Congratulations, you’ve had a good career.’ The others went on a bit longer. I say things up front, which makes me less lazy.”

Nadal will play at the ‘Six Kings Slam’ exhibition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia before the Davis Cup.