Rafael Nadal Fights Mentally Every Day to Break Roger Federer’s Record: Toni Nadal

Rafael Nadal’s former coach and uncle; Toni Nadal has revealed that his nephew fights mentally every day, thinking about beating Roger Federer’s records on a daily basis.

Rafael Nadal ended his 2019 Grand Slam season on a high note after clinching his 19th Grand Slam title at the US Open 2019, last month. The Mallorcan finished with two out of the four major titles to his Grand Slam tally, inching closer to Roger Federer’s all-time record of 20 Grand Slams.

“I think Rafael fights on a daily basis for two or three things,” Toni Nadal revealed. “The first one for special satisfaction; all athletes try to motivate themselves. Now Rafael has another battle: he is very close to Federer on the Grand Slams. I imagine it will be a priority of his on his mind.”

Toni Nadal further suggested that along with beating Federer’s record, surpassing Novak Djokovic in the ATP world rankings to end the year as world No.1 is also one of Rafael Nadal’s biggest targets as he always had difficulties to end the year as world No.1 due to injuries.

“Then you have other challenges; this year he can end as a number one,” the 58-year-old Manacor said. “He always has difficulties to end as number one, because he was always forced to end his season because of an injury and this year he has many points more than Djokovic. I think what motivates him is to be doing well.”

Rafael Nadal married to his long-time girlfriend Xisca Perello at La Fortaleza in Mallorca on October 19th. The Spaniard returned to the court shortly after his post-marriage vacation as he played an exhibition match against Novak Djokovic in Kazakhstan on October 24th.

The 33-year-old is scheduled to play the Rolex Paris Masters 2019, next week, followed by  ATP Finals in November. Nadal has also confirmed his appearance at the Davis Cup 2019 next month.