"He will be ready" - Rafael Nadal's coach Carlos Moya expresses positivity about Spaniard ahead of 2023 season
Despite his recent injury struggles, 2022 has been a hugely successful year for Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard has won two Grand Slam titles this season — a record-extending 14th Roland Garros title and his career's second Australian Open.
Nadal's coach Carlos Moya believes that despite the injury struggles in recent months, his charge will be ready for the 2023 season and will be a contender at big events. Moya recently told Europsort that the former World No. 1 is always ready to evolve and that he remains motivated for the upcoming season.
"He is willing to still keep evolving and being competitive, so as long as that happens and his body holds up well he will be ready," Moya said. "He will be ready for next year, he is motivated, he has proved he can still play well and be a contender to win big tournaments."
The 46-year-old, who believes it has been a successful 2022 season for Nadal, further mentioned that the 22-time Slam champion has been unlucky with injuries.
“He’s won two Slams, when you win two Slams in a year it’s always a good year, no matter what happens after that. He has been a bit unlucky with injuries, two bad injuries during the year, but he’s a great competitor and fighter, and we don’t give up and we still believe there is a chance to play well here," he stated.
“It’s not the best start we could expect" - Carlos Moya on Rafael Nadal's chances at the ATP Finals
The ATP Finals is one of the few tournaments Nadal has not been able to win in his illustrious career. To make matters worse, the Spaniard lost his opening round-robin match against Taylor Fritz in straight sets on Sunday.
Moya agreed that the loss was not the best start for Nadal, but stressed that his charge can still bounce back and win the event.
“It’s not the best start we could expect but that’s the good thing about this tournament, even having a bad day you still have a chance to qualify. We believe there is still a chance, obviously, that he will have to play better but we hope he will do it," said Moya.
The former French Open champion also praised Fritz for producing a high level during the encounter.
“The opponent [Fritz] was great and didn’t give him a chance to play his game. Rafa served well but the other parts of his game didn’t work and when you play like that in these conditions against such a good opponent then we saw what happened," he added.