Rafael Nadal has announced that coach Francisco Roig is leaving his team. Nadal, 36, has been working with Roig since the start of his career. Roig was an instrumental part in making Nadal an all-time great. In his statement, Nadal described Roig as a special person and wished him all the best in the next chapter of his life.
“I wanted to inform you that Francis Roig is leaving the team. Francis has been an important person in my career and I am very grateful to him for all these years of work and friendship. When we started working together I was a child and together with my uncle Toni, we started on the circuit.
Francis is a great coach who knows tennis very well and has helped me a lot to get better and better. I only have words of gratitude and I wish him all the luck in the world in his new project,” Nadal announced on Twitter.
Nadal announces Roig is leaving his team
Five years ago, Nadal started working with Carlos Moya. A year ago, Nadal added Marc Lopez to his coaching staff. Even with the departure of Roig, Nadal still has a very strong coaching staff.
Meanwhile, Nadal is preparing for the 2023 season. Earlier this year, Nadal won his second Australian Open title after beating Daniil Medvedev in an epic five-set final. In January, Nadal won’t have an easy job of defending his Australian Open title.
After being denied participation at this year’s Australian Open, Novak Djokovic has recently been informed that he is allowed to return to Australia in January. With the return of Djokovic, many think Djokovic is the top Australian Open favorite.
However, Nadal can never be underestimated. After missing almost the entire second half of the 2021 season, Nadal was underestimated going into the 2022 Australian Open. Nadal then proved the doubters wrong and won the Australian Open.
