Federer, Nadal Dominate Tennis Because Younger Generation Not Good Enough: Toni Nadal

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal continue to dominate tennis despite being in the latter stages of their careers because the younger generation is not good enough, according to the most successful coach in tennis history Toni Nadal.

Nadal is ranked number one in the world, while Federer is just 100 points behind at number two. There is no one close enough to usurp them at the moment with the duo dominating the sport since returning from their respective injury layoffs at the start of the 2017 campaign.

Questions were raised about their ability to challenge for the major titles when they struggled for form and fitness between 2014 and 2016, but any doubt was dismissed when they returned to dominate the tour last season. Federer and Nadal are currently the defending champions in all four Grand Slams and have a combined 17 titles between them in the last 16 months.

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray dominated in the season prior to Nadal and Federer’s resurgence, but the duo is currently battling their way back from injury. There have been very few players that have been able to challenge the two veterans since the start of the 2017 season.

Toni Nadal, who was Rafael Nadal’s coach for over two decades, believes unlike previous years when the younger generation took over from the older players, in the current era, the older players are continuing to dominate the tour.

The likes of Federer and Nadal took over from a generation that included Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Carlos Moya and are now considered two of the greatest to play the game. However, the players coming through on tour at the moment have not been able to challenge the top two ranked players on a consistent basis.

There are just two players under the age of 25 in the top-15 of the ATP men’s singles ranking — Alexander Zverev at number three and Dominic Thiem at number seven. The duo is among a bunch of younger players making their mark on the tour.

Zverev and Thiem have beaten Federer and Nadal in recent years in Masters Series events, but are unable to challenge them for titles consistently. And uncle Toni, as the world number one’s former coach is fondly known, believes it is because they are not as good as the previous generations.

“In the past, for many years every generation was breaking through and now it's not like this,” Toni told Libertad Digital, as translated by Tennis World USA. “The new (generation) didn't replace the previous. When we came to the professional tour, the best were (Andy) Roddick, (Lleyton) Hewitt, (David) Nalbandian, (Guillermo) Coria, (Roger) Federer, they were all 21 years old."

“(Juan Carlos) Ferrero 23, (Marat) Safin 24, (Carlos) Moya 27 and (Andre) Agassi was older. They were dominating tennis as youngsters and now older players dominate, not the younger ones,” Nadal’s former coach added. “The best in the world are Federer 36, Nadal 31, (Novak) Djokovic and (Andy) Murray 30. I believe that it’s caused by youth who have grown up in a different way. They mature later. We live in a technological world where it seems that we find solutions for the solution with new methods. There are statistic studies, but the reality is that above all, kids are worse than before.”