Former British No1 Tim Henman believes Rafael Nadal should not be written off just yet but feels a new addition to his coaching staff could help the Spaniard recover from his slump.
Nadal suffered his fourth successive early exit at Wimbledon on Thursday, losing to world No102 Dustin Brown in four sets.
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It was also the fourth straight year Nadal has lost to a player ranked between 100 and 150 at the All England Club, having fallen to Lukas Rosol (No100) in the second round in 2012, Steve Darcis (No135) in the first round in 2013 and Nick Kyrgios (No144) in the fourth round last season.
Barring two titles in small 250 events this year in Stuttgart and Buenos Aires, Nadal has been far from his explosive self in 2015 and had his worst clay season in over a decade.
His defeat to Brown was his 12th of the season and Nadal could potentially drop out of the top 10 when the new rankings come out on July 13. He is also likely to end the season without a slam for the first time since 2004.
Despite making winning the Wimbledon title twice, many believe the Spaniard’s glory days at the All England Club are a thing of the past, with no chance of a possible return.
“No, no, no, he’s 28, he’s been in the final five times, he’s twice a champion, he’s a great player, we should definitely not write him off,” Henman told Sport360 on Friday.
“He’s having a difficult time. It happens. Grass is always difficult in the early stages, if he hasn’t found his rhythm, everyone’s vulnerable.
“If you look at the style of those players, Dustin Brown, Nick Kyrgios, Lukas Rosol… very dangerous players, they could beat anyone on their day.”
Ex-world No1 John McEnroe has said on BBC Radio 5 Live's 6-Love-6 that Nadal needs to find a new coach to replace his uncle Toni Nadal, who has coached the Mallorcan all his life and that “clearly at this stage it would appear that some fresh ideas are in order.”
Henman doesn’t think firing Toni is the way to go but that adding a fresh perspective can help Rafa moving forward.
“I think he doesn’t need to get rid of Toni but I think some fresh input would help,” said Henman, a four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist. “You think of the other players, (Novak) Djokovic has got (Boris) Becker, (Roger) Federer has (Stefan) Edberg, (Andy) Murray had (Ivan) Lendl. I think some fresh input to freshen up the ideas might be a good idea but that’s up to him.”
Would he be up for the task? Henman quickly responded: “No, no, not me.”
Rafa has repeatedly said that he would never fire his uncle and the only way they would stop working together would be if Toni decided he would no longer be able to travel with him as much, or if he got to a point where he needed to spend more time coaching his own kids – Rafa’s cousins.
The world No10 refused to discuss retirement following his latest defeat, telling Spanish press: “I take it day by day, tournament by tournament. After some time we’ll see where I am at, where I can be and where I can’t be. If I continue like this for two more years then we’ll see…
“When the day comes when what I’m doing is no longer motivating me, I will search for other things to do. Right now, that is not the case. I have the personal motivation to do something and I will fight for that.”
Toni doesn’t feel he and his nephew can continue like this for two more years. He told Spanish radio station COPE: “A day like today is worrying. I don’t see us going like this for the next two years.
“I want to think that Nadal can win the US Open but today, the odds of that happening are rather few.”
