“I won’t tell him” Toni Nadal caught in a crossfire as Rafael Nadal and Felix Auger Aliassime clash in the French Open 2022


“I won’t tell him” Toni Nadal caught in a crossfire as Rafael Nadal and Felix Auger Aliassime clash in the French Open 2022

Rafa Nadal, Toni Nadal and Felix Auger Aliassime

Rafael Nadal, the thirteen-time French Open winner, and the biggest clay-court Champion will face the world number 9 Felix Auger Aliassime in the fourth round of the 2022 edition. Rafael Nadal has not had much practice before coming into the Roland Garros. He was out of the first few tournaments due to a rib injury, then he lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open and lost in the Italian Open 2022 courtesy of the appearance of the chronic foot pain. It was quite a scary incident but Nadal never looked out of touch in Paris as he gets ready for a fourteenth title.

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Felix Auger Aliassime on the other hand has reached four successive quarterfinal appearances on the clay court before coming to Paris. His path to the quarterfinal at Stade Roland Garros is a lot tougher with Rafael Nadal being the person to beat. Auger Aliassime has been receiving some coaching from Rafael Nadal’s uncle and coach Toni Nadal, who is caught in the crossfire as the two players compete in the fourth round for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Toni had already made his stance clear on coaching Felix. He had said:

“If we have to play with Rafa I will not be on either bench out of respect for both players and because I am still director of the Academy, I continue to work for him and I am Rafael’s uncle. I have a special affection as usual for my nephew. But if you have to lose to someone who is Felix. I do not stop being Rafael’s uncle, I have many years of connection with him. Hopefully in the future Felix will be the number one in the world. For now, he has to improve.”

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Also Read: ‘Closing in on the 22nd!’ Rafael Nadal blasts into the fourth round of the French Open, gets Uncle Toni’s pupil Felix Auger Aliassime next

A tough test awaits Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal at the Roland Garros 2022

It’s going to be an awkward encounter for Toni as Rafa takes up on Auger Aliassime. There is a conflict of interest for Toni to help either of the players and so he has chosen to not even make an appearance in their clash. Toni said:

“I’ve already told Felix that I won’t tell him if my nephew has this or that. I’m not going to tell him how to beat him. But I also couldn’t, from an ethical point of view, tell Rafael what he has to do to beat Felix.”

Felix is playing beautifully on the clay and so is Nadal and it would be worth seeing how the two come up with plans to break each other. This match would be a great test for Nadal’s fitness and also he would love to get such a stern test before an expected encounter with Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the Roland Garros.

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