Dustin Brown Defeats Nadal, But Is Uncle Toni To Blame? John McEnroe Speaks His Mind On Longtime Coach
Rafael Nadal’s loss to 102nd qualifier, Dustin Brown, has many tennis fans scratching their heads on whether this is the end for the Spaniard. There is one person who seems to have the answer to Nadal’s problem. John McEnroe sure doesn’t mince any words as he said that Uncle Toni should be fired as his coach.
According to The Telegraph, the former No. 1 player spoke out on his BBC Radio Five Six-Love-Six program, saying that if he ever wanted to come back to beat players such as Dustin Brown again, he should rethink who should be coaching him.
“Rafael Nadal is one of the great champions – a class act. He plays with a lot of effort and energy but, dare we say, is it time for some fresh blood in the Nadal camp? Can we say that? Uncle Toni’s going to be upset.”
Uncle Toni has been Nadal’s coach pretty much all of his career in tennis. They are a close-knit family and are also known for their loyalty to each other, so firing Uncle Toni would most likely not be an option at this point.
However, McEnroe says that it may be a good idea anyway. He tried to speak as nicely as he could in the beginning, but he is not known for staying quiet for too long. So, he went on to say this.
“I know that he has had other people like Carlos Costa and they have tried to gently persuade Uncle Toni [to change]. He has done a magnificent job sonce he was a little kid and told him it was a good thing to go left-handed – but clearly at this stage it would appear that some fresh ideas would be in order.”
McEnroe eventually blurted out exactly how he feels after basically being told that he was beating around the bush about the whole thing. This is the typical John McEnroe that everyone is used to hearing.
“I’m saying get a new damn coach!”
Losing to Dustin Brown in a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 match was pretty much devastating to the long career of Rafael Nadal. In the press conference after his defeat, he looked pretty sad, but he said that he will still be looking into what he needs to do to eventually make a comeback after this upset against Brown.
“I’ll keep going – it’s not the end. It’s a sad moment, but life continues. My career too. I have to keep going and working more than ever to try to change that dynamic.”
Dustin left the No.10 player in the dust with his surprisingly winning tactics on the tennis court. With his dreadlocks flying, he became an instant sensation at Wimbledon this year by upsetting Nadal, as previously reported by the Inquisitr.
WATCH Relive the excitement of Day 4's major upset with Nadal falling to Brown in four sets 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.https://t.co/Zxncj9aHTk
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2015
Can Dustin keep up the momentum? He will find out when he meets No. 22 seed, Viktor Troicki. The 30-year-old German seems to be taking his win in stride. He is enjoying every moment of his glorious defeat over the former world No. 1. He is a memorable character both on and off the tennis court.
Do you think that Dustin Brown has what it takes to make it to the finals at Wimbledon?
[Photo credit to Ian Walton/Getty Images]
