Toni Nadal predicts a brighter 2016 for nephew Rafa, says he can win more Grand Slams

Rafael Nadal’s uncle and coach, Toni Nadal, has predicted that 2016 will be fruitful year for the Spaniard, and believes that his nephew can win a couple of Grand Slam titles, in an exclusive interview to ESPN. The 54-year old asserted that confidence was a key factor in Nadal’s approach towards the game.

Nadal already has 14 Grand Slam singles titles, and his uncle and longtime coach believes he can add to that kitty this year. The Spaniard, known as the King of Clay, last won a title in 2014 at Roland Garros."I think that he can win more Grand Slams. He can win the Australian Open in January. And he can win Wimbledon, too. The last few years, Rafael arrives at Wimbledon and he loses early, and very fast. And, in Roland Garros, for sure, Rafael can win. In tennis, you need confidence to do things. It's impossible to do anything without confidence. You can't win any good tournaments if you think you cannot and you don't believe," he said. Toni spoke about how his nephew had a tough 2015, but believes he has sorted things out in his mind. "First of all, and this is the most important thing, is the tranquility. Rafael is much more comfortable on the court now. And in this moment, he thinks about what he needs to do, and then when he gets on the court that is what he does.””For many months this year, he was thinking about what he wanted to do, about this or that, but then when he came on the court, he couldn't do it. Now he can do it, and that's good. It gives him the possibility to play well," he remarked. The 29-year old had recently admitted that he was affected by the ‘fear of failure’ factor in the 2015 season, which led to his disastrous results in that season. “For the first time in my career, I went on the court with 'fear of failure’. Not of losing, but of not being able to play,” Rafa had said. The ‘King of Clay’, who has not won any major titles this year, has struggled to find his form, losing the Australian Open quarter-finals to Tomas Berdych and in his favourite turf, the French Open to Novak Djokovic, both in straight sets. The 29-year old bowed out in the second round at the Wimbledon against Dustin Brown in a hard-fought four sets and suffered an early exit at the US Open at the hands of Fabio Fognini.