Tennis News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Jasmine Paolini’s Coach Reveals How Rafael Nadal Saved His Career

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Vivek Devane | Last updated May 14, 2025 2:33 AM ET

Jasmine Paolini, who is currently into the semifinals of the Italian Open in Rome, has hired a new coach — Marc Lopez, to work with her in the coming few weeks.

Lopez, a retired Spanish doubles expert, has partnered with the likes of Feliciano Lopez and Rafael Nadal, and has also won a gold medal at the Olympics. He has also been a part of Rafael Nadal’s stellar coaching team.

In a recent exclusive interview with Punto de Break, Lopez dived into how a doubles match with Rafael Nadal changed his entire path in tennis.

“I was still around these rankings 200, 180 and this where I even considered the possibility for the first time of quitting tennis. It may seem a bit odd but it's true,” said Lopez, recalling his horrible 2008 season.

“And then I met with Salva (Bartolome Salva Vidal) who was a great friend and then he also unexpectedly decided to quit tennis and he always played the first tournaments of the year or the first tournament of the year specifically with Rafael Nadal okay? His best friend from Mallorca and he says to me — ‘hey I'm not going to play with Rafael Nadal anymore; he always plays with me the first week of the year. If you want, I can tell him and he'll probably be happy to play with you because we had a good relationship and that's how it started,” said Lopez.

“Rafa said to me ‘hey do you want to play with me in Doha?’ And I said ‘hey I'd love to' because things weren't going very well for me — I was playing in the singles qualifying and I had the chance to play in the main draw of a top tournament,” said Lopez. “We had never played together and we won the tournament and we won by beating the world number one in doubles at the time, Nestor and Zemonjic.”

For Lopez this single match with Nadal opened the doors to a new career and a brand-new beginning. A moment that could turn things around for him once and for all.

“And for me that moment opened up everything — like someone who sees bright light,” says Lopez with a smile. “It was like an injection of energy, of economic positivism as well, I'm not going to lie to you because in the end everything was a part of a package. After the disappointment of 2008 where I didn't make any money, I didn't improve my ranking, I kept trying and it didn't work out.”

“And that moment with Rafa was an injection of morale and economic positivity. That's when I decided to abandon singles, it was at the end of 2009, because I was playing better in doubles and I was earning a better living,” he added.

Marc Lopez went on to have a steady doubles career, reaching as high as number 14 in the doubles rankings and winning the French Open in 2016. To this day he recalls how one match with Rafael Nadal pulled him out of a certain retirement from tennis.

It remains to be seen how his first full-time role as a primary coach with WTA star Jasmine Paolini goes, and if he can help her win the upcoming Roland Garros title.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: