Toni Nadal to sit in Auger-Aliassime's box against his nephew Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal and Felix Auger-Aliassime will meet only for the second time since Toni Nadal mentors the Canadian.

Toni Nadal worked with his nephew for a very big part of his career, but currently, he works with Felix Auger-Aliassime, who enjoyed a major breakthrough lately. The Canadian lifted three consecutive ATP titles and thanks to that, he qualified for the 2022 ATP Finals, where he was drawn in the same group as Rafael Nadal.

When they met at this year's Roland Garros, Toni Nadal wasn't sitting in Auger-Aliassime's box, but that will be different in Turin. Ahead of their meeting, he explained:

“I’ll be watching from Felix’s box,” acknowledged Nadal’s uncle on Monday in Turin. “It’s different to Roland Garros. There, it was the first time they’d met and... there’s something extra [in Paris]. Here, really, there’s no problem. I won’t celebrate the points and I’m not going to say who I want to win, but it won’t be a tragedy whichever one does.”

“He has gained peace of mind and has more control of the ball,” he explained. “Before, he had very good shots, but his tennis was slightly out of control. He was capable of playing well, he hit great shots, but now it’s stabilised. Yesterday, for example, he lost, but he didn’t play terribly. This is what all the world’s best players do. His level has increased.”

Speaking about his relationship with the Canadian, who enjoyed the best weeks of his career recently, the Spaniard, who was working with his nephew for the majority of his career said:

“We have a good relationship,” explained Nadal. “I’m not with him all the time; I’m a consultant and I give my opinion. I like things to be clear cut and I’m used to saying things straight. He’s a very good person, very polite. In Barcelona, he played pretty badly and I spoke to him right afterwards and when he’d finished he thanked me."

"In New York I told him that he can’t hope to be a Top 5 player with that backhand because it failed him too often, and that he had to improve it. Since then, he has had some very good months, beating Alcaraz, Djokovic, Rune.”