By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, November 11, 2025
Photo: Rafa Nadal Academy
Tennis has been called boxing without violence.
Tony Nadal says there’s a simple fix to transform the brutality of tennis into true beauty—and it doesn’t require shrinking the schedule, changing balls, or reconfiguring surfaces.
Toni Nadal, uncle and original coach of Rafa Nadal, ATP advocates reduce the size of tennis rackets in a move it claims will reduce pure brute power while promoting skill, finesse and variety of strokes.
In a new interview with Federica Cocchi of La Gazzetta dello Sport, Toni Nadal says reducing the size of the racket will improve the beauty of the putt and rallies.
“I would propose to play with smaller rackets”, said Toni Nadal Federica Cocchi of La Gazzetta dello Sport. “It would be easier for amateurs and harder for professionals, and the game would be less violent. The beauty of tennis is being able to see the gesture.
“When McEnroe or Nastase played, everything was there: the gesture, the hand, the tactic. Tennis is the only sport that starts with a ‘penalty shot’: if you serve well, the opponent doesn’t play… In other disciplines they have changed the rules to increase the spectacle.”
Toni Nadal says the punishing calendar is not the main problem facing tennis. Instead, he sees the frenetic pace of play that stems from the racket-launching racquets and polyester strings for turning tennis into a sport of “violence” where players are more vulnerable to injury.
“It’s not a calendar issue. Now many will disagree, but the real problem is that the ball always goes too fast,” said Toni Nadal. “It is not about quantity, but about the intensity and violence of the gesture.
“There are almost no more ‘tactical’ players like (Guillermo) Coria or (Gaston) Gaudio who tried to build. Today it’s often just a race to see who hits harder. And when you make such quick gestures, when you get to a ball at full speed, brake and start again, the body has to try to slow down to the limit and slow down the game.”
Toni Nadal is not the first prominent tennis player or coach to suggest downsizing rackets. Hall of Famer John McEnroe told Tennis Now years ago, he was going to limit racket size and proposed playing a tournament with only wooden rackets to see how today’s elite players would fare.
“Imagine giving major league baseball players aluminum bats like they use in college,” McEnroe told Tennis Now. “Someone could get killed if major league baseball players used aluminum bats. The rackets in today’s tennis are too powerful and it affects the game.”
Asked if he agreed with the popular theory that Sinner’s game is Djokovic 2.0, Toni Nadal disagreed, saying he believes the Grand Slam king is more complete than the reigning Wimbledon winner.
“I think Djokovic is a bit more complete. Sinner has more speed on his shots, Nole a bit more touch,” Toni Nadal said. “They have in common the fact that they always impose a high tempo and have exceptional control of the ball, with very high-level movement. Jannik plays with a very defined scheme: he imposes a very fast pace from the start, difficult for anyone to maintain.
