Episode #80 Season 24: Shaun Boyce & Justin Yeo

Today, Shaun is joined by Justin Yeo, one of Australia's top tennis coaches and currently based in Puerto Rico, to discuss the much-discussed retirement of tennis legend Rafael Nadal. A personality that changed the game with his aggression, visceral physicality, and versatility in his playing style on the court. The retirement of Nadal has inspired much discussion among fans and practitioners.

With his decades of coaching experience at the upper echelons of tennis, Justin reveals how Nadal has stayed at the top of the game at such an advanced age, discussing his physical development, mental fortitude, and battles with injury. He also discusses how Rafael Nadal's mark on the game will continue to be felt long after he steps off the professional court.

About the Host - Shaun Boyce

Shaun Boyce is the energetic host of the Atlanta Tennis Podcast and a strong proponent of tennis for all ages. Shaun’s many years in the tennis business mean he has a very special angle on every episode. He has conversations with top-tier professionals designed to inspire, educate and entertain listeners, whether they are budding tennis players or seasoned pros.

Key Discussion Points in This Podcast

Rafa’s Legendary Career

Justin reflects on Nadal’s career and, in particular, the remarkable durability with which Rafa played through chronic injuries. From his fledgling years in the sport all the way to his extraordinary consistency in Grand Slams, they explain how Nadal’s physical evolution and technical changes kept him at the top of the game.

The Mentality of a Champion

The podcast showcases Nadal’s grit and fighting spirit with insights into his mentality and mental game during his challenges on and off the court. They discuss mental toughness in tennis and how this potentially defining quality of his made him one of the hardest players to beat in the history of the sport.

Nadal Shifted from Righty to Lefty

One of the most fascinating sections of the podcast is the analysis of Nadal’s change from right-handed to left-handed tennis. This rare reprogramming in his game prompted a larger discussion around the presence of lefties in tennis. Do Justin and Shaun think more young players should try learning to play with their non-dominant hand for a strategic advantage?

Jack Draper and the Rise of Left-Handed Players

The episode addresses the increasingly common practice of training right-handers to play left-handed, which is the case with the young British player Jack Draper. Justin and Shaun talk about the reason this was good news and if we need more of this approach going forward.

The End of an Era: What Comes Next?

After the retirement of Rafael Nadal, tennis fans are now witnessing the end of the era dominated by the “Big 3” — Nadal, Federer and Djokovic. Justin & Shaun wonder how tennis after all three of these legends retire will look; and how these three greats will influence the sport well beyond their playing days.

Tennis and Player Development

Justin is an experienced coach and shares key insights on tennis player development, such as how coaches should encourage younger players, and develop dynamism in their play. They also talk about the rapidly changing landscape of tennis coaching and technology’s involvement in shaping the next wave of superstars.

Why Listen?

• Expert Insights: Shaun Boyce, who hosts a podcast, interviews professional tennis coach Justin Yeo, who offers insights on the mental and physical game all elite tennis players must master.
• Player Development: This podcast is jam-packed with knowledge on coaching philosophy, technical skills, strategy, etc., to develop well-rounded players.
• Tennis History: Explore the ways that tennis legends like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic are helping to shape the future of the sport.
• Tennis Technology & Innovation: You can be updated on the newest tennis technology, trends, and innovations that are changing the game.



Be Our Next Guest!

If you are a tennis expert like Justin Yeo who has finished this insightful conversation on the tennis legend Rafael Nadal’s retirement, we want to share your voice too! Visit our dedicated page on My Tennis Story and share your tennis related story that is interesting and might resonate with the GoTennis community.

Hopefully one of our upcoming episodes will let your story be heard by thousands of tennis enthusiasts.

YouTube Replay:

Shaun Boyce USPTA: shaun@tennisforchildren.com

https://tennisforchildren.com/ 🎾

Justin Yeo: https://www.instagram.com/yeocoach/

Bobby Schindler USPTA: schindlerb@comcast.net

https://windermerecommunity.net/ 🎾

Geovanna Boyce: geovy@regeovinate.com

https://regeovinate.com/ 💪🏼🏋️

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[Music]

Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.

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[Music]

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With that said, let's get started with 10 minutes of tennis.

[Music]

Today, this is 10 minutes of tennis with World renowned Tennis Coach Australian in Puerto Rico,

Justin Yeo, and we are going to talk about what everybody is talking about,

which is the retirement of Rafael Nadal.

So, before I start reading off headlines and what the questions are and what everybody else thinks

we should talk about, Justin, what's your first response to Rafa calling it quits?

It's about time.

[Laughter]

Give it up, buddy.

I just wish you all the best.

We feature the guy with the battle horse, and he just went through everything.

I remember 2010, meeting with Umka Tony and talking about his 2009 string open title.

We had a great discussion because Tony was explaining that he came off with

sending final against Fadafoe all night.

It was a rain delay during the tournament, so he had to play Saturday in the semi-final against

Fadafoe when five sets.

He got up the next morning and played federally in the final.

Tony talks about it that, you know, about five to 10 minutes,

Rafael was like, "Can't do this."

He's totally bleeding.

His fingers were hurting.

Fighting with sore.

It's not about the previous.

Tony just turned around and said, "Well,

we said we wouldn't be out of the federation, but not on the hardquets in China."

Sorry.

Now, so do you.

So we trained on for another 45 minutes and then the federation fought.

Now it's 2009.

So, we're now 2024 and multiple performance and physical therapist guys all said that

you'd be lucky to make 2012 with the injuries available.

So it's just absolutely being the markable.

So you're like, keep going as far and be as successful as he is.

And I have to give him two days of the most out of all the players,

because there's no one that has evolved their game and their physicality.

To keep playing, you know, federally probably could have done a little bit of difference for

a chance a couple of things.

Maybe come forward a bit earlier and see if he could last a little longer.

Instead, he was like,

I'm done playing my game.

That's it.

My dial switched and switched and switched and switched.

So very impressed.

So I think the boss won, but they get to that point we have to wish him the best so that they enjoy

the rest of their life.

Yeah.

One of the headlines says, "Rafael Nadal did not retire" quote as he would have liked.

What do you think is going on?

You think he wishes he could go out on top?

I mean, is that kind of the concept there?

No, but I think he would have rather retired at French-Hoting.

But he could have done that.

I mean, he could have retired this year.

That's what you're saying.

It's about time, meaning he should have just said,

"You know what, guys, you're right. I'm out."

He could have done that at the end of this last French-Hoting.

He could have, but he wanted to come back and play Spain.

And he wanted to, and he wanted to finish on his note.

You know, and if there's anything like I said, 2009-2012,

2010, things like '18, you know, both also in Pizzy-Prieve.

I don't know how this guy can keep going.

The wheat changes, the muscle proficient.

I mean, there were so many things in just kept.

And then taking the ball off the baseline and coming to the net and changing his server,

and making him survive a little longer. And that was a risk in the first place.

Right? And then Moya just said, "We're going to keep going.

This is what we've got to do."

And he took 20-30% off his ball time.

You know what I'm saying?

So Moya wouldn't know because Moya was of the generation where the Claycourt players

didn't last very long because they were just peed up at the end of five to seven years.

I mean, to say, if you really want to play Roger Federer's got a very efficient game,

less so than I think most people think.

Like, it wasn't the third volley efficiency.

But a very efficient game, he wins quickly, can shorten the point.

You've got to figure out how to do that.

And like you said, with the technique changes and the adjustments and his ability to volley,

remember that Claycourt or back in the day that could volley?

No, neither do I.

And this guy coming in with perfect technique and being able to finish points at the net

was a complete change from that culture.

Yeah, well, I mean, you had to listen to Mr. McIner, right?

I mean, John said that Graffin's got probably the best volley in the whole game.

Yeah, and what do you mean there's two far back in the court?

Yeah, but he's a Claycourt guy.

Act like court.

I don't know.

I mean, I've seen Jocovic close to the baseline and when the French open,

if you look at Barraica, same thing,

we would weigh up on the baseline and we could do well at the French.

So I wouldn't necessarily label all Claycourt players 19 to fact,

but that was one of his signatures, Raffa, which is weighing you down.

And I always always just be saying to junior development,

it's not about necessarily beating a guy off the court.

It's actually beating him in challenge and the fight that makes it harder.

So out round he's somebody actually is harder on a person than being passed and winneth all day long.

So the hardest thing is to lose to someone when it's your own racket and you're trying

to just battle with them.

And that guy just a little bit stronger, a little bit cleaner and just doesn't miss, you know.

It's the hardest thing to take. You're like, oh my god, it was right there. Oh my god, I had this.

There's always things and Raffa's got this signature.

He just weighed down and we're going to miss him.

He just got a voice about it.

Both Kings that are going on and out have a voice about him.

They were great examples for the generations coming.

They were just amazing.

So we're going to miss him, but at the same time we go to the point and go wish him back well and let the new

wife come in.

Yeah, let the younger guys come.

One more thing on Raffa specifically, a right-handed person that was turned into a left-handed tennis

player intentionally. Are we going to see more of that? Look at the success of what's the guy's name,

the British guy that just made the semis of the US open.

I don't know why I can't think of his name.

But you're talking about guys that are, you got coaches that are saying to the four and five-year-old

kids, yeah, you're right-handed. That's fine, but you're going to be a lefty because there is some

inherent advantage. Do we think we're going to see more of that? Is that something that's a thing

or is it just going to be as rare as it always was?

Well, from the information on you, they didn't know you was lefty until later.

They didn't know that. So he was like in the high up in the world in 12 and 14 when they realized

he was running the money. And just said, well, he is where he is now. We got changed now.

But parents, parent knows he's going to pick up a crayon with his right hand.

No, that can't back in, you know.

He plays golf right-handed. Somebody had to know.

Well, interestingly, I can say that, right? He didn't really draw a playing golf.

And if you're sorry to play soccer, you play both feet.

Play both feet very well. There's the same obvious there, yeah.

In any video footage of him, he's both feet were just ridiculous.

In any footage of you watched him in soccer, he just dominated a field and just had people

flabbergasted on the other side, left and right. So I don't know, it's...

Again, we all know, too, that lefty is filled up all more and I'm empty, yes.

So I can understand both sides of what he did. He must have just

been comfortable more lefty, so they left that happened. But later on,

started identifying things. So we could throw a ball very much stronger on the right than the left,

which, you know, maybe he would have been a bigger server than what I was.

But the guy, uh, would generally left me and hurt a lot of people.

Yeah, yeah. And Jack Draper is the name that I was trying to think of who's...

I'll give it a try. He's Draper, so you told me.

Yeah, is it right-handed person?

And they made him left-handed. And I plan on doing that with my son.

We've got a two-year-old and we take him out to the courts and people look at us and they're like,

"Oh, yeah, you should put that rag in his left hand. All the coaches say that."

So is it just a thing people say and it's harder to do or maybe Rafa is one of the last really

famous, you know, huge success stories of it?

As a talent development coach and we're doing this for many, many years in the Junior,

I always say that I'm playing two in and of both sides if you want to because it's the

experience and the rotation. And then as they get going, you'll start to identify

your chance for more dominant or for which one the child finds more prominent than enjoy.

Because trying to force something that's not there is, I think that if you're

inundations like myself, I could have done but I could be generally happy.

But on the other hand, some people are very dominant on one side.

You'll probably be developing fast stuff. You get that right,

they're trying to get the other side to say, "But everyone's elected."

Well, either way, we may never know. What do you have been as successful if he was a righty?

I don't think so. Well, the statistician, Sheran and Wilk too, right? What's the majority of

tens please, right him? Yeah, the majority of tens. So when we saw her, they'd feel like,

"Good luck, he was like, "Woohoo!" Right, I was calling an inherent 10% advantage.

And when you're going against Grand Slam, you know what? That's a good thing to have.

The feel of the left side has always been more than what I've said. You know,

again, to look at the center of one of the best feels ever knew the right.

I agree. Would have we swapped further to lefty because if it's supposed to, I don't think so.

Yeah, probably not. Good point. Well, either way, we definitely wish him all the best.

We assume he's going to be involved in tennis in some ancillary way in promoting and helping

his academy is going to do great things. But yeah, hopefully this is something that he can finally,

I don't think they give it up, but he can finally just be done with it and say, "I can't push forward

anymore. We don't want him to torture himself any further than he already has."

Yeah, I finished with the three Kings that I call him is Junkovich Federer and Madal.

I think they'll be always in tennis for a silver. And that is a very fortunate thing in head

because they're going to lead the next future, the next generation to get involved because of

how much they've learned over the last 23 years. I think they're going to be in stand like we just

know, in San Press, it's just being a lot of plays just to feel. I don't think we're going to see that

within some players. I love record. Good ambassadors for the sport. But we gave Rafa an extra

couple of minutes because he's worth it on our 10 minutes of tennis. Justin, you know,

this has been 10 minutes of tennis. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. We'll see you next week. Thank you, sir.

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(bright music)

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