Rafael Nadal backed to win Roland Garros by uncle Toni

Rafael Nadal’s former coach and uncle Toni Nadal has claimed that his nephew is not going to Roland Garros to lose in the second round but with the dream of lifting the title before calling time on his legendary career.

Nadal, 37, is gearing up to participate in his 19th French Open and he is the player with the most titles (14) in history. The Spaniard has been playing on clay as he participated in the Madrid, Barcelona and Italian Open recently where his body looked good in shape.

There are doubts about whether he will be able to perform at a top level or not as the 22-time Grand Slam winner has not won a tournament since last year.

Roland Garros is where everyone would expect the Spaniard to be at his absolute best as this is the venue where Nadal has performed at a top level for so many years and winning the title would be the fitting end to his remarkable career.

In an interview with ESPN, Toni stated that if Nadal plays the French Open, then he will do it only to win but not to lose in the second round.

"He is not going to drag himself down, he remains confident because of his mentality and way of being. He will not go to Roland Garros to lose in the second round, only if he believes he can win the tournament,” Toni told ESPN.

"His dream ending would be to win Roland Garros and retire, but I think if he does he will want to continue. He won't retire," he added.

Earlier, Nadal admitted that he is “not sure” about participating in Roland Garros after losing to Hubert Hurkacz in the Italian Open.

"I don't want to make a decision yet. There are two possible paths. I think I am not prepared to compete at Roland Garros because of what I have done today. There are two weeks left, we are going to do everything possible to change the situation. Even if it is difficult for me, frustrating, I feel closer to trying. I'm stuck, but I will try as much as possible these two weeks," said Nadal after the match.