Rafael Nadal has been back out on the tennis court in a new role, helping Iga Swiatek prepare for the clay season. The world No. 4 recently hired a new coach, Francisco Roig, who spent years working as Nadal's second coach, first under Toni Nadal, and then with Carlos Moya.

Nadal reportedly recommended Roig to Swiatek. And when the Polish star headed to the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca to meet Roig and train on clay, Nadal was seen getting fully involved in their practice sessions, giving her plenty of guidance.

Swiatek has since headed to the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix with Roig in tow, where she said it was a "privilege" to learn from Nadal, but clarified that there were no plans for the retired Spaniard to start coaching her alongside Roig.

Their recent training sessions have still sparked discussion over whether Nadal will return to the tour as a coach in the future, even if it's not now and not with Swiatek. But Nadal's uncle and former coach Toni doesn't think that will happen.

"Swiatek asked Rafael if she could go to the academy, for some advice and a coach. He told her Francis Roig. And he, as someone involved in tennis for so long, likes to get involved, even if only minimally," the 65-year-old told Mundo Deportivo.

Asked whether he saw Nadal becoming a coach, Toni replied: "No, because his life is geared towards other things. It's very difficult. A coach has to be 100 per cent dedicated. With all the travel that entails.

"My nephew has quite a few personal responsibilities. He spent over twenty years on the court, now he has many other things that demand a lot of his time, besides being very happy with his family, with his children. And the life of a coach isn't easy either; there are more and more changes all the time."

Toni has also all but ruled out coaching another player himself. After mentoring his nephew for almost three decades, he worked with Felix Auger-Aliassime, and also gave Alexander Zverev some guidance last summer at the Rafa Nadal Academy.

"The truth is, no [I don't miss it]. When Felix Auger-Aliassime asked me to work with him, I was thrilled. I was there for two years, I had a great time, because I also regularly attended certain tournaments. This summer, Zverev asked me to be his coach, and I told him, 'Look, I'm not the right person for you, because I won't have the commitment that a player of your level needs'," he explained.

"I don't see myself doing that anymore. Times have changed. If anything, I'd see myself as a consultant. As a coach, when you're working with top-level professionals, you have to be deeply involved. When I was coaching Rafael, my number one goal was tennis and for Rafael to reach the highest level possible. And this led me to think almost constantly about how we could do it, how we could improve, how we could beat this player or that one. Of course, it's not just the time you spend, the two or three hours you spend on the court, but everything else."

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