Nadal's Not the Same Player...
This week, Rafael Nadal has suffered three straight losses, without even winning one set, at the year-end 2009 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London. Nadal has never found his form or confidence since returning to the Tour this past summer after a couple months off to heal his injured knees. Nadal’s level of play has dropped dramatically
because he’s frequently hitting the ball shorter and less powerfully, not moving quite as well and also not serving as aggressively, especially on his first serve. In losing to Novak Djokovic in a round robin match today, Nadal had 35 unforced errors which is shockingly high for a player who frequently has 5 or less in a set and never hands his opponent an easy unforced error at a critical stage in the match which Nadal did many times during his losses this week. To Nadal’s credit, he has handled his incredibly frustrating play and bad losses without throwing a racket or having a temper tantrum… very rare in professional tennis these days and very admirable on Rafa’s part. Nadal has continued fighting in every match up to the last point as he has always done.
At the same time, Rafa has also lost a little of that intangible “intimidation” factor which can cause his opponents to overplay or become tentative when they face him. Even a couple of his Spanish compatriots have come close to beating Nadal recently. Nicolas Almagro had multiple match points against Rafa at the Paris Masters, but eventually lost. Fellow Spaniard, Tommy Robredo, served for the match against Rafa in Paris before losing.
When Nadal struggled in his first few matches back this past summer, one thought it was only a matter of time and matches before Rafa had played himself back into top form again… clearly that has not (yet) happened in 2009. The Davis Cup Final in Spain next weekend provides Nadal with one last chance to salvage the end of his season and head into vacation on an upbeat note. Rafa likes a lot of practice, as well as matches and he will have barely a month of “off-season” before he begins his campaign to defend his Australian Open title. The pressure will be on Nadal early next season because he has a lot of points to defend in the first few months of the year. Nonetheless, if Rafa can stay healthy, it will be important for him to reestablish himself early and he should challenge for Grand Slams again in 2010.
At the same time, Rafa has also lost a little of that intangible “intimidation” factor which can cause his opponents to overplay or become tentative when they face him. Even a couple of his Spanish compatriots have come close to beating Nadal recently. Nicolas Almagro had multiple match points against Rafa at the Paris Masters, but eventually lost. Fellow Spaniard, Tommy Robredo, served for the match against Rafa in Paris before losing.
When Nadal struggled in his first few matches back this past summer, one thought it was only a matter of time and matches before Rafa had played himself back into top form again… clearly that has not (yet) happened in 2009. The Davis Cup Final in Spain next weekend provides Nadal with one last chance to salvage the end of his season and head into vacation on an upbeat note. Rafa likes a lot of practice, as well as matches and he will have barely a month of “off-season” before he begins his campaign to defend his Australian Open title. The pressure will be on Nadal early next season because he has a lot of points to defend in the first few months of the year. Nonetheless, if Rafa can stay healthy, it will be important for him to reestablish himself early and he should challenge for Grand Slams again in 2010.
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