Rafael Nadal

A page and forum to discuss all things Rafael Nadal.

Nadal 5

Current ranking: 14

Last result: Australian Open second round (lost to Mackenzie McDonald)

Next tournament: Roland Garros

66 Comments on Rafael Nadal

  5. RAFAEL NADAL: If you get frustrated for somebody that is better than you, it’s stupid. The real thing, no, is I always think that if you are frustrated because somebody knows how to do something better than you, you are too arrogant or you are not smart enough. No, that’s it.

    When somebody is better than you, you accept and you work to try to improve yourself. That’s it. No, no, for sure I am not frustrated. I look the things very clear, and I am always honest. Today he’s better than me without a doubt.

    We will see during the whole season. No, no, that’s all. Today? He’s better than me. We will see in two weeks or we will see in five months. The only thing that you can do is wait that the opponent is not playing like this all the time. That is difficult to play like this all the time, it’s obvious. And I gonna wait my moment.

    words of wisdom…

    Reply

  6. RAFAEL NADAL: Well, for the match is easy to analyze. I played against a player who did everything perfect. I know nobody playing tennis like this ever. Since I know this sport I never saw somebody playing at this level.

    If I lost 6-1, 6-2 today, it’s because I played against a player that played at the level that I didn’t know since the day of today.

    You don’t expect play against a player who plays at this level. So that’s it. Every match is different, you know, a little bit how it goes, but today was so special.

    When I say perfect, is not one thing in particular. It’s everything. If not, it’s not perfect.

    If you get frustrated for somebody that is better than you, it’s stupid. The real thing, no, is I always think that if you are frustrated because somebody knows how to do something better than you, you are too arrogant or you are not smart enough. No, that’s it.

    Full transcript…

    http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=115813

    Reply

  8. Rafa served a few good aces down the T in this Sydney exho. How I wish he could do it more regularly during actual competition. I few that weapon of serving an ace down the T to save himself out of trouble was missing from his game these days. Perhaps he’s less confident about hitting it well so doesn’t want to do it.

    Rafa needs to vary his serve placements; he’s serving out wide most of the time that it gets too predictable.

    Reply

  9. I said that Rafa wouldn’t be down or discouraged by the loss to Novak. One loss is not the end of the world. Rafa has a great way of looking at things. It’s only the beginning of a new year and Rafa has a lot more tennis to play.

    I didn’t see anyone saying that Rafa would be dejected or depressed here. Rafa has always been able to handle losses throughout his career. If he couldn’t, then he would have had to retire! It’s part of the sport, as Rafa likes to say.

    It’s great to see him looking relaxed and happy as he arrived in Sydney.

    Reply

  10. Coming from the first title of the season, after a glorious performance against Rafael Nadal in the final of Doha, Novak Djokovic commented on the Spaniard’s quotes, who said that he’s never seen a tennis level like what he showed. ‘I thank him for the compliments – said Djokovic – Obviously it’s flattering to hear something like that from a great champion like Nadal. He is playing better than he did here last year and he continued on playing on the higher level ever since the US Open, and he’s been saying that, and me, as his rival, I can confirm that, that he’s striking the ball better’.

    Reply

  11. Yep Rafa is striking the ball better than last year. Its just that Novak didnt allow Rafa time to settle into his rhythm, putting pressure on Rafa after he himself survived the very first game of the match.

    Reply

    • That’s pretty much how it happened. Rafa had his chances in that first service game and things looked promising. He was putting pressure on Novak. But Novak managed to hold his serve and from there, it all went downhill. He turned the tables on Rafa and got the early break.

      After holding his serve, he didn’t give Rafa any breathing room. He was jumping on all his shots as if he knew exactly what Rafa was going to do before he did it.

      Reply

  13. Rafa will fare better in Melbourne. The conditions will suit him better as well. May he play more day matches, esp against good players. He must continue his struggle to keep taking returns on the rise and get more penetration on his forehand. He is able to make good, flat contact with his ROS but struggles to find good length, esp on forehand returns.

    As I said before the final, rafa’s ROS positioning is very risky and he needs time and confidence to really embed that into his overall game. He stands inside the baseline and if he is not able to get good length, the point is literally over against a guy like Novak! When rafa returns from deep behind the baseline, of course short returns hurt him there too but at least he has time to defend weak returns from deep in the court. He must start getting good length and this is more crucial than ever.

    We also know how much he struggled on his serve. When I watched their WTF match live, I wondered how much upper hand novak has in the serve-return dynamic! I wonder how rafa can bridge that. He had a lot more success using body serves in 2012 and 2013 but now, Novak has become a master of DESTROYING body serves by rafa!

    I agree with Luckystar that he needs to use that up the line serve in the ad court more often. THe reason he spun most of the serves in Doha was the fear of giving novak second serve returns! He must take risks, no other way around.

    He will definitely close the gap but how much , I don’t exactly know.

    Reply

    • Agree with VR that Rafa must take risk. Its no point playing safe tennis and lose, might as well take more risk, go for broke at times and see what happens.

      Regarding Rafa’s ROS, when he was younger, ie in 2004, he was returning serves close to the baseline on the HCs and he didnt seem to have much problem. Watch the boy Rafa at age 17 at the AO 2004 vs Hewitt. He played close to the baseline, hitting flatter 100 mph FHs both CC and DTL and was hitting winners after winners. I wonder where had that Rafa gone?

      I don’t understand why his ROS has deteriorated so much. Perhaps he has lost some power on his FH. After so many years of playing so far behind the baseline, maybe its more difficult to start playing or returning close to the baseline.

      Rafa has difficulty hitting with depth now it seems. I watched his FO2012 matches and he was hitting with more depth back then,hitting the lines often. His DTL FH shots in this Doha final lacked depth that Novak could easily return it with interest.

      There are still many areas that Rafa could improve – hitting a flatter FH with depth CC and DTL; improving his BH DTL shot; adding more varieties to his serve; vary his ROS positions perhaps add in DTL returns instead of going CC all the time.

      Reply

    • Rafa’s serve pattern is getting too predictable for Novak. Rafa did increase the pace of his first serve vs earlier round opponents, winning more 1st serve points foregoing some 1st serve in %.

      I feel had he done that to Novak he might have more successes as Novak returned close to the baseline so its more difficult neutralising fast pace serve. I watched Novak vs Raonic at Rome 2014 where Novak was frustrated as he had so much problems dealing with Raonic’s serves because Novak at that time was standing close to the baseline returning serves.

      I like Rafa’s one two punch tennis at Montreal 2013; Rafa could do that plus mix in some S&V and aces down the T and I’m sure that would make life more difficult for Novak as he has to spend time guessing.

      Reply

      • lucky, also in the past rafa was very consistent in being able to go down the t with serves when he really needed to ie on break points…indeed, he was famous for upping his whole game on break points, playing aggressively and winning so many of them. one of the problems with his overall game is that because he was so strong mentally on break points that shaped how he was playing overall…it didn’t matter so much then that his serve was weak because he would hit amazing shots on break points or hit serves down the t and get free points. now that he’s lost mental strength it’s hard to adjust his game as it’s been built around the principle that it was ok for him to come from behind. very difficult to shift from these long-term habits..

        Reply

        • I agree about his game being built on his mental strength. I had the same thought about Rafa’s game last year when his game fell apart. In a way, this is the shortcoming of Toni’s training method, building Rafa’s game on the mental aspect and not concentrating on some core issues like his serve and his BH DTL shot.

          Rafa is quick around the court so the weakness on his BH DTL shot is not exposed when he could run around his backhand to hit his FHDTL shot. However as he grows older and dealing also with injuries, its inevitable that his foot speed has reduced and hence he’s slower in getting to cover his BH with his FH shot. This problem is exposed and being taken advantage of by Novak, who can attack effectively from both wings CC and DTL.

          Rafa’s serve, we have talked enough about his serve, how I wished Toni and Rafa could build up his serve from young; or at least has his USO2010 serve to stay with him, too bad that’s not possible.

          I do feel with regrets that the Rafa of 2004 who played more attacking tennis from the baseline on the HCs, had not continued to play that way since and instead had switched to playing clay court tennis across all surfaces. Given that tournaments are played mostly on the HCs, Rafa is at a losing end by not having as effective a game on the HCs as Fed or Novak. I do believe if Rafa was to build on his 2004’s more aggressive game, he could dominate on HCs and grass, yet at the same time wont lose much of his dominance on clay as he still had his topspin FH to win on clay.

          Reply

  14. haven’t seen any posts by nadline claiming Novak wins matches due to his opponents’ errors and does not do anything special. LOL

    Reply

  15. vr, you are forgetting that this win for nole was really a loss as he has now revealed his game plan while rafa has cunningly kept his hidden. as a result, that master strategist toni will out-fox him next time and leave nole flummoxed and flabbergasted.
    also you are forgetting (again!!) that nole only wins against rafa because his game is so boring that he sends rafa to sleep, thus accounting for rafa’s slow movement as he is literally taking a nap while playing him.
    meanwhile nole is of course fakovic so he is always saying he is, was or is about to be injured so that of course his opponent is bamboozled to death and stands no chance.

    Reply

  16. Yes, and we know that Rafa was making a joke because there was a fan in the crowd who got on him during the match.

    I am sure that Rafa was not being serious about the fan being his new coach. 🙂

    Reply

  19. it’s rather sad to come to Rafa’s page and see people ridicule his trainer and his uncle T…I don’t think any of Nole’s fans ever ridiculed Marjan Vajda although Novak used to lose big while he was his coach…and he still is…

    I thought this information is more convenient for Rafa’s page:

    “Toni Nadal is the uncle and coach of tennis player Rafael Nadal and the older brother of Spanish footballer Miguel Nadal. As of 2013, he is the most successful coach in the history of tennis, winning 14 Grand Slam titles with Rafael Nadal.

    Since June 9, 2013, when Rafael Nadal won his 12th Grand Slam title defeating David Ferrer in the Roland Garros final in Paris, Toni Nadal assumed sole possession of the top position on the history of tennis with 12 Grand Slam title as a coach. He broke a tie with Lennart Bergelin who coached Bjorn Borg reaching 11 Grand Slam titles between 1974–1981. Solidifying his lead on the coaches’ rank list, Toni Nadal has currently 14 Grand Slam titles with his nephew”…

    Vamos Team Nadal!

    Reply

      • I have no idea where that came from and what it is referencing. At least in the recent comments here, I haven’t seen anyone saying anything that would constitute ridiculing either Uncle Toni or his trainer.

        Question mark indeed.

        Reply

      • amy 4:05,

        “as a result, that MASTER STRATEGIST TONI will OUT-FOX him next time”…

        and this was confirmed to be said in an ironic way…

        unless I do not share your sense of humor this was meant to undermine Uncle Toni’s skills…

        Uncle T deserves nothing but respect and honor for what he has done with Rafa…

        Reply

        • Ah, got it now.

          I took that more as a humorous jest towards certain tennis fans here rather than a disrespectful remark about Toni.

          And she referred to the post as a whole as ironic, not necessarily the words you selected with caps that may be taken out of context

          But to each their own.

          I try to respect everybody who respects others. I honour very few in this world – certainly nobody that I don’t know personally.

          Regardless nats rock on as always. I always love reading your posts.

          Reply

          • My post was edited by Ricky even though I said nothing offensive nor did it violate site rules as defined. (Nor does this one but it will likely be deleted by the KGB.)

            Do you???

          • thanks hawks…january 13 6.39..
            given that the whole piece was ironic then no part of it can be taken seriously!
            and yes your reading of my intention was exactly right..

  20. I have avoided tennis forums including Tenngrand because I was so cut up about it. I’ll keep it that way until the AO draw comes out.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.




Copyright © 2024 | MH Magazine WordPress Theme by MH Themes