Ricky Dimon of The Grandstand and Steen Kirby of Tennis Atlantic preview and pick the four best men’s singles matches on Tuesday at the Australian Open. Rafael Nadal and Lleyton Hewitt are the headliners.
(5) Rafael Nadal vs. Fernando Verdasco
Ricky: 2009 ain’t walkin’ through that door. Nadal is no longer the player he was when he beat Verdasco in one of the best matches ever played, a five-set thriller in the ’09 Australian Open semifinals. Unfortunately for Verdasco, he is even further from his prime at this point in time. Nadal is dominating the head-to-head series 14-2, and Verdasco’s two wins can be easily explained. One came on a joke of a surface (blue clay, Madrid 2012) and the other came when Nadal was a shadow of his real self early in 2015 (Miami). The world No. 5 is much-improved now–at least against anyone except Novak Djokovic. This should be beatdown city. Nadal 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Steen: This Australian Open rematch is almost certain to come nowhere close to their 2009 semifinal epic. Verdasco beat Nadal in Miami last year and that should give him some belief, but they have been trending in opposite directions since then. With Nadal looking motivated to boost his ranking this year, I doubt he’ll want to dance much with a troublesome countryman. Look for Rafa to roll. Nadal 6-4, 7-6, 6-3.
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(WC) James Duckworth vs. (WC) Lleyton Hewitt
Ricky: Something is wrong if this one does not result in a five-set marathon. It is, of course, Hewitt’s last hurrah. And nothing screams “five-set marathon” quite like Hewitt vs. Duckworth at the Australian Open. Combined, five of their last eight matches at this event have gone to five sets. Given the fact that Hewitt is probably focused on more on his upcoming Davis Cup duties and general life after tennis than on his actual game, there are not a whole lot of players in this draw whom he would beat. But Duckworth may be one of them. Don’t be surprised if Hewitt wins an epic before David Ferrer sends him on his way. Hewitt 6-3, 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 11-9.
Joey: At his age, Hewitt could be blitzed by the heavy pre-Australian Open farewell schedule (Hopman Cup, Sydney, Adelaide). This may well turn into his swan-song if Duckworth simply plays a consistent match and stays focused on winning amidst all the fanfare surrounding this one. But given the circumstances, it’s more likely Hewitt will put up a great fight and Duckworth will accede to his countryman under the lights. It would be far more fitting for Hewitt to be sent off by Ferrer, and thus I have him winning this one–somehow…regardless of form, record, or anything else. The former world No. 1 truly has nothing to lose now. Hewitt 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.
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Gilles Muller vs. (20) Fabio Fognini
Ricky: Fognini did not win a single hard-court match in 2015 until the U.S. Open. He has already won two this season (reached the Auckland quarterfinals before losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga). The Italian is obviously off to a much better start this season, but his third hard-court victory may not come Down Under. This is a bad first-round draw against Muller, who advanced to the Sydney semifinals last week. The 32-year-old Luxembourgian also made a run to the Aussie fourth round last season. In what should be a competitive contest, Muller will have the mental edge. Muller 6-3, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5.
Steen: Both veterans have started this year with winning records (4-2 for Muller and 2-1 for Fognini). Fognini’s performance at the U.S. Open last year demonstrates that when focused, he can be a top 20 hard-court player. Muller is more consistent as a cracking serve-and-volleyer, though, and the Sydney semifinalist reached the fourth round of the 2015 Australian Open. This one should be close, but Muller’s consistency will help him get the upset. Muller 5-7, 7-5, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.
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(25) Jack Sock vs. (Q) Taylor Fritz
Ricky: Is it more than a coincidence that Sock withdrew from the Auckland final due to illness right after his favorite restaurant–Chipotle–announced it is shutting down for one day in February to hold a food-safety meeting? Hopefully not. If Sock is healthy (and he should be with two full days of rest), this all-American showdown is going to be straightforward. Fritz’s rise in the last half-year has been meteoric, but he is nowhere near ready from primetime. Although the 18-year-old came back from 4-0 down in the final set of the final round of qualifying against Mischa Zverev to win six games in a row, that had a lot more to do with Zverev than with Fritz. Sock 6-1, 7-5, 6-3.
Steen: This match would be easier to predict and more interesting if it wasn’t somewhat likely to end in a retirement. Sock has been playing well to start the season, he’s more experienced, and currently at a level well above Fritz. But the Auckland finalist had to retire this past Saturday due to the flu and looked miserable. Fritz is exhausted, as well, but making his first slam main draw as a qualifier should boost his spirits. He was lucky to qualify, and he may get lucky again if Sock is still sick. But Sock should grab a win if healthy. Sock 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
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who ya got?
monfills – sugita
i do see value here to go with the dog, since monfills was injured a lot recently, i dont believe that he is 100% good to go,..afaik sugita feels very comfortable on hard and it will be a very tough one for monfills.
what u guys think ?
probably won’t happen but worth a flier
You never know with Monfils. What are Sugita’s odds?
on 365 @6.50
sugita winning would be awesome for my 10game parlays due to the 50 % bonus on 365 .
who else do you have
i added f.lopez; ferrer; Sock; Hewitt; wawrinka; anderson; raonic; isner and murray @26
all should win
Muller in four sock in four Nadal in three and Hewitt in five.
Nadal, Fognini Duckworth and Sock.
OOP
Rod Laver Arena 11:00 AM Start
1. Women’s Singles – Round 1
Anett Kontaveit (EST) vs. Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP)[3]
2. Women’s Singles – Round 1
Venus Williams (USA)[8] vs. Johanna Konta (GBR)
3. Men’s Singles – Round 1
Rafael Nadal (ESP)[5] vs. Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
Rod Laver Arena 7:00 PM Start
1. Men’s Singles – Round 1
James Duckworth (AUS) vs. Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
2. Women’s Singles – Round 1
Victoria Azarenka (BLR)[14] vs. Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL)
OOP
Margaret Court Arena 11:00 AM Start
1. Women’s Singles – Round 1
Madison Keys (USA)[15] vs. Zarina Diyas (KAZ)
2. Men’s Singles – Round 1
Alexander Zverev (GER) vs. Andy Murray (GBR)[2]
3. Women’s Singles – Round 1
Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) vs. Jarmila Wolfe (AUS)
Margaret Court Arena 7:00 PM Start
1. Women’s Singles – Round 1
Shuai Zhang (CHN) vs. Simona Halep (ROU)[2]
2. Men’s Singles – Round 1
Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) vs. Stan Wawrinka (SUI)[4]
I decided that I will go with Rafa winning in 3 sets. I thought that Verdasco might get a set, but I think Rafa will be ready for him.
Hewitt over Duckworth in 4 sets.
Muller over Fognini in 4 sets.
Sock in 3 sets.
I still think Verdasco will take a set off Rafa. I don’t know enough about Duckworth, but Hewitt will probably win. Muller and Fognini is a toss up, I’ll go with Fognini having a good day and Muller a bad. Sock and Fritz, all depends on how Sock is feeling. He should win, but if he’s still sick, could be interesting. Sorry to see Ivo retire and what happened with Querrey? Only saw part of that match.
I wasn’t able to see the matches. I think the tennis channel is replaying them today. I saw Novak and Chung this morning. I was surprised to hear that Karlovic retired. I thought he would get through the first round. I also checked the scores today and saw that Querrey retired while being up two sets. That’s tough.
If Sock is still under the weather with that flu bug, then that would be the only problem I could see. The thing about being sick is that you don’t necessarily recover your physical strength that quickly. I remember so well what happened to Rafa in 2011 when he got so sick at Doha. He never really got his strength back in time for the AO and ultimately lost to Ferrer in the quarterfinals.
I went back and forth so many times about whether Rafa will lose a set to Verdasco. The only way I see it happening is if for some reason Rafa starts slow or isn’t on his game. We know that players try to peak as they get into the second week. In the first week, it’s all about getting through the early rounds.
I picked Muller for my bracket. But it very well could go either way. I think that I also picked Querrey, too. I did pick Hewitt over Duckworth. That’s why I think the early rounds are the hardest to pick. You just don’t know at times who will make it through. Retirements can’t be anticipated.
My first round picks will stink, Nny. Already know it! And I’ve been doing ATP brackets 7 years. All in fun. (well, admit I’ve put a little money down a few times but not on an early round – not that brave) Wish I would have put 5 dollars on Flavia Pennetta US Open!!
Nativenewyorker (AT 3:55 PM),
—Rafa in 2011 when he got so sick at Doha. He never really got his strength back in time for the AO and ultimately lost to Ferrer in the quarterfinals.—
===
.
Plus Rafa suffered a (left) hamstring injury in the second game of the first set.
i’m going for hewitt, foggy and sock.
i admit to being very nervous about how rafa plays in the early rounds. even when he’s playing really well he gets nervous at the beginning of slams and however much he may have improved recently he’s nowhere near peak rafa. also, he’s done so badly in the last 2 slams that i am worried he will be even more nervous than usual and feel under pressure. i think he beats verdasco but i wouldn’t be surprised to see him lose a set and make uncharacteristic errors with his forehand.
amy, I might be too optimistic and underrating Fernando to say Rafa in 3. After 1st round who does Rafa have: Harrison, Kuznetsov, Gulbis, or Chardy; then it does get harder with Monfils, Anderson, Raonic, Troicki, Sock, Rosol, or Wawrinka. The only one I see as truly dangerous is Stan. Of course, I may be wrong. Imo, Rafa’s draw is not as easy as Andy Murray’s draw but not that bad.
just worried about the nerves issue ratcliff…also, i didn’t see the matches in doha but i’ve read the comments and lucky especially has commented on his problems putting opponents away quickly. that’s been a problem for some time, the squandering of breaks and letting matches go on far too long. if he has to play long matches in the early rounds he’ll be significantly disadvantaged against both stan and andy. andy’s draw is very easy and he could come into the semis fresh while his opponent could be frazzled (literally in the heat!!)
Not sure further comment from me is what the Rafa fan base wants 😉
Agree about long matches = not good. It does matter more now. That’s why picking Rafa in 3 – he’ll be more able to tackle a depleted Stan in 4; then Andy in 4 and have something left for the final. Sticking by my pick after Doha – the one to beat Rafa is Nole.
And who does Nole have? Halys then Kudla or Seppi; then, Simon, Tsonga, Kei, Federer, Berdych, Dimi, or Kyrgios. Tsonga or Simon and then Kei could be tricky but I don’t see Nole losing anywhere. Out of Fed, Berd, Dimi, Kyrgios, the most interesting opponent to me is Kyrgios — the others we’ve seen and they’d need some genuine good fortune cookies. Any match can take a toll on Nole, but Berdych is the easiest of the bunch. Should have picked Berdych. Kyrgios is a silly stretch of imagination, I know.
My biggest worry at the moment for Nole is the heat and how red his face looked during his Chung match. Chung did push him for awhile. Kudos to Hyeong Chung – bright future.
poor nole!! i expect he will glow in the dark after that one…we know he doesn’t like the heat but i still think he will handle things…he’s so tough mentally and physically now…
hope so, because i want him in the final!!
As with all AO’s, the top seed in the same half as Rog gets the day match while Rog creates genius in the evening cool.
Nothing new.
haha…hawk. Perks. Tribal Elder statesman.
That’s why Seppi beat him last year.
Rare day match and the sun blinded his night biased retinas.
is quite hard to see dolgo, dimi and co really troubling fed unless he is just having a dreadful day at the office. i do think nick could do damage. berdy doesn’t seem to be able to pull off the big wins any more…
i would like to see a fedole semi anyway…i don’t see anyone stopping nole getting to the final unless something unforeseen happens.
if stanimal shows up in the quarters he would be a very tough test while ferrer won’t bother andy…i expect andy to be fresh as a daisy come the semis….but sometimes when he’s had things too easy that hasn’t helped him in the later rounds.
I too think Nick may be the guy to trouble Nole the most.
Rafa in 3
Sock in 4 (if he’s 100%, in 3)
Hewitt in 5…go Rusty!
Fogna takes his time in 5…go Fabs!
ratcliff,
I appreciate your optimism about Rafa in his first match. I did finally go with 3 sets, but with a caveat. The good thing is that Rafa will know what to expect. But he usually isn’t at his best in the early going and that’s to be expected.
I agree that Rafa has a good draw, second only to Murray. I can’t complain. He avoided some really dangerous guys in the early rounds.
How comes no comment on the match fixing allegations? Who are the players involved?
some stuff is probably coming out
I did read some of it. All I saw from what I read was about Davy.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/djokovics-comments-push-tenniss-match-fixing-scandal-to-centre-court/article28239970/
http://espn.go.com/espnradio/playPopup?id=14596803
Keep calm, stay focused, be confident and show your fighting spirit, Rafa!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZC5_u4WEAAqPth.png
Rafa and Nando in the house!
I am watching the match on iplayer because Eurosport is till showing Fog vs Muller instead of the match they say everyone is looking forward to?????????????????
So far they’re doing you a favour.
You haven’t missed much.
Rafa not looking good AT ALL in the early goings.
Zero aggression.
Luckily nando not good enough to take advantage.
I agree about Rafa not being aggressive enough in the early going. He’s also not in a good service rhythm. Two DF’s after only two service games.
Nando has come out trying to take the ball early and push Rafa back. He’s going for his shots, but hasn’t been able to do much yet.
Brad Gilbert is giving some good analysis here. He was talking about how when Rafa goes back on one foot, how he will dump the forehand into the net. He said that Rafa is aware of this and has been working on it.
BG also said that Nando’s movement is not what it once was, but Rafa is not taking advantage of that.
It’s like an old timers exho match.
lol
Rafa moon balling.
Nando playing well.
I doubt Rafa has hit a single winner.
Good thing he’s not playing fogna.
I’ve sent a text to Benny to tell Rafa to be strong and fight but it’s not working yet.
They just switched to Gulbis serving for the match against Chardy. Major choke from Gulbis and Chardy breaks back to make it 5-all in the fifth set.
Rafa needs to wake up. Nando is trying to go for his shots, but Rafa’s defense is helping. Nando is also missing.
Now they switched to Murray/Zverev. They always do this, jumping all over the place from one match to another.
Score was 4-all with Rafa and Nando, but they are still showing Murray trying to close it out against Zverev.
Rafa is a shell of himself.
Nando choked three bps lol.
Good grief! Rafa just saved three breaks points! Now deuce.
Rafa has to hold here or Nando will be serving for the first set.
Body serve and Rafa holds!
Rafa still hasn’t hit a winner.
How could Rafa not have hit a winner at this point in the first set? What is he doing out there? It’s hard to know with ESPN jumping from one match to another.
Rafa’s back to avoiding walking on the lines again.
Verdasco is horrible.
Rafa actually has three winners. Umpire is being kind.
This match is a comedy of errors.
This is a match between Bad vs Worse.
Omg nadal reverted to bum form again
I’ve seen enough.
Night all.
Rafa loses a first set TB. He is making far too many errors.
Vamos Rafa!
I don’t believe it! Rafa DF’s to give Nando set point and he gets it done!
This is what I was afraid of and I said it when making my prediction. I was worried that Rafa might come out not playing well and lose a set. So now he has to come from behind.
I really cannot believe what I am seeing.
just watched the TB…atrocious
vamosrafa,
You aren’t kidding! Rafa serving a DF to hand Nando set point? What on earth is going on with him?
Rafa still a pack of nerve it seems. Better be careful, another set of nervous tennis and he’ll be sent packing in the first round for the first time at the AO.Things never change for Rafa it seems.
My worst fears are being realized. Nando is the one being aggressive and getting the good court positioning.
Since when does Rafa DF 4 times in one set?
Might be best. He probably needs to hit rock bottom to finally realize he needs serious change.
no way…a defeat here would be devastating.
Rafa continues to try to take returns from close to the baseline. Not having success… he will alter his return positioning soon.
Nadal ante good any more accept it. How many places will he lose in ranking if he busto first round.
ante up!
And thats why I said Rafa is at a losing end without a great serve on a HC. Verdasco could just serve himself out of troubles but Rafa just DF to get into troubles.
Rafa playing terrible… I can’t believe he is reverting to his old inefficient slow error prone defensive game…his mental strength inexistent atm…he looks unhappy out there…Rafa please!!!
Thats why I said I was frustrated at him during his matches when he made life difficult for himself. Things never change for him, too much passivity ingrained into him since his success on clay.
Rafa very passive, more like hoping for Verdasco to miss but he doesnt.
Come on rafa, break here! come on
Seriously dont know why Rafa plays the hussling game when he has so many weapons for a more attacking game.
as you mentioned above, NERVES. NERVES
I just cannot fathom what is going on with Rafa. It’s like watching the same movie over and over again.
There is no way he can lose this match. Absolutely not! A first round loss to Nando at a slam? No way!
Nadal with another bp but he nets a forehand. deuce
This is beyond frustrating. Cannot return second serves on key points…
He is trying to take returns earlier, the conditions are very hot and verdasco has a good kick serve.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! misses a forehand !!! HOW!
Rafa had three break points! What happened? Why can’t he break?
Verdasco had game point but a double fault and its deuce again.
Verdasco with an overhead smash winner and its game point again but Nadal with a strong forehand return saves the game point.
and now Nadal comes to the net 4th bp for him.
this time Nadal does get the break when Verdasco sends a forehand wide.
Finally, Rafa breaks!
That was one wide missed forehand from Nando.
Moves behind the baseline, waits for the ball and hits an inside out forehand ROS to set up the point and THEN GETS THE BREAK! PHEWWWWWWWWWWWWW
2-1 !! Now consolidate. Please. Please. Please. This is very scary. Don’t have confidence in his service game at the moment.
He is TRYING to be aggressive with his baseline positioning but nerves and the weight of shots from Verdasco’s forehand is not allowing him to.
He is attempting some backhands DTL but if he does not get good length and verdasco has some time on his forehand, it is trouble. He must choose the shot wisely.
Nadal is playing better now since I called him on his cell during break and told him to get his head out of his ass. But how long will he keep it up.
Nadal with 2 good serves gets to 30-0 and then a return long by Verdasco Nadal has 3 game points, Verdasco with a forehand winner 40-15 Nadal nets a forehand 40-30 but Nadal holds with a strong forehand.
Chardy beats Gulbis 13-11 in the 5th set in a match that lasted 4 hours 47 minutes.
Check out isners improved return game
Verdasco can just hold so easily with his big serve whilst Rafa has to work so hard to hold serve. Playing like this, how’s Rafa going to survive? What had he done during his practices? Seems like nothing has improved.
Nasal isn’t playing any better! It’s just that this Verdasco is so awful but Rafa’s inexplicably lousy game makes him look good out there…this match is anything but enjoyable for the spectators…
Nadal holds 4-2.
Nadal is planning a dive. Tommy and his boys has $1million bet against nadal for +1100 and nadal agreed to do them a favor to get x11 payout for hundred of millions
Rafa has poor ROS, why keeps hitting CC when Verdasco is standing there waiting? He better hold here and break Verdasco for the set, cant trust him when serving for the set!
I think isner can destory nadal if they ever play
brilliant.
I can see many people able to beat nadal this season. Look at him. He is in terrible form.
break!!!
OK so he broke back but he shouldn’t of got broken to begin with. At his current level, he will be lucky to even reach quarter finals.
diid well to keep the return low but overall verdasco was kind to him in the game.
Yes.
So now we need to hope that Rafa can serve it out and take the second set. This is just so frustrating to watch.
I wish I haven’t stayed up the whole night just to watch this disaster…Fog’s match was better quality than this one…you are breaking my heart, Rafa…
BG has been doing some great analysis of Rafa’s game in this match. He and Chris Fowler were discussing Rafa’s problems and not bringing anyone new onto this team. They said many of the things that some people here have said.
Rafa please serve this out!
Yes, this is really breaking my heart, too. Very difficult to watch.
PHEW! Identical scoreline to their 2009 SF so far. Please win in 4 , rafa
Rafa living by the edges, very risky for him.
He cant serve properly, cant return well, hitting so many short balls, so passive….Very terrible tennis from Rafa.
Nadal upped his level cause he saw online forum post calling him a bum and he got upset.
That was a fantastic backhand passing shot! verdasco cranked that smash!
good start!
Yep! Rafa did very well on that one. Now if we can see more of this and better quality tennis from him in this third set.
Rafa gets the early break in the third set. Now can he hold his serve and get this set in routine fashion?
There are glaring issues in Rafa’s game that have not been addressed. BG said something a while back about how the kind of practices Rafa has been doing, don’t always translate into matches. That’s been very true.
Rafa is going to do this the hard way.
on eurosports, the commentator with Wilander is also saying the same. He says he is very confused because he saw rafa practice before the match..rafa was drilling forehands extremely hard and clearing the net with barely an inch!!! That is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT trajectory! But today, he has not been able to hit anywhere close. THe match tempo takes over and he is scared to sacrifice margins and reverts to heavily spun forehands. Topspin forehands are awesome but he needs to find the balance. I wonder if he will be able to replicate his shots on the practice court on the match court. If he can, he can boss anyone around the court.
That’s because Rafa is too nervous during matches and falls back to old ways. There’s no point in practising well but not translating that into his matches.
yeah…he has the ability if he is able to do that in matches. He can actually hit as hard as anyone can but during matches it is a different story. Will he ever be able to overcome those match nerves?
Well, at least the net has bene very very kind to rafa! even on big points
AHHHH, finallyyyyyy one of those MONSTER forehands!! seeeeeee!!! the pace he can generate! almost 100 mph!!
*ability to do that in PRACTICE (line 1)
Rafa is calmer now…
He hit a spectacular 198 kmh serve to verd’s backhand on the deuce court. To find that pace on his toughest serve was cool to see.
I am nadal fan, but Nadal matches are pain full to watch. This time i expect wawrinka will have fair chances of winning.
Wawrinka?
Going to bed now but holy crap I gotta say that shot to make it 3-1 for Rafa was insane. Also Pella comes back from two sets to love down to beat Darcis 6-1 in the fifth. I think that’s first two set to love down comeback of tournament. Impressive stuff from Pella. Also Rafa seems to be on track for win now with break in the third. Hope to wake up tomorrow to see Hewitt and Stan through to round two. C’mon Rusty and Stanimal!!
A good idea for rafa would be to practice his flatter forehand against easy opponents when the match is totally under his control. Being up 2 sets to love or 2 sets to love and an early break, he should practice on the match court then. If he cannot do that even then, it is inexplicable!!
Bummer…40-15, he gets a netural response from Verdasco and chooses to over-spin the ball DTL and verdasco cranked a backhand. HIT THROUGH it when you are in winning positions in games, sets, matches. Get confidence in it rafa.
He is serving better now though
Kerber = GOAT pusher
Rafa really needs to relearn how to return serves effectively close to the baseline the way he did in 2004.
He’s not moving his feet enough to get to the serves so mistiming the returns.
He was determined to return serve from close to the baseline but then fear took over after losing set 1 and verdasco winning the first game of set 2 easily.
It was not working because the returns were not effective. He has bought more time with his ROS now and that has worked better against Verdasco.
Another problem is that he was often trying hit his forehand second serve returns with a lot of spin while standing close to the baseline! well, that just defeats the purpose. Standing on or inside the baseline requires solid, flat contacts that are timed well. I hope he continues to practice it in matches. One issue was that it is very hot and verdasco has a great kick serve…he sent his rackets for re-stringing as well and I bet he wanted to increase the tension as ball control was an issue in set 1 with returns as well as with groundies.
POOR , POOR return on 15-40! MAN UP rafa!
Makes up for it with a booming ROS off nando’s first serve. Set in the bag. Is he easily going to win this now?
I. Can say for sure 100% nadal is not winning any majors this year.
things can change quickly…let’s wait and see
The trajetory on rafa’s forehand keeps giving verdasco chances to hit forehands. They are difficult to hit but when in the zone he is able to hit them the way he wants to.
Break to Nando…rafa will break back
How is nadal going to deal with a top 20 if he can’t handle verdasco
first round of a major always full of nerves for him and we know he is plagued by nerves more than usual these days. If he can get out of this , he will likely start playing a lot better I am sure.
Paireis top 20. That’s how.
another atrocious forehand second serve return. Trying to impart tooo much spin to create on angle CC and ends up mis-hitting it
ESPN had a long interview with Andy Murray, so I didn’t see the fourth set. Now they are showing it again. This is making me extremely nervous.
If it goes to a fifth set, then I won’t be able to stay up all night to see it. It’s already 1:40 am.
i barely slept because of this . Looks like it will go to a fifth set. can’t even think about rafa losing. not prepared
And now verdasco has figured out the pattern and he keeps thorwing in kick serves to rafa’s forehand in the ad court and rafa keeps hitting crappy returns.
When did Rafa’s game become so predictable to the other players? Now it’s not just the likes of Novak, it’s Nando.
he is playing short again….nothing on the forehand…verdasco controlling the rallies.
They posted a stat that showed Rafa’s average forehand speed is 74 mph and Nando’s is 92 mph.
PLEASEEE BREAKKKKKKKKKKKKK
The commies on ESPN have been saying that Nando’s serve is saving him in this match.
Even when he has a chance to attack Nando’s short balls Rafa opts to stay at the baseline waiting for Nando’s error but gets Nando’s counter attack winners instead…Rafa is so unconfident that he can’t execute successfuly some easy shots…going to a fifth is like death sentence for Rafa…
YES YES YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS !!!!!!!!!!
tiebreak
set to Verdasco as he serves an ace 2 sets all.
That’s it nadal is officially blacklisted. Too many times the past year nadal lose or have way too many problems as a huge favorite. Nadal is never going to be the nadal that used to be djokovic. He had a year to recover from his health problems. Now he is all healed up with rehab and full training, he has no more excuse. He is just not that good anymore. Nadal is going to be a top twenty gate keeper.
not based on this match, tho
This is not the first time be underperformed its many times the past year
Rafa should be thankful that there’s no tie break in the fifth set. He’s just so poor in tiebreaks losing two in one match!
Robredo beats Jaziri in a match that lastes almost 5 hours.
he is on the ground
Verdasco saves 2 bps but Nadal converts on 3rd bp.
Verdun
Nadal 2-0
I still can’t believe this went to a fifth set.
Nadal had a bp to get a double break but Verdasco served some bombs to get out of trouble.
verdasco breaks back.
Nando breaks back. Here we go again!
It seems Verdasco is destined to avenge 2009. In fact I feel Rafa might give it up on MP with a DF just like Verdasco did then 🙁
Wow Nando has some momentum now
Yep. Shocking.
Sigh…serve is poor, returns is poor. Verdasco should win this match now. Just hope Verdasco doesnt lose meekly in the next round if he beats Rafa here. Very sad to see Rafa in this sorry state. How many times he loses serve today, I really lost count.
But where is Rafa’s will to win? That’s how he got through that match in 2009. He hung in there all the way.
Fer on fire now
Will is not enough , he needs game which he doesnt have now.
Back to the drawing board for Rafa. He’s basically defending all the time when facing a hard hitter, doomed to fail.
The crowd got their wish for a five setter and nice for them to see a big upset.
Nadal wants to be ranked under top 20
Out of AO’s first round. Very nice… utterly shameful performance from rafael nadal.
Did you ever think we would see this happen? I just feel sick. 🙁
Exactly, shameful is the word. Rafa cant play HC tennis anymore, better concentrate on clay.
I dont believe a no.5 player can have such a poor serve! Unbelievable!
Verdasco is just in one of those grooves right now. Can’t believe I’m saying this but just can’t seem him losing now after that break
hitting everything as hard as he can
Yep. And at this point Rafa is just setting them up on a platter for him. Hard to watch
he does that for a lot of opponents tho
I know. Still he’s not attacking Nando’s backhand at all. Once Nando got in a rhythm and had that powerful FH working, Nadal lost any chance of getting in his own rhythm and was done. Unfortunate as I was very interested to see what he was going to bring in the first GS this year.
the thing is until now only Djokovic has been able to take advantage consistently
Fognini
Live odds nadal to win +500
Nadal needs to find a reasonable serve. Its almost worse than a short forehand right now, and it inhibits the rest of his game because he cant set up the pattern he wants.
This is very sad moment… I thought it could not get any worse than last year…but I was so wrong…
the end of an era
This! I didn’t have the heart to say it myself. But it’s true.
Sadly it is exactly that…the end of an era…
How do champions like this forget to play tennis? Rafa that we used to watch does no longer exist…I thought the loss of speed is the main factor…but it’s not only that! It’s lack of strength and depth in his shots, it’s his chronically poor serve and useless ROS, and on top of it it’s the loss of his once evaluated brilliant tennis brain…how does champion like Rafa let himself deteriorate this much…
+750
unable to fathom this. Losing in 5 sets to Verdasco?
Can’t believe Rafa is going out in the 1st round with sooooooooooooo many missed opportunities. Sadly, he is going to lose 360 points. Even worse, Nando is not going to get very far in the draw.
Nadal is done he won’t even be a top ten any more. He had a year to get his act straight. If one year is not enough I can’t see another year helping
Wonder if Doha did more harm than good!
It’s one thing to lose to Novak. It’s another thing entirely to lose to Verdasco.
This is horrendous. I keep thinking I will wake up and it will only be a bad dream. But it’s very real.
I am afraid he will retire this year
No. But he does need to think about playing exclusively on clay.
There is no guarantee that he will win the big ones on clay at this rate.
Exactly Ricky. His game is just not good on the HCs. He’s hitting powder puff FH and Serves. A hard hitter will always trouble him because once he faces an aggressive player, he turns defensive.
His serve is simply atrocious, always hitting a let and his serves are just so predictable. Why not hit down the T when he’s winning points doing that?
His elbow is way too low on the trophy pose for the serve. And his defense on the backhand is a massive liability as well, because he is backing off and simply spinning the ball back. It hurt him massively in the 5th.
Yet he’s not seeking help.
I think the clay season will be the last straw. Either Nadal makes changes to his coaching staff or retires, its one of the two.
Nadal lost 6 games in a row and Verdasco wins.
CHoke pleaese verdasco?
Rafa just didn’t play well. He must be disappointed in himself for that performance.
Rafa didn’t serve well and made too many errors.
In this form, he can even lose on clay in the first around
some Monstrous forehands from Verdasco in the last 2 sets.
so it is done. The most humiliating loss of his career. There is not even an injury excuse this time. I am sorry but he cannot be the best of this generation given the standard he has shown in the last 5 slams…
Verdasco r**** his serve in the 5th set like a joke…
See, he needs his serve to be the best of this generation. No way now that he’s the best unless he wins some more slams.
I wonder how Toni and Rafa feel now.
It was an unfortunate 1st round match for Rafa but he should still have won it; that was nowhere near the Rafa up to 2013, not even close.
dreaadful to say the least. It’s been ages he has not even been able to bring significant improvement to his second serve. Unbelievable. I had him reaching the FINAL. wow
20 aces and 90 winners. Verdasco took his chances and deserved to win.
I don’t know who this Rafa is. I just would never have imagined that it would all come to this. Rafa unable to change strategies or have any answers. Just doing the same things over and over. That’s not the Rafa I have been watching for such a long time.
This is really the lowest of all lows.
What else is there to say.
what’s most confusing now is how he temporarily got good last fall
^This! That is exactly what I was thinking! You read my mind!
Exactly, Ricky. He was hitting the ball so well at the IPTL right up to Doha and all of a sudden he seems to have stopped believing again. How much harder can he work? I don’t believe it’s a question of how hard he works he seems to have lost something that even he can’t identify.
He’s nervous, because this is the first round of a slam and against a tough opponent who knows his game.
No amount of practice can help if he’s not implementing them in actual matches. His serve % was poor, what’s with all those lets, or serving into the net? He’s just not confident with his serves, maybe because of technical flaws, and wasn’t confident to serve down the T.
I just dont understand why his serve technique can be so poor; cant he afford a better coach to teach him how to serve properly? Without a good serve to start the point, his game will fall apart.
I just don’t understand how he went from bad to pretty good to terrible
Like going from bad to terrible would make sense. Stopping by pretty good in between is head-scratching.
To me he’s hitting the wrong shots all the time. When hitting his FH CC he put in too much spin making it bounce high enough for Verdasco to hit comfortably. While hitting it DTL, he hit it flatter thus overhitting it. While at the net when he could slam a FH to the corner he pushed the ball softly over the net giving Verdasco the chance to hit it back to the open court.
Its like he has lost the abilibity to think clearly out there, unsure what shot to make, ie poor shot selection. He kept serving outwide and its so predictable but once he served a good DTT, he won the point.
He CAN hit flat penetrating shots the way he did at WTF but it seems that once hw’s tense hw revert back to hitting spinny short balls.
I think thats because he is using new racket only from IPTL onwards. His good matches at end of last year were played with old racket.
He’s still getting used to his new racket and so the inconsistency I think, sometimes he’s feeling it but sometimes he’s not. He said he’s not feeling his FH today.
Luckystar (AT 10:29 AM),
Rafa switched to new strings in December 2015 (Luxilon’s). There is no confirmation that he has changed the frame.
Rafa made this Verdasco look great player…it’s the same old story…Rafa playing poor tennis and his rivals becoming heroes…this is just too much for us I can imagine how hard this must be for Rafa…
I do not know how will Rafa recover from this…it’s tough to keep losing matches like this…
I can’t even believe this. WTF is Nadal doing??
Nadal will be ranked 50 soon
Rafa is fond of creating big upsets news. First FO2009, then Wimbledon 2012, 2013,2014 & 2015,USO2015 and now AO2016.
After a performance like this, its hard to put him up there to compare him with Fed and Novak. I think his days as top player is over; anyone who’s hard hitting can beat him now.
He is suffering the same fate as Hewitt, 10 years later. The game has simply passed him by. Counter punchers cannot compete at the top of the game with guys who can bludgeon the ball.
Yep, from his presser we know he basically plays with a counter puncher mindset.
When asked about players these days are hitting hard and going for winners all the time, he said he’s not going to play that way but will try to make them hit from difficult positions, take more risks and so make more errors. IOWs, he’s not playing with an aggressive attacking mindset but rather to counter whatever is being thrown at him. Its no wonder hard hitters are his greatest enemies.
speed and consistency can no longer compete with the offensive firepower that new rackets/technology/strings allows
I think it has a little bit to do with people figuring out an optimal technique to counter heavy spin. The strings and racquets have not changed mightily since Nadal dominated. Its more that people have figured out the template for beating him. His own poor form doesn’t help.
The thing is, Rafa himself is not short of firepower! Its just that he doesnt like playing hard hitting tennis even on the HCs.
The players know Rafa’s bad habit of starting slow, takes time to get into a rhythm etc and so they will come out playing attacking tennis and preventing Rafa from getting into his groove.
Verdasco kept points short, went for the attack asap and Rafa had to defend from the get go. Rafa has to get out of this bad habit of starting slow. Hes fit enough so there’s no harm going all out to win the first two sets first, takes a breather in the third probably losing it and then gathers his energy to win the fourth. I believe thats the strategy Novak used against Rafa in 2011 at the slams – Wimbledon and USO.
I think, Nole’s loss hurt him so bad and sent him back 5 months past, making him doubt his shots…..When ball lands short , even challenger level guy can hit clean winner. Bring on new coach please.
Rafa is poor by any standard. To have so many BPs and still lost! No excuse for poor play, he’s ranked no.5 not no.50 and facing an opponent he used to own. No strategy, no game plan just remain predictable and expect Verdasco to miss. He ought to fire Toni for building up his mental focus but unable to prevent its collapse.
I don’t think Toni can be blamed, it’s all in Rafa’s head, he just couldn’t loosen up and play his game. He never put any pressure on Verdasco.
I can hear Rafa’s dad telling him to retire and stop causing himself more anguish. This ust be so disappointing for Rafa.
lucky i left you a post which has disappeared. i didn’t see the match but i thought that this was going to happen. it was really quite predictable and i told nny via email that i thought there was a strong probability that this would happen. i knew rafa would be under the cosh with nerves and could implode. toni hasn’t been cutting it with rafa for ages now and i’ve been saying since early last year that there had to be changes. (i thought rafa would lose to brown and go out early at the US and i thought he would lose to nando). it’s really quite easy to see what is going on and toni should bear a huge burden of blame IMO.
actually the worst aspect of this is that it’s been plain to see what is going on since early last year and yet the denial seems to be endless.
amy,
Yes, you did tell me that you thought Rafa could lose to Nando and also felt that he would lose early in Wimbledon and the USO. You have been 100% right!
I couldn’t get to sleep after the match. I was just so devastated. But we could see warning signs even at Doha with Rafa struggling against nobodies. Then with the lopsided loss to Novak, his worst yet, that was another red flag. He was going backwards.
When the ESPN commies are saying that Rafa needs help and talking about his refusal to get any kind of help, then you realize that it’s there for everyone to see.
The shame of it is that there is so much help out there. Rafa did not have to put all the burden on himself.
nny (and most of the world) gets it.
I don’t know if you were watching ESPN last night, but Chris Fowler and Brad Gilbert were talking at length about Rafa’s problems and the fact that he would not add someone to his team or make any changes. It struck me because they were saying many of the things that we have been saying on this site. It was not being said out of spite or in any kind of mean spirited way. They were talking with great concern for Rafa. They obviously care about him and want to see him playing well. I have been impressed by these comments and the sincerity and genuine feeling for Rafa.
nny how are you feeling now?? must have been awful to watch….
Rafa plays worse than the 2004 17 year old Rafa!
amy,
I sent you an email. It was awful! You feel so helpless watching. There’s nothing you can do. I must have been up until almost 3:00 in the morning. Then I was tossing and turning. I didn’t even cry. Maybe I was in shock.
You called it. Absolutely.
yes i read it and have replied to you!! am so very sorry…am very glad i didn’t watch..it’s not so bad if you don’t see it…
what were fowler and brad saying??
I don’t know how to watch Rafa’s matches anymore. There was a time when one break was a guarantee for him taking the set but not anymore and there was a time when I could look at a draw and be certain he would get through it. It seems that it doesn’t matter who he comes up against now, because it seems he can lose to anyone. Verdasco was the better player today. It makes me very sad.
Yeah, very hard to watch Rafa’s matches these days.
The worst thing now is he and his fans are going to hear endless comments about how he’s finished, he’s done and he’s retiring.
Kia has the worst timing of his X-men ad, hitting with power!, and now he was hit off the court by power, from someone else and in R1! Wonder will there continue with that ad!
Sorry rafa I officially give up on you. I have no hopes from you anymore.
So sanju, you have torn up your membership card of the Rafael Nadal Fan Club?
No I wish for him to do well but I just don’t have any hopes. If after hearing upbeat statements from him and his coach on how good he is feeling, if we get to see this..why should I have any hopes? I have not failed him as a fan. I will not say he has failed me as a player because he is not losing on purpose.
I think this match will result in something radical..either he makes up his mind and says enough is enough and times his retirement or he makes sweeping changes.
BTW I did not interpret his presser saying he is not ready to play aggressive. He just said he cant be in the middle in no mans land. He was very upset at having not played 1st set better.
Sanju, I agree…I also did not see him saying he would give up on trying to be aggressive…
I don’t think you have torn up your membership card in Rafa’s fan club and neither have I or anyone else here. We have been speaking our truth for some time now. It’s not attacking Rafa or being disloyal to say what is there for everyone to see.
I don’t want to see Rafa like this. I don’t stay up until the wee hours of the morning and lose a night’s sleep because I am not a fan of Rafa. The reason some of us have been pleading with Rafa to get help, is because he needs it. There is nothing wrong with realizing that one has to get some assistance. It’s a sign of strength to get help.
I know that I don’t want to watch this anymore. I can’t bear to see Rafa like this.
Exactly Sanju, practise should never be confused with competitive match play.
Again it’s interesting because Brad Gilbert said something last night to the effect that Rafa has been doing his practicing drills, but that doing this does not always translate into his matches. I thought that BG was quite perceptive in much of what he said about Rafa. He made some excellent observations about the things he looks for in Rafa’s game, what the key problems are. I thought he was quite insightful. Also, all this was said with great respect for Rafa. BG likes him, always has and always will. Nobody wants to see a great champion like this.
This guy Taylor Fritz has impressed me with his serve and maturity he has shown at such a young age.
Sock hitting some huge ground strokes.
4th set to sock 2 sets all now.
Nadal needs to ask himself if he wants to play tennis. It seems as though Toni got all confident about Nadal beating Roger’s record and now that’s putting extra pressure on him. Toni sounds all philosophical but he comes across both, as highly ambitious and demanding. Contrast that with Roger, who doesn’t keep anyone longer than necessary and never let’s anyone else’s ambitions drive him. I never root for Nadal but this kind of meltdown is painful for any player.
fedfan. yes i agree with you.
Fedfan,
I think your comments are quite reasonable for someone who is not a fan of Rafa. I agree that Rafa does need to ask himself if he wants to play tennis. The way he accepted his loss to Novak in the Doha final, the way he seemed resigned to losing is not like the Rafa I have known for all these years. That Rafa hated to lose to Novak anytime, anywhere.
Fed made changes. He got a bigger racket. He changed coaches. He’s become even more aggressive now. It’s because he wants to be able to compete. A player has to be willing to make changes, especially as he starts to age in this sport. One must adapt. For whatever reason, Rafa is unwilling to do this.
Why do you think Rafa is unwilling, when he’s changing his racket or the racket strings. He’s also working on his BHDTL shot, working to return serves close to the baseline, working to hit flatter penetrating shots, working to move up to the forecourt (as in his matches vs Murray and Stan at WTF). All these are still WIP. I feel he really needs a coach to help with his serve.
I think Rafa suffers from nervousness esp at a slam after his early exits at Wimbledon and USO last year.
I think I’ll forget about this loss and looks forward to his SA tournaments and hope to see improvements there. Its important that he starts implememting his changes at these smaller events, builds on the successes that he should be getting, gaining confidence and then doing it at the bigger events.
He was using his new strings only from IPTL onwards so he didnt have sufficient time to get used to them. He should be getting better the more he uses the new strings.
Ok, after reading his presser, I finally understand Rafa’s mindset now. He’s not going to turn into an aggressive player, my wish for that 2004 more offensive minded young player on the HCs to reappear is merely my own wishful thinking.
After ten good years of playing defense/offense and many times counterpuncher tennis, Rafa is not going to change, just like a leopard is not going to change its spots. His meaning of playing more aggressive tennis is more like getting into better court positions and troubling his opponents more and forcing errors out of them to beat them, a counterpuncher mindset.
He’s not able to do that well today because of his opponent’s aggression and power. I hope he gets used to his new racket soon and so has his feel back and so can counter his opponents including those hard hitting ones.
Lucky, could you post his presser here, please.
Luckystar (AT 10:41 AM),
Rafa switched to new strings in December 2015 (Luxilon’s). There is no confirmation that he has changed the frame.
I’ve read the presser and I am still sad that he handed the match to Fer because he did’t put him under pressure.
Rafa, your fans want the jam today not tomorrow.
Vamos Rafa!
Vamos Rafa, no matter what!
He has nothing to prove … just try to win some as he painfully declines and that is all. Thx Champ!
Yes Shireling1, I like your positivity. Perhaps we his fans are overly eager for him to win everything or anything esp the major ones, to prove that he’s not yet done with winning and so when he loses we are all so disappointed and even become so critical of him.
Maybe we are hoping for too much, expecting him to beat everyone to get to SF or F even on his less favored surfaces. Rafa has never dominated on the HCs, even in his good years of 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013, he’s at best the no.2 player on the HCs – in 2010 second to Fed; in 2008 and 2013 second to Novak. In 2009 he won the same or about the same number of countable points on the HCs as Novak (5950 pts or thereabut) and so was joint no.1 as Novak, so no domination too.
On grass he was good and no.1 in 2008 and 2010 and reached another three finals at Wimbledon. If there was no Fed with his five in a row Wimbledon titles, perhaps we might call Rafa’s two titles and three finals as domination on grass. So, Rafa has only dominated on clay but not on the other surfaces.
I think we have to adjust our expectations and cater for Rafa’s inevitable decline as he ages. He will have losses like this more and more going forward, just like Fed when he started his decline. We can hope that he has more good days than bad and still can win some important titles.
His best hope is still on clay where his counter punching game and his topspin FH work best. I wish Rafa well for 2016 and beyond.
“I am not happy about the way that I played the first” – Rafa said. “In the fourth I was not very bad, but he played better than me, too. I had my chances in the fourth, too, with that 0-30 that he played well. He played better than me. He played more aggressive than me. He took more risks than me, and he won. Probably he deserved”.
“He was playing amazing in the last set. If you decide everything in one set, the opponent is ready to hit all the balls at a hundred percent, then you are in trouble. He had a lot of success hitting all the balls full power in the fifth. He just played better than me”.
No. The match is a tough lose for me obviously, especially because it’s not like last year that I came here playing bad and feeling myself not ready for it. This year it was a completely different story. I have been playing and practicing great and working so much. You know, it’s tough when you work so much and such an important event comes and you go out too early”.
“There is no more things to do than keep practicing hard, keep practicing the same way that I did the last four, five months. Today I was not ready to compete the way that I was practicing, so I’m not happy with that. I hope the next time I can compete better than what I did today, because I was playing good. In terms of being competitive, I was competitive. In terms of creating damage to the opponent with my forehand, I didn’t. So I was hitting forehands, and he was able to keep hitting winners”.
“You never know what’s going on in the future. I felt myself that I was practicing great, playing very good. I was practicing a little bit different, trying to be more inside the court. It’s obvious that all the changes are not easy and especially are difficult to make that happen when you are competing. But the real thing is if I am not doing that, then I am dead. I can play defensive or offensive. But you cannot be in the middle, because it then becomes obvious that you don’t have a consistent strategy, then you are lost”.
I would say that Rafa has a strange mentality. Since he’s losing to big hitting guys time and again – the likes of Sod, Delpo, Rosol, Verdasco – and is aware that players these days are hitting big for winners quickly and not keen about point construction or whatever, then what’s he going to do to counter them? He couldnt just counterpunch against fire power hitting as he’s not given time to do so, so what’s he going to do? Obviously he hasnt found the best answer yet sincw he’s still doing the same thing over and over again.
I keep posting but none of comments come through…maybe it’s better that way…I am too sad and my posts offer no comfort to anyone…I wish I could be optimistic at least a little bit…it’s just too hard to live with yet another shocking loss…
Now I realize that my posts via phone do get through but not the ones posted via comp…whatever the reason…
Rafa: “I can play defensive or offensive. But you cannot be in the middle, because it then becomes obvious that you don’t have a consistent strategy, then you are lost”.
It was all too obvious that Rafa seemed to be in the wrong place all the time. It was as if he wasn’t thinking ahead.
Yeah you’re right. Its like he’s not thinking out there, making all the wrong shot selections.
Hewitt wins his match and will get Ferrer next! What a reward!
I do hope Verdasco can at least go far with Sela next, followed by probably Chardy in R3 and Monfils in R4. Quite a doable draw for him to reach the QF.
Now I am hoping Djoko Fed Stan and Murray all reach semis so that we can watch some good blockbuster matches without any pressure.
Hope Stan or Andy win this all.
Sanju (AT 11:51 AM),
No Rafa – no tennis.
For you maybe. May not be for everyone. The game is bigger than any player.
Sanju (AT 12:00 PM),
Yep, for me. I never identify myself as “we”.
Yes, there is still tennis. I have been watching this sport all my life and will continue to do so.
I’m hoping for Tsonga or Kei or Berdych or even Cilic to win this AO. Or even Verdasco! Perhaps Raonic gets his breakthrough here?
Very hopeful Lucky. Neither of them will win. It will be 1 of the Top 4.
Yeah I’m hopeful. Without Rafa I can now hope for other players, except the regular few, to win the title now.
I genuinely like to see either Tsonga or Berdych winning one before their careers are done. Kei and Raonic can wait.
But I refuse to believe Rafa will just fade away without 1 more slam..waiting for that elusive slam. We fans need to show maybe more faith. Fed has not won since 2012 yet his fans keep talking him up.
No one’s talking him up. Fed was 32 then and played a stellar 2012. He’s lost major finals only the best player there currently is, who is a generation younger than him (Even two years difference has historically meant a lot in tennis). But he has a different trajectory and enjoys playing tennis way more than Nadal. That’s what his fans like about him.
What are you talking about? How do you know Rafa is not enjoying playing tennis?
I remember back during 2009/2010 some of Fed’s fans were calling for Fed to retire too. And, in 2013 Fed had his worst year since dont know when and his fans reiterated the same thing again.
Rafa is not done yet and he’s still enjoying playing tennis, if not he would have quitted by now.
Wha? The only people asking Fed to retire were those under the impression that a man with kids and entering his 30s can’t play tennis.
Nadal-well, I’ve never seen him happy playing tennis. He might like competing. But I’ve never seen him enjoy tennis for the sake of tennis. That’s why there is little variation in his game-little experimentation and little willingness to take risks.
What are you talking about? Rafa has always enjoy playing tennis if not why do you think he can endure the pain and is still out there playing? Its not only your Fed who’s enjoying tennis you know?
You’re not Rafa’s fan so please dont jump into conclusions like this. You dont know him enough to pass a comment like this!
Nah, back during early 2009 when Fed was shanking all over the places, some of his fans were calling for him to quit. Its not only during 2013 but earlier in 2009 and also 2010.
Fed had back problems in 2009 that no one knew about then. That’s why the “thank God the Hard Court season is over.”
Nadal’s problem is different. If his A game is not clicking he has nothing to go to. No options. So when he’s confident he’ll do wonders otherwise its a disaster. He oscillates between two extremes even when healthy because he’s rarely creative. I don’t think it’s his fault. His somewhat demanding relationship with Toni probably had something to do with it.
Fedfan (AT 1:42 PM),
—Fed had back problems in 2009 that no one knew about then.—
===
.
I’m not a Fed fan, but I knew about this.
Read the comment posted by Augustina08, 10/25/10 1:30 PM:
http://www.tennistalk.com/en/news/20101023/Del_Potro_pulls_the_plug_on_2010
Dont think Rafa needs to play his A game always to win. Where were you when Rafa was sweeping up every title on clay? He certainly didnt need to play his A game all the time to win back then.
I see Fed losing to Seppi in R3 of AO last year, or R4 to Gulbis at FO2004 for examples, certainly didnt see any of his creativity in those matches when he was losing. He certainly needed his A game to win but he had nothing to fall back to and so he lost. Similar egs: lost to Tsonga and Berdych at Wimbledon in consecutive years, etc.
Okay I should have qualified that. He probably does enjoy playing on clay as he’s a natural on it.
As for Roger, yes his major losses increased post 2012 but not like this. 2013 was an anomaly and his only odd loss was AO. All this at his age. And he’s still experimenting at 34. For me the Berdych loss was clearly due to his thigh. And in any case he immediately hired Annacone post that. The Tsonga loss was closely contested from start to finish and at a very high level of grass court tennis and the better player on the day won.
Also A game is not in terms of level. It is in terms of his usual tendency to play defensively. It is always more difficult to play consistent, long term defense than offense because both physically and mentally it takes more out of you. Even on slow courts.
I’m not critical of Nadal right now. I just think he’s not playing for himself ergo not enjoying the game.
No, his major losses increased post 2007.
#Shhh…FederazziRevisionismAtWork
#CheckYourFacts
I am talking about early, inexplicable losses. Unless you’re saying his loss to Nadal is inexplicable. :p
You’re strange. Rafa is a counterpuncher so obviously he’s playing more defensively than offensively.
You talked about him losing a close match to Tsonga but wasnt Rafa losing a close match to Verdasco now or to Fognini at the USO? Its not like Rafa was losing meekly now to Verdasco! Both Fognini and Verdasco were playing the match of their lives to beat Rafa. When it comes to Fed your bias knows no bound.
So what about Fed smacking volley winners? Others including Rafa can also do it! Fed still didnt win anything major that’s the point and you’re the one not knowing it, not surprising to me!
“Both Fognini and Verdasco were playing the match of their lives to beat Rafa”
Rafa allowed it in both cases by hitting short defensive balls unlike 2010-2013. He made them look so good.
Verdasco had almost 100 winners along with 100 unforced errors. 200 points on Verdasco’s racquet means that Rafa played passive uninspired tennis which has too often been the case over the last two years.
He has been unwilling to take meaningful steps to address root cause.
And what make you think Rafa is not playing for himself? Who are you to say that when you’re not even a fan to know about him?
You talked about Fed and Tsonga match being contested closely from start to finish. Nah, Fed was the one winning the first two sets but went on to lose in five sets; thats Fed not able to finish the job as his game deteriorated as the match went on, not unlike his USO2011 SF vs Novak. Its unlike Rafa vs Verdasco, when they each took turn to gain the upperhand.
Sanju (AT 11:58 AM)
—We fans need to show maybe more faith.—
===
.
As for me, I have replied to you a zillion times that I always hope Rafa to win and support him, no matter what.
Can you stop taking every comment being directed at you? No one is questioning your loyalty, so why are you hellbent on proving it again and again?
Sanju (AT 12:46 PM),
This blog is public. 🙂
Rafa has to stop being stubborn and accept what is wrong. Its just not practising hard that will change things. If he needs an extra voice, get it. Damn the family thing, your legacy is bigger and at stake. Maybe Toni should opt out himself if Rafa cant make the decision.
Rafas family has to support him totally here rather than telling him to retire if he wants. A champion cannot retire without a last hurrah.
Sanju (AT 12:05 PM),
—Rafas family has to support him totally here rather than telling him to retire if he wants.—
===
.
Rafa’s family supports Rafa, there’s no doubt about that.
People say Darren Cahill..Cahill has been able to do nothing with Simona halep.
Sanju (AT 12:10 PM),
Yep, Halep lost today to WTA #133…
Sanju Jalep isn’t Rafa and a new coach takes time (see Boris Becker).
Surprising results this morning. Did not see that coming. Commies, Rafa fans. Wasn’t trying to spread false optimism – really thought Rafa would get the job done in 3. Picked Rafa to the Final in my bracket.
Simona out too.
am afraid i did see this one coming ratcliff. as i wrote yesterday i was very nervous about this match as i thought rafa would be extremely nervous given his performance in the last 2 slams and feel really under pressure. i wrote here that i still thought he would come through but that wasn’t really what i felt and in private i wrote @nny via email that i thought this was a very dangerous match and that there was a strong chance he would implode mentally and hand the match to nando.
I too felt very scared and definitely thought it will be dangerous though still thought he will pull it off at the end. Did not see the loss coming though.
am afraid i did sanju….!! ask nny!! rafa has to make changes and either ditch toni or add people. toni isn’t the right person to build up rafa’s confidence and i’ve been saying that for ages and ages now….
Sorry – I don’t consider myself an expert on Rafa and do not want 2016 to turn out like 2015 for him. Not sure what to say or if there’s a silver lining to this. Devastating result at the moment.
no silver lining ratcliff..unless he finally realises he has to get more help…devastating but all too predictable loss and there will be more if he doesn’t act IMO…
have to go out now….
hoping for a nole/stan final now….could be fab….
amy,
Yes again, you said exactly that to me. I was hoping that you were wrong. I remember how I went back and forth with my prediction, thinking that Rafa might lose one set to Nando. I was worried, too, but didn’t allow myself to think that he would lose.
ratcliff,
Thanks for your kind words.
Expected.
Why don’t you predict right now what Rafa will do next 3 slams rather than coming post his bad results and rubbing salt ?
If you have the guts to man it up, predict right now.
So where will Rafa be going after today? Will he go to Rio directly or goes back home?
Luckystar (AT 12:34 PM),
In an interview with IB3 on Dec.26, Rafa said that he wouldn’t go back to Mallorca before April to avoid the cold and humidity of the Mallorcan winter, which are not good for his knees. Rafa will travel to South America from Australia.
.
Reportedly, he can receive a wildcard entry into the Buenos Aires tournament (ATP-250), if he decides to play there.
Ok thanks for the info.
Now that I come to think of it, following all the disappointments and tough losses endured by Rafa, and us his fans having to live with it, I had this idea about betting against Rafa…I even said to a friend of mine last night jokingly: Put your money on Rafa losing his match and you may win tons of money…I could never do that, I can’t even predict Rafa’s loss but boy I would certainly feel less upset and down with money in my pocket… ? this is just an attempt for some rather stupid humor to try to entertain myself when I feel truly and utterly depressed…
Have actually done something similar before, natashao. It’s a survival instinct in some of us?
Wow. No more Rafa. Shocking loss.
I don’t understand why everyone’s making Toni the scapegoat for all this.
How are you guys defining who’s a good coach and who’s not??
Simply basing it off the player’s result?
If for some reason, Novak decided to hire me, would that make me a top tier coach?
Don’t see how anyone can truly have an insight on this, unless they are in Nadal’s team watching them train / talk strategy on a daily basis.
When you see Toni yelling instructions from the stands all the time you know it’s a problem.
Wasn’t a problem when he was winning 14 GS was there?
Even when he was winning those he wasn’t doing much differently. He was at his physical peak then, therefore playing his brand tennis was good to go. Now his footspeed has reduced and his lack of options are showing.
So what have Fed won these days, option or no option? When one declines physically, one cant win anymore, at least not as frequently.
You’re talking without substance here, as if Fed has many options that enable him to win now! I still see him being slamless for three years, playing with options or not!
Fed is 34. And is smacking volley winners off serves. No he’s not winning. But he’s pushing himself to do well even today. Not surprising that you probably don’t realise why it’s phenomenal.
He hasn’t declined physically.
He’s declined mentally.
As fedfan says, Fed is reaching slam finals. Stan is older than Rafa and reaching/winning slam finals.
Verdasco is 32.
This is not about age.
How do you know that Rafa IS not going to push himself to do well going forward?? If he hadnt, he wont rise in the rankings from no.10 to no.5 by end of last year.
Its strange that you’re jumping into conclusion like this. If Rafa is not willing to make changes to improve then how come he could hit that big serve to win him his first USO? How come he could come back from injuries time and again and regained the upperhand in the rankings and turned the table against Novak each time?
Its not only Fed who’s thinking of improving, Rafa is also doing the same, its just that he needs time to get used to a new racket and implementing the changes to his game.
Fedfan (AT 1:47 PM)
—When you see Toni yelling instructions from the stands…—
===
.
You imagine.
When you see Toni yelling instructions from the stands all the time you know it’s a problem.
correction to AT 2:21 PM,
The last sentence is double posting of Fedan’s phrase.
Nole wouldn’t be where he is today if he hired you for coach no offence lol.
He got there first with vajda and then recognized he needed Becker after he was stagnating post 2011.
He is always looking.at every avenue to improve and it’s paying huge dividends. He will soon pass Rafa as goat by this year or next.
Evolve or perish.
Lol, let me ask to this. Would Novak achieve those GS without Becker?
Good or bad, I have no opinions toward any of the coaches, because I think it’s unfair do to so. Especially when none of us have a perspective within the players’team.
And @fedfan, that’s just your own. interpretation of what a coach should do while watching a match. It has nothing to do with their actual ability
No I don’t think so. After 2011 and before Boris, Nole was losing slam finals he could have won. In my opinion.
Nats it would be like a type of insurance.
I’ve thought the same. Like a financial anti jinx.
Without a change to his team, it will only get worse.
This is not about the game passing him by as Ricky said.
This is about him not playing his game.
Verdascos game has dropped.
Rafa dumping short second serve returns into the net repeatedly does not equate to the game passing him by. That’s ridiculous.
Also Rafa became the greatest ever with his storied 2013 comeback punctuated with his 13th and 14th slam win. Makes no difference if he retired after 2014 French open. You can’t take his achievements away from him.
He is the best for now.
For me, I will always be his fan.
Tennis continues and there will be great tennis over the next two weeks for all tennis fans to enjoy including most Rafans.
Vamos Rafa no matter what.
Hawkeye, Ive come to accept it that Rafa can never be like that aggressive youngster (of 2004) anymore as he had since changed to playing a counterpunching game across all surfaces. Those 2013 USO series matches were the exceptions not the norm. In all likelihood he will continue with his counterpunching game on the HC surfaces and definitely on clay. He will continue to run into problems when facing a big hitter esp when the big hitter is on fire.
I only wish for him to do well on clay at least, to win his 10th FO before he quits the game; oh wins a few more clay Masters too.
I think Rafa was more the aggressor in 2013 than he was the counter puncher.
We can argue all day whether it is physical or mental.
But for me, Rafa dumping slow second serve returns into the net repeatedly has nothing to do with physical decline, recovery, the game passing him by and is solely mental anxiety.
I think its both mental and physical. Rafa looks a bit slow out there; in the past he could run to cover his FH when its under attack, now he reached the ball late when opponents attacked his FH corner.
I hope its him getting used to new racket or new strings and so a bit hesitant. I do feel he’s making wrong decisions on the tennis court. Its obvious Verdasco was anticipating his CC topspin FH and was comfortable returning it as the bounce was just right for him. Rafa should hit a penetrating flatter CC FH making use of the full diagonal length of the court to make it difficult for Verdasco to return the shot, but with topspin when hitting DTL so that his shots just dipped and touched the baseline. He instead did the reverse, hitting topspin CCFH but hit a flat DTL one that he overhit over the baseline.
He talked about defense and offence in his presser, clearly he’s indecisive or a bit confused as to whether he should go for offensive shots or stayed back and played defence. Its very much a WIP for him, the AO is a bit too soon for him when he’s not ready or comfortable yet with the new changes to his game.
I said before, that Rafa is not one who fights fire with fire, so I do feel he has to take the initiative to start aggressively from the get go when he knows he’s facing an aggressive player and gain the upperhand right away. If he’s more aggressive vs Verdasco, Verdasco would be forced to defend more and some of his winners would become UEs.
FedoleFan is just bummed out about Rafa being Fed’s Daddy. Like most extreme Fed fans.
Nothing new lol.
Good thing I didn’t pick Rafa to go super far. Had him in the quarters though.
My bracket is pulverized. Done. BennyG
Only one who can save it is Nole.
My bracket is done, too. I picked Rafa to go to the final. Gee whiz, does that make me a Novak fan? I picked him to beat both Stan and Murray.
So who didn’t have faith in Rafa! But I have been proved wrong now. So be it. Life goes on and so does tennis.
Monfils has good chance at reaching the quarters now. I think he and Chardy are the only seeds left.
In Rafa’s section I mean.
Rafa’s section of the draw is wide open now. A real opportunity for someone.
Monfils
Yes, I can see Monfils capitalizing on this opportunity. I would like to see him do it.
One thing I know is that Rafa won’t give up. I’m still not counting him out of a tenth FO title this season.
he’s miles away from that level benny. you are forgetting that the slams are now becoming more of a problem for him than the other tournaments. three terrible losses in a row. he’ll be under huge pressure when he returns to the clay courts…
Yeah that’s true.
But if he wins a masters on clay or two he could gain the confidence again. He needs to take down Nole during the clay court season heading into the French. He’s not getting a win on hard court anytime soon against Novak that’s for sure.
yes that is right benny. but he will need to do that to stand a chance of rebuilding his confidence and winning RG. it is very worrying that these losses are coming in the early rounds of slams. in a sense it’s not surpising because even peak rafa got nervous in the opening rounds of slams so vulnerable rafa was really going to struggle and then the 2 previous slam exits were really going to be weighing on him. that’s what i was trying to say the other day. (even before i came to this site to see the result i was sure in my gut he’d lost..i could just feel it).
he needs a lot of luck somewhere along the line..
amy,
You know I actually forgot about the early round loss to Brown at Wimbledon. So I didn’t realize that it’s been three slams in a row. That’s when you have to be concerned. Early exits in slams is a big deal. But as you said, it makes sense that a vulnerable Rafa lacking in confidence would have an even tougher time in the early rounds. It’s true that Rafa always started slowly in slams and had his troubles. Now it’s even worse.
I can’t believe it! I just turned on ESPN2 and they are replaying Rafa’s match! I turned it off immediately. There is no way that I am going to put myself through that again. It was bad enough to watch it live.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein.
too true hawks….too true..all this is so expletive deleted predictable..
Yes, after watching this debacle, I must say that Einstein knew what he was talking about!
I agree with augusta,
# No Rafa no tennis
I put my TV on radio on mute during the sport report because it’s to painful to even to hear the words: “Rafael Nadal was defeated………..”
“I know I did everything that I can to be ready for it. Was not my day. Let’s keep going. That’s the only thing.
No, no, there is no more things to do than keep practicing hard, keep practicing the same way that I was doing the last four, five months.
Today I was not ready to compete the way that I was practicing, so not happy with that. That’s it. I hope the next time I can compete better than what I did today, because I was playing good.”
Practice won’t fix this.
“But the real thing is my mission is make them play with difficult positions. So if they want to go for lot of winners with very difficult positions, the chance of having success is not very high. If I let them hit from good positions and they obviously wants to go for winners, then the chances for success are much higher.
So that’s the mistake for me today. Last year was different story, no? Don’t want to compare last year, because last year was a different issues.
But this year, the real thing is I was not enough aggressive with my forehand during the whole match. I didn’t feel it. I tried. I fighted. I was ready to do it, and I didn’t. So I am sad for that.”
This is what I’ve said.
His forehand is not near as aggressive as it used to be and Rafa is slower both primarily due to heavy legs which is a symptom of anxiety.
Last night was the first time in weeks I have been able to watch tennis as I’ve only just packed off the last house guests from the Christmas/New Year holiday period although I’ve been following all your discussions on Tenngrand.
I’m still reeling from the shock – not to mention the horror – of watching the Verdasco Fiasco. Right up to the bitter end I was so sure Rafa would turn things round particularly after Nando looked like he was cramping up. But Rafa looked like the proverbial rabbit caught in headlights of a car.. I switched off after they shook hands. I didn’t want to see his face or watch him leave the court.
To add to the misery people have been ringing up all day to ask how I’m feeling. ugh.
I refuse to give up on Rafa but I’m not sure I can take much more of watching him go down the pan in this way.
Last night was the first time in weeks I have been able to watch tennis as I’ve only just packed off the last house guests from the Christmas/New Year holiday period although I’ve been following all your discussions on Tenngrand.
I’m still reeling from the shock – not to mention the horror – of watching the Verdasco Fiasco. Right up to the bitter end I was so sure Rafa would turn things round particularly after Nando looked like he was cramping up. But Rafa looked like the proverbial rabbit caught in headlights of a car.. I switched off after they shook hands. I didn’t want to see his face or watch him leave the court.
To add to the misery people have been ringing up all day to ask how I’m feeling. ugh.
I refuse to give up on Rafa but I’m not sure I can take much more of watching him go down the pan in this way.
The big question is Whether Novak Djokovic is going to surpass Nadal 14 GS. And bigger question is that who will win GS first Roger Federer or Nadal? Too bad Nadal is declined and Federer is old. What an incredibly weak era since last two years that has given Novak massive advantage.
Novak will get more than 14. The question is if can Nadal win another French.
Haha weak era lol good one
Benny,
Yes, I do find that quite amusing! The old “weak era” argument! Now Stan is in the top four with two slams, Murray is still very much in contention and so is Fed. Not to mention guys like Nishi, Cilic, Tsonga, Berdy, Ferrer, Dimitrov and the other young guns.
I guess some choose to try to rationalize things in their own way.
It’s only weak era when no other player other than Nole is able to make slam finals for 3+ years.
Far from that yet.
^This!
Er…who other than Novak made slam finals for 3+ or even four to five years? Only Rafa did from 2011 to 2014. Murray did in 2011-2013 and then 2015. If both Rafa and Murray fail to make finals this year, then perhaps we are into the weak era already.
I exclude Fed the old man here. Fed making finals further strengthen the weak era argument.
PS Fed made finals in 2011 FO, 2012 Wimbledon, 2014 Wimbledon and 2015 Wim and USO.
Weak Era is 3 or more years with no more than one player consistently making slam finals (min. 30% of slam finals let’s say).
So 2013-15 we have:
Nole 9 of 12
Rafa 4
2012-14:
Nole 8 of 12
Rafa 6
Murray 4
Compare that to 2004-06:
Fed 9 of 12
2003-05:
Fed 6 of 12
2002-04:
Fed 4 of 12
2001-03:
No one
2000-02:
Sampras 4 of 12
1999-2001:
Agassi 5 of 12
Sampras 4
So definite weak era from 2000-06
Now what about 2014-16?
To date:
Nole 6
Fed 3
Rafa 2
Stan 2
So possible end of this year a new weak era could be born unless Fed makes one final or Rafa or Stan make two finals but we are not there yet.
Remember, this trend occurred over seven years from 2000-06!!!
The greatest weak era of all time!!!
#GWEOAT
🙂
Nole is a potential GOAT in waiting and Federer beat him three times in 2015, arguably one of the best if not the best single year by any player in tennis history.
Federer is still a great player.
#FedCounts
I don’t know how it will sound but i feel its better for Rafa and Fed to lose early than to lose against Nole Andy or wawa.. The loss was so painful and i can’t believe only 2 years ago in 2014 he was palying amazing tennis when he won against red hot Dimi, Nishi in semis against Fed and he was certain to take the trophy hime but due to bad back.. Phew.. Then he won FO agaisnt Nole so he was palying incredible tennis what Happened suddenly which has make him nervous and less aggressor, i still feel if he start to paly full aggressive he can beat Nole, i have watched us open 2013 final many times why cant he play like this the aggressive rafa..
maybe on clay
MAYBE
Ricky doesn’t get it.
Not about the surface.
Nah, Rafa at 2010 or 2013 is good enough for Novak on any surface, imo. Just watch his matches of 2010 and 2013 again, on clay and on HCs. Rafa was so quick to cover both wings and so aggressive, moving up the court as much as possible to finish points asap. He also had a good serve in those years.
A Rafa playing a notch down from 2010 was still pushing Novak to the limit at AO2012.
Exactly Lucky. Nole wouldn’t necessarily have today’s confidence with that Rafa staring down at him.
Tennis takes two to A Tango, Lad.
Not about Nole at all. Rafa’s problems are much bigger than that.
Nole’s level is not significantly higher than 2013 when Rafa beat him at the French and US Open or 2014 when Rafa beat him at the French Open.
Rafa’s level has severely dropped.
So I think he’d continue to beat Nole in slams more often than not but it’s a moot point as there is no evidence to suggest that he’s willing to make the changes needed to get that level back.
Forget Nole until he can reach semis in slams which he is unable to do against the rest of the field.
hawkeye,
I don’t know that I agree that Novak’s level is not significantly higher than in 2013. I think he’s improved his serve quite a bit. In that 2013 USO it was Novak’s serve that let him down and also some mental lapses. Also, his DTL backhand wasn’t working well. There were definitely issues in his game and Rafa playing aggressive tennis and being mentally strong, playing at his best was able to take advantage.
The thing that I have noticed about Novak, is his willingness to address issues that may crop up in his game. That’s what it’s all about. He came back stronger in 2014. It wasn’t enough to take out Rafa at RG. Rafa not even at his best could not be taken out at RG prior to 2015.
In 2015 we saw that Novak wasn’t double faulting in crucial moments of matches. He was mentally stronger. He always had a great second serve, but now he’s hitting even more aces. He’s got all his groundstrokes firing. The guy just doesn’t quit.
There was a time when Rafa would work with Uncle Toni on aspects of his game. I remember how good he looked when he came out in the 2009 AO. He was coming to the net more and volleying and also his CC backhand was absolutely brilliant. He made some changes so that he could compete at HC slams and win. That’s what he did in 2009. Rafa has been willing to work on his game, so I simply cannot understand why now he is content to just keep practicing. It’s clearly not translating to his match play.
I do agree with you that Rafa’s level has severely dropped.
Novak has improved his volleying and his game at the net. To me that’s the two areas he improved over his 2011 self. His serve was already great in 2013 (watch his match vs Delpo at Wimbledon, he was also serving 20+aces), its just that right now he’s so confident that he rarely DF.
I dont think its fair to say that Rafa is not working to improve his game. I thought we said earlier on he’s working to improve his BHDTL and his ROS and his serves? He was doing everything right when he played against Stan and Murray at WTF and Raonic at Abu Dhabi. To me, he’s still a WIP, trying to be aggressive but sometimes falling back into bad habit of reverting back to defensive play once he met with an aggressive opponent – Ferrer at WTF, Kuznetsov and Novak at Doha.
He said it himself, he made the mistake of not being aggressive in the first set and I agree with him. I said earlier that its not Rafa’s style to fight fire with fire, so its important for him to come out all guns blazing at the get go to gain the upperhand and never allow his opponent back into the game, if he knows that his opponent is a big hitting player. Rafa made the mistake of starting slow, not expecting Verdasco to be on fire.
Going forward, I’m positive that Rafa will get there, like his 2013 aggressive self, when he’s given more time to get used to new racket/string and to work and implement those changes or improvements into his matches, starting with clay at Rio and maybe BA.
I’ve watched some of his 2010 matches on youtube and was reminded of how great Rafa was at that time, how quick and how aggressive he was back then. Its no wonder he won three slams that year. Not to mention his clean sweep of all clay titles on European soil.
Its no wonder Toni was saying Rafa is trying to find that 2010, 2013 game and to me that’s sufficent to deal with anyone.
Djoker is way better now mentally and physically. Rafa’s level has dropped too of course.
hawkeye, I never thought I would agree with you but you are spot on. It’s Rafa’s level that’s gone down. He needs to get his mojo back otherwise there is no point in losing embarrassing matches like he is doing now.
In Abu Dhabi, Rafa lit the place up with his game. Before his first match, everyone was in a lull and people seeing a live tennis match for the first time where underwhelmed watching Anderson vs Raonic etc. When Rafa took to the court playing his usual lightning style everyone thought, now this is worth coming for. So why a few weeks later, he simply couldn’t do that against Verdasco is hard to fathom.
Nerve. Remember Rafa lost early in the past two slams, naturally he would be nervous in his first match. Moreover, it’s Verdasco and everyone kept reminding him of their 2009 SF, all the more made him nervous.
Verdasco came out all guns blazing didn’t help either. Had Rafa won the first set, he would have won the match. Verdasco went for broke in set 4&5 and didn’t miss much in those two sets.
Rafa’s problem was not being aggressive when needed to, just like his matches vs Ferrer, Kuznetsov and Novak.
Rafa definitely suffered from nerves but he should not succumb to the media noises about their match in 2009. He has beaten Verdasco many times since so he should have gone on court believing in himself.
Verdasco won their latest encounter at Miami last year, Rafa would be nervous. Rafa is such a guy, that he lacks confidence and when playing against someone who has beaten him before, he tends to remember those losses and so gets nervous. The same goes when he meets Fognini.
Not hard to fathom for me.
Lucky is right.
Practise and exhos are not high stakes.
I do not agree that it’s better for Rafa to lose early to the likes of Nando. Or Fog or Brown for that matter! At least if he gets to the semis or finals and loses to another top player, that is something that can be expected. But this? No way! Losses like this will destroy what is left of Rafa’s confidence. This is beyond humiliating. Also, the quality of this match was nowhere near the level of their 2009 semifinal.
It is hard to believe that only two years ago Rafa was in the final going for the double career slam.
I think we can all agree that out of the Big 4, Rafa’s game takes the most toll on the body. Maybe, just maybe his body is declining.
That’s because he’s playing most clay court matches among the big 4, not help by his foot issue. In addition, he doesnt have a great serve to win him cheap points, the way Fed and Novak could.
Repeatedly hitting soft verdasco second serve returns into the net is not physical decline. It’s mental decline.
Video of Rafa’s presser after his loss to Verdasco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exNssqGzFZ4
I have NEVER seen Rafa look this distressed after a loss. He actually had tears in his eyes. So sad to watch him like this. Hope he sees the light at the end of the tunnel soon.
Vamos Rafa!
He had himself to blame. He should know by now nobody wants to give him time to get into his groove so it pays to come out all guns blazing esp vs a player like Verdasco.
Poor play by him, no excuse for an experienced player like him. I don’t feel sorry for him because he refuses to learn his lessons. This will teach him a lesson – take things into his own hands, don’t depend on others to make errors.
Agree don’t feel sorry for him at all. He should feel sorry for us on the other hand for putting us through this for 18 months now.
Read Feds presser today. Guess what nobody even asked him about Rafas loss which they usually do. Guess no one considers it a surprise anymore.
@ sanju,
In the Balkans, his loss was presented as “sensation, breaking news and a lot of speculations about end of career”…so I guess a diverse media approach is possible…
What got me upset is the crowd being behind Verdasco…in the fifth set they were just thrilled to see his aggressive game and he won their support for his gutsy performance…I felt for Rafa…
This crowd behaved badly with him in AO 2014 too. Did they not boo him? So nothing new here. I think only Wimbledon and USO has hardcore Rafa supporters.
French has always been a question and Australia too from past 3 years.
Sanju (AT 12:01 PM)
Didn’t you remember the reason at the 2014 AO ??
nats, that’s because a large and vocal component of the crowd are fedfans that take pleasure in Rafa losing because of his threat to Fed’s legacy.
End of career is not surprising for media to infer. It is logical conclusion. What I meant is shock value of a loss.
Well Rafa was asked the question in 2015 about his retirement and he said he would wait and see how his 2016 turns out.
I won’t be surprised that if he’s not winning anything this year, he may quit. If he always has doubts and worries about his body and his game, and gets nervous all the time, how’s he going to enjoy the competition out there? Suffering embarrassing losses to low ranked players would make it even harder to bear, not only for him but for his fans too.
Rafa and Toni seem to have all the bad timings in launching their projects – Rafa launched his book ‘Rafa’ after his stellar 2010 only to suffer 7 straight losses at the hands of Novak and lost his no.1 ranking. Toni launched a book on Tennis coaching last year I think and then his charge had his worst season, not winning a slam or a masters for the first time in ten years, and mentally ‘collapsed’ during his matches.
Rafa’s tennis academy will be ready this year and he has to play so poorly (even at the slams), a serious drop in ranking and his level of play, that he is asked about his retirement from prof tennis. What’s with all the bad timings?
Luckystar (12:49 PM)
—Rafa and Toni seem to have all the bad timings in launching their projects…—
===
.
Rafa and Toni are doing something ALL the time.
Sanju (AT 10:47 AM),
—Agree don’t feel sorry for him at all.—
===
.
To each its own.
Verdasco played very bad first set. Rafa just played worse.
So true…Rafa’s bad game made Verdasco look great…Verdasco would have been destroyed by any player in the top 20 playing like that…
Definitely, that’s why Verdasco’s ranking is outside Top 40.
I couldn’t believe how old Fernando looked but any player in Top 100 could look good with all of those short balls teed up by Rafa.
Again, here is Rafa’s presser after losing to Sod at FO. Check the one minute mark. Rafa is bang on about what made Sod look so good. Exact same analysis is true for Versdasco loss almost seven years later…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caP8ymFrStM
@ nadline,
I never thought I would cry over Rafa’s loss but I admit I did yesterday, and not right after the match, but later when the state of shock was replaced with grief.
And then watching his press conference broke my heart…seeing tears in his eyes and the enormous sadness on his face was just too much for me.
My own training last night got me going. I did not have any sleep and was devastated, but once I started my working routine I managed to get rid of the negative feelings.
I hope Rafa’s training, his hard work and his goals will help him overcome this terrible loss. It’s difficult and he may need some therapy to get back his belief in success…
I am so sad to see him suffering like this…it hurts…
natashao (AT 11:14 AM),
—I never thought I would cry over Rafa’s loss but I admit I did yesterday—
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It means that you have become a Rafan! 🙂
@ augusta08,
I watch many sports…and I am a fan of numerous greats in various sports but I have never experienced this type of devotion and involvement in someone’s career as I do for Rafa…though I would prefer to be less affected there is no way…
I wish I could just be angry at Rafa but I can’t…Rafa is such a wonderful human being and hard working individual…he shows so much respect for his opponents…he deserves better than this…it makes me so sad…hope he gets back on track…soon…
natashao (12:22 PM),
—I wish I could just be angry at Rafa but I can’t…Rafa is such a wonderful human being…—
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I remember that you have been angry at him and I’m glad you can’t be now. 🙂
augusta 12:32PM,
It was so much easier that way, trust me… ?
I’d felt this way long time ago when Rafa lost and esp at FO2009. My days were affected by Rafa’s losses.
I’ve learned to accept his losses and be less affected by them, after he won his FO2014. Why FO2014? Because he finally had gotten his five in a row at the FO, and he’s in the exclusive league of only three of them – Fed, Borg and Rafa – who had won at a slam five years in a row.
The loss at FO2009 hurt the most, for Rafa had only to win that year to join that exclusive club and then he failed. I was very upset by that loss, for, how many five years a player could have? I’ve waited five years since and many things happened in those five years, like the rise of Novak for example, and finally, Rafa won his five in a row at the FO in 2014 beating none other than Novak. Who would have thought that after ten years, Rafa would have won the FO for the ninth time?
My wish now is for Rafa to stay healthy and win some big titles like the slams and the WTF, get some wins over Novak and ends his career on a high note.
Rafa really needs to play aggressive tennis, the way he did in 2010 and 2013, if not he will be overpowered by big hitters often. Everyone tries to hit as hard as possible these days, like it or not, Rafa has to change something in his game to deal with these big hitters.
Luckystar (AT 1:14 PM)
—My wish now is for Rafa to stay healthy…—
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Thankfully, Rafa hasn’t suffered (serious) injuries since 2014. He has only had a niggling pain in his ankle(s) & shoulder and cramps caused by dehydration.
He is injured.
Exactly Lucky, Verdasco was no where near the level he played in 2009 SF against Rafa.
He lost at AO2014 and he cried and I felt for him, for he got injured. The same thing happened during AO2011 when he got injured.
However, this loss he had himself to blame – no injury, well prepared, yet played so poorly when he had all his chances and was leading.
I thought he said he had overcome his nerve yet when tested in a slam match, he failed again. If he continues to get nervous, no matter how hard he practices it’s still useless. What has his coach done to help him overcome this problem? After a year has passed, they’re back to square one.
If he always feel nervous, then why not go for broke and see what happens; there’s no harm because he would lose anyway due to nerve so why not go all out and shorten the match, win or lose? Why drag on and waste all the energy when a loss is to be expected because of nerve? Rafa simply can’t think logically.
@ lucky,
I said basically the same thing about this match…it seems Rafa suddenly loses his brilliant tennis brain…losing to Verdasco makes me extremely mad at Rafa, but seeing him suffer makes me so sad…i guess bad things happen to good people all the time…I just hope he does not end his career like this…he must believe in future success…
I am not blaming Toni but I am with the rest of you that Rafa needs additional help…this is just running in circle with no result except for more scars on his already fragile confidence tissue…
Viseo of Rafa’s presser after losing to Sod at FO. Check the one minute mark. Rafa is bang on about what made Sod look so good. Exact same analysis is true for Versdasco loss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caP8ymFrStM
Rafa looked much worse after losing to Stan at AO finals.
Just that Rafa has shown us every damn low in past 15 months that I think anything from here is up. It cant get worse. 1st round, 2nd round, 3rd round exit in slams..RG loss..no Clay masters..just small 250/500 wins..can it get worse? Guess anything now on is gravy and he can only surprise us positively now on.
BTW is he still in Australia or gone home? I doubt he will go to Rio so soon 2 weeks in advance.
Sanju (AT 12:04 PM)
I answered this question on JANUARY 19, 2016 AT 12:46 PM.
You said he planned to go to Rio..but what will he go there and do 3 weeks before the tourney?
Sanju (12:48 PM)
—You said he planned to go to Rio…—
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Nope, I didn’t! Read my post again.
He is going to practice (somewhere) in South America.
A balanced article on Rafas defeat
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/talkingturkey/another-setback-rafa-nadal-must-figure-out-a-way-to-counter-crazy-tennis/
Its a fact. All the 3 opponents that have beaten Rafa won by going for broke..playing low percentage tennis and belting winners. BUT BUT BUT Rafa fed them short balls to do that in the first place.
Sanju gets it.
The game hasn’t passed him by. He has dropped.
There is no question that Rafa’s level has dropped quite a bit. I would suggest anyone to go watch the 2013 RG semifinal and the 2013 USO final. That says it all.
I did finally cry after this loss. But it took some time. I think the shock had to wear off. I never expect to see Rafa lost to Nando. I was not prepared for it at all. I have been very sad since it happened and am struggling to shake it off.
I could not watch Rafa’s presser because the sad, pained look in his eyes was too hard to watch. To see a great champion come to this is beyond difficult.
Depressing articles on Rafa..warning
http://www.foxsports.com.au/tennis/world-view-open-defeat-shows-rafael-nadal-has-lost-his-aura-and-is-in-decline-as-grand-slam-force/news-story/75c32ccd913bf0946b07a0e273d0c309
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/sports/tennis/rafael-nadal-australian-open-first-round-loss.html?_r=0
sanju, you must be a sucker for punishment if you want to read depressing articles about Rafa. The only tennis sites I’ve been on since the loss are VB and this one.
Sanju, no thanks.
When writers and bloggers are that blind as to the cause of Rafa’s struggles, it shows their limited understanding of tennis and that mental strength at the very elete level of competition is more important than the physical.
That’s why I am not reading any of it. I don’t want to feel worse than I do now.
Rafa needs to be reminded he is Rafael Nadal. I think Cahill or Carlos would have been good add ons. Team Rafa surely needs to bring in additional help.
That! Rafa forgets who he is and what he has accomplished and how much he can still do!
Sanju (AT 12:52 PM),
—I think Cahill or Carlos would have been good add—
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The same Cahill who “has been able to do nothing with Simona halep” ? [Sanju JANUARY 19, 2016 AT 12:10 PM]
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“Halep lost today to WTA #133…” [augusta08 JANUARY 19, 2016 AT 12:23 PM]
Well Halep is no Rafa. Secondly Halep has not won a single slam..Rafa has won 14 and understands game more.
Maybe he can make more sense of Cahills calming influence.
Simona herself said Cahill puts no pressure on her at all..calms her down..maybe Rafa needs just that.
I read Simona is bothered by some injury…that’s the main reason she was not ready to compete…i think Cahill will help her career…it was a wise decision IMO…
After Nole won three slams in 2011, he only won one in 2012 and 2013 losing two semis and FOUR finals.
He hired Becker because of Becker’s mental strength and experience in last rounds in slams.
It took a year for it to pay off.
Change doesn’t happen overnight.
Everybody laughed and criticized Nole for hiring Becker and it took some time to gel and his advice to have impact, but no one is laughing now and the hire is considered genius.
I was so distraught that I slept all day yesterday and I mean all day. I still had jet lag as I only returned from Dubai on Thursday but I went to bed at 7 pm on Monday night and got up at midnight to be wide awake for Rafa’s match full of hopes that I would enjoy watching Rafa for the next 2 weeks and all the hope disappeared right before my eyes on day 2.
Rafa must have cried before the presser, you could see it in his face. I just hope the level of disappointment will spur him on not to give away matches he should win. He did not do himself justice in that match at all.
For all you know..he may bounce back thinking..Enough is enough..I wont have any more of this..I am proving them all wrong going forth
He cannot do this alone.
Exactly. Nobody can. He needs help more than ever…
As all players do especially at the top.
Toni is the most successful coach of all time.
However, Rafa is the only tennis great in the last 20 years not to make some changes in coaching which is the normal thing when a player’s needs change throughout his career.
I agree with this. My belief is that the blame is not only on the player. There is a team that works with him, headed by at least one coach, sometimes more. They also have a responsibility. Rafa should not have to shoulder all of this himself. There are times when players need help and there is no shame in getting it. If the other top players can make changes, add sports psychologists to their team, add coaches and change equipment and implement specific changes to their games, then there is no reason why Rafa should not do the same.
Footspeed is declined and i was thinking about the ridiculous running forehands by rafa which are totally vanished, its more physical, and due to that he is getting nervous losing matches from winning positions i-e Us open and now Aus Open, Clay will also not help much IMO untill he finds his physical powers once again..
I am also inclined to think that way, although it may as well be both (mental letdowns)…I am too of the opinion that Rafa must change something big in his game as he is no longer fast as he used to be which is the main cause of his wrong court positioning and short forehands with less power…what can he do to compensate for his decline in speed? well, must rely on his serve more (which is not the case and may never be) or go to the net more often…and he definitely must improve his ROS…agressive play is what he needs but he must be confident in order to execute it right and to think clear. This is where a new pair of eyes or advise come in and seem mandatory…that’s why I think Rafa needs another (in addition to Toni!) coach on his team…
In the Verdasco’s match I noticed Rafa hesitating to leave the baseline even when there was a clear opportunity for it…waiting for the opponent to make errors brings him nowhere…
It’s a chicken and egg situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpKqMC2YfwI
The eeeeeg. Hahahahahaha (sorry Ricky, I will stop, my bad.)
no-one suddenly slows that much overnight. rafa’s movement was explosive at stuttgart last year and then lousy at wimby…there’s no explanation for these changes happening within 2 weeks except mental ones.
also people keep talking about the decrease in rafa’s court speed but the point is also decrease in his anticipation. rod laver has spoken before about how rafa has an uncanny oncourt anticipation of where his opponents’ shots are going…that’s just not working in the same way and again that’s mental.
amy gets it
definitely not sudden reduction of speed…all the injuries and setbacks had to take tool on his body…Novak and Fed are lucky to be healthy and not injury prone..
Stuttgart is not an indication of anything…Rafa played difficult three setters with Bagdatis and Tomic…Monfils plagued with injuries was just not good enough and Troicki choked on key points…
I do not exclude Rafa’s mental issues as the factor existing mainly due to lack of confidence…but lack of confidence comes from not trusting his own game not from the fear of opponents…that’s what Rafa has been saying all along…
oh dear i just wrote a post which has disappeared so will have to write it again
i agree that it’s more to do with lack of confidence in his own game than fear of his opponents. but the problem surely runs much deeper than just that.
if you remember that horrible match with brown..in the second set rafa started to play well then in the third he suddenly missed a very easy forehand and just literally fell apart. that’s an extraordinary change from a player who used to play point by point, putting the negative behind him, and was famous for being so mentally strong…
oh sorry forgot the speed part of it…
well he was literally rooted to the spot when he fell apart that match..could scarcely move…
I totally agree…but again I think it is mainly because he does not trust his own game and makes uncharacteristic errors because he seems to either overthink or not think properly on the court…
we can make attempt to find the reasons behind his current inexplicable losses and we all may be right to some extent…I just refuse to think that Rafa suffers any type of mental disorder because he evidently used to have this type of problems in early rounds all his life but managed to find the way to win mainly due to
1. mental strength and confidence in his own game
2. mental lapses and disbelief of his opponents
however, both of these reasons are no longer existant and that is where problems arise…
Well, we are talking semantics.
A mental disorder could be caused by him not trusting his game for example.
That is what an anxiety disorder is – nervousness or anxiety to the point that it severely impacts your performance of your normal activities. For Rafa, that’s tennis and his tennis performance is severely impacted.
There is no shame or weakness in having an anxiety disorder (no different than a physical injury).
And nats, even Rafa said he had a “problema mental” in his own words which led to the multiple losses he said he thought he should have won so, again, semantics.
natashao2013 (AT 5:47 PM)
—I just refuse to think that Rafa suffers…—
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I’m glad you don’t let clients of “T-X” fool you! 🙂
natashao2013 (AT 5:20 PM)
—lack of confidence comes from not trusting his own game not from the fear of opponents…that’s what Rafa has been saying all along…_—
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Yep. And U.Toni also has explained it a zillion times.
U.Toni in his interview with COP, a radio network in Spain, in Dec.2015 : “Getting injured in the AO 2014 final was a big blow. When he recovered [therapies helped him temporarily], the wrist issue happened [July 2014] and then appendicitis [Oct-Nov. 2014] when he was trying to come back. All this caused him a huge stress and lack of confidence in his body [in the 2015 season]. He was going on court [in 2015] without knowing/trusting what his body would do.”
amy,
I do think the primary issue is mental. We have seen Rafa hit his forehand with authority in one match or tournament and then it goes away in the next. No player’s level goes up and down and all over the place like that.
I do think that Rafa has lost a bit of speed with age. I think that’s normal but it’s not the end of the world. I think that it’s important to try and win more efficiently as a player gets older. That’s why I don’t like seeing Rafa struggle to win against lower ranked players in tournaments like Doha. At this point in his career it’s not helpful to his body. He can’t keep slugging it out in these kinds of matches.
There are ways to compensate for aging and also to deal with lack of confidence and loss of mental strength. These issues can and should be addressed.
Verdasco is one of the biggest chokers in tennis and yet he knew he can beat this rafa from the start of the match, so these kind of players are not afraid of Rafa anymore today Dog lost to fed and just gave up coz he has no belief but in case of rafa players have no such fear now they Beleive the can win and thats not helping rafa either he needs to win a master 1000 atleast to make sure that he is back, i still have hopes and i didn’t give up on rafa. A champion like him cant just lose lose and lose he will be back, may be for a short period of time but he will be back and he will definitely beat nole thats what my heart says but he needs to change so many things time is not on his side A new coach will bring new mindset new strategies new hopes new belief, even if its not Toni’s fault he must tell rafa to hire a new coach he can be with the team but Rafa beeds something new NOW
exactly!
Hey hey!
Ho ho!
Uncle Toni has got to go!
#RinseAndRepeat
thanks for that hawkspeare….
# poet laureate…
i was reading tennis-x earlier today …the rafa fans there are nearly all in unison in wanting to see the back of toni..
most of the site seems to think he should go
amy (AT 5:15 PM)
—i was reading tennis-x earlier today …—
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Oh, that’s the place you get your knowledge from! I happened to read that site a few times during last 5 years (when I happened to open links to it)… It has been enough! LOL
TX has fans of all stripes much moreso than here amy.
This has historically been a Rafa-Hawkeye-centric site.
But even that’s been improving recently on both counts.
there is a nice rafa fan who posts there called okiegal…she was saying that she thought that toni should go as was her friend gypsygal (also a rafa fan)…they are both thoughtful and insightful posters IMO..
there is a lot of disillusionment with toni..
also there are some very nice posters who are fans of other players but who are very respectful of rafa. they want changes because they want rafa to come back strong as the game is poorer without him.
okiegal said that she thought that toni was too proud to stand down (this is a common theme)
Yes lots of great posters there with just a few bad apples as with any site.
Verging on tragic (in terms of sports) to see Rafa struggle like this with no end in sight and no new ideas other than continue to practise and hope.
Gypsy and Okie are Legend.
i absolutely agree that rafa needs a new coach..have been saying that since last year and been resoundly attacked by some for it…
problem is though is how is toni going to work with anyone?? can you really imagine it??
To them I say…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMzd40i8TfA
how can Vajda work with Becker? Could anyone imagine it? but it works…never say never…
I don’t see Uncle T as some monster…He cares about his nephew and he wants the best for him…also, it would help him release the pressure from his own life…and all the media and public coming after him like it’s his own fault that Rafa did not win matches that he should have won…
I disagree that Toni has to go! That would be plain wrong (and stupid!) thing to do! He knows Rafa the best and Rafa trusts him. I am for adding more people to his team, leaving Toni within the team!
I agree nats. Just making light of a difficult situation.
But he needs a co-coach for sure (or, ahem, sports psychologist).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njFuxKzhYLc
after this loss to Verdasco I am positive he will need a sport psychologist…
He needed one long before that.
natashao2013 (AT 5:36 PM),
—I am positive he will need a sport psychologist…—
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If I may ask, how do YOU know whether Rafa has seen a psychologist or not?
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Rafa’s post-match press conference, QF of the Shanghai Masters 2015:
(An excerpt)
Question: “You talked many times about how you control your emotions better on court now. What changed? Did you seek help from a mental coach, sports psychologist, or did you change your own attitude?”
RAFAEL NADAL: “Well, first thing is I think that’s a personal thing. So normally I don’t like to talk about personal things. I talk about my public things, and that’s a personal thing…”
natashao2013 (AT 5:29 PM),
—I don’t see Uncle T as some monster…—
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I’m glad you don’t let the AntiRafa sites (e.g. T-X) fool you! 🙂
@ augusta 6:26 pm,
I don’t know if he does. I agree with him that it’s rather personal matter. All I am saying is that I think he will really need one to assist him in overcoming the loss like this. If he already has one all the better…
nats gets it.
amy,
I know that you have been attacked for saying that Rafa needs a new coach. But you stuck to your guns. Time has shown that staying the course and doing the same old, same old, is not working.
I was reading on VB and even there some are saying that Rafa needs a new coach or at least an addition to his team and maybe a sports psychologist. These are very devout Rafa fans and even they are realizing that Rafa needs help.
ratcliff,
Are you from tennis-x? I don’t read there much now, so I am not up on who posts there.
For tennis posting Nny, I follow various blogs and twitters but I’m enjoying Tenngrand, Ricky and fine posters here. Had been reading Ricky…anyway…don’t want to hijack this thread with stuff about me. What I like about this site is the non-tennis thread, WTA thread, WTA match thread Bouchard v Aga – awesome to see. It’s a nice evolving work in progress.
Or, I could further introduce myself on the tourneytopia bracket comment section, if you’d like 😉
ratcliff (AT 7:17 PM),
–I like about this site is the non-tennis thread, WTA thread—
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Oh! A person likes men’s tennis site because of non-tennis and women’s tennis! That makes me laugh! LOL
Well, yes, as a matter of fact, augusta.
I can talk to myself in peace on the WTA thread because it’s in the same place every day – and that’s an improvement from other men’s tennis forums. At TX there’s little attention given to WTA AND the threads sink into oblivion too fast. I requested a non tennis forum there but got no answer. There’s more, but again – this is a nice Rafa thread and what I’m posting is off topic.
ratcliff,
I would be happy to continue this on tourneytopia. Do you have the link? I am not sure I know how to comment there, but maybe you can help me.
ratcliff,
I went on the site and saw the comments. You asked if someone was me. But I don’t know how to comment there. Can you help me out?
Nny,
See if you can read and respond to the comment I left you here, it’s at the very bottom of your bracket picks:
http://www.tourneytopia.com/RacquetBracketAussieOpenATP/TheGrandstand2016/pool/entrypicks.aspx?entryid=527191
Let me know on Tenngrand non-tennis forum, if you need more help.
These kinds of early losses, especially in slams, are devastating for a champion like Rafa. I remember the look in his eyes after he lost early in Wimbledon to Brown. These last three early exits from slams are devastating for him.
There is just no question that Rafa needs some help. He tried going it alone all last year and practicing harder and harder. It’s not working.
ratcliffe,
It’s okay. I answered you! Check it out!
Thanks for suggesting going to that site! Great idea!
https://youtu.be/qxijer99TqM
This video gives me new hope he has shown in pieces he has that magic but need to convert those pieces into a one frame to be the Rafa again the REAL Rafa
These clips of his sputtering intermittent genius just confirms my belief that his problems are not physical.
Without a fix to his “mental problema” (as he called it), the consistency will never return and that is what’s been sorely missing for the last two years.
I want to believe he can do it but time is not on his side.
Totally agree with what you said. I hope he would seek help from others but it is so frustrating that he’s wasted so much time sticking with what’s not working.
I simply cannot imagine anyone looking at that presser and seeing the pain and sadness in Rafa’s eyes and not wanting better for him. There is no reason that he should carry this burden all on his own. He’s been practicing hard for a year now and it’s not carrying over into his match performances.
Rafa deserves to have some help. No matter what kind of help it is, anything is better than seeing him like this.
Rafa should seek help to fix his mental issues and his serve issues.
Rafa was of course sad after the loss but he remained positive. I read a google translated version of his Spanish interview done before he left Melbourne. He mentioned something about the ball change – the balls are now hollow and light and wont stay long on the racket string so he’s not able to hit well with his topspin. When asked about his serve problem, he said something like now he’s not given much time to think and prepare so his serve is not as good as before.
I do feel he will do better on clay. On clay, he knows he has more time to deal with the big hitters as the clay surface slows the ball down and he has time to get into position to set up his shots.
On a side note, I really feel that Rafa should not play at AO last year, a return too soon imo. He should have taken Jan 2015 off to train hard and came back in Feb to play on clay just like he did in 2013.
This early defeat, as painful as it is, does give him more time now to work on clay. I do feel that if he does well at SA, he will regain some confidence.
What he also need to fix is his shot selection. He was hitting with topspin CC but landed short and so comfortable for Verdasco to attack. He should be hitting flatter more penetrating shots diagonally so he wont be overhitting but able to force Verdasco back. He was hitting too flat when going DTL and so the ball flew over the baseline, when hitting with topspin would let the ball dip just on the baseline. He was hitting a soft drop shot at the net when he should slam the ball hard to the corner when Verdasco was already rushing to the net. All these wrong shot selections made me felt that Rafa was not thinking clearly out there. Perhaps he’s still not sure when to hit flat and when to use his topspin, now that he’s trying to flatten his shots for the HCs.
His anxiety severely impacts his ability to think clearly which in turn negatively impacts his shot selection.
Same can be said for feeling rushed on his serve. With the enforcement of the new time violation rule, Rafa no longer has time to perform his preserve rituals he used to calm himself.
Rafa is too stubborn; he should have cut out a lot of the rituals long ago. Whilst I think the enforcement of the TV is ridiculous, I don’t think the rituals helped with his serve, that much. Djoker cut out the never ending ball bouncing so really, Rafa should have worked out a new routine for his serve by now. He did well in the IPTL within the time limits between points.
luckystar (AT 4:18 AM)
—I read a google translated version of his Spanish interview done before he left Melbourne. …—
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Could you post a link to this interview or the headline of the article. I know that he practiced with the official ball of the 2016 AO in Mallorca, but I haven’t read more about that.
This photo was taken during Rafa’s practice in Mallorca in Dec.:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CXZu3nAWAAAOrh2.jpg
Its at http://www.elespanol.com. Its in Spanish, the Googled translated English headline is : ‘I have no fear of my date’.
At this point, I can only hope that Rafa can regroup in SA. He needs to regain some confidence after this latest loss. He’s still got I/W and Miami and then the clay season. But he needs to get some wins and maybe a title here and there to get himself going.
Losing early in a slam doesn’t give confidence. I think these early exits at three slams in a row have to hurt.
I thought it was apparent that Rafa was unable to think clearly in this first round match. He started off playing nervous and tentative in that first set. I had a bad feeling right from the beginning, but told myself that there was time for Rafa to work his way into the match. I thought he had it under control when he was up two sets to one.
Rafa was not able to make the adjustments that seem to have come so naturally to him throughout his career. He’s been so good thinking on his feet in the middle of matches. He was always able to regroup. But that quality was lacking.
He seemed to be on the right track in the closing months of the year. But it’s been one step forward and two steps back.
He’s getting used to new racket strings now ( he was using old racket during WTF) and the balls they’re using at the AO didnt help. He’s also learning when to hit flat and when with topspin, needs some mastering as he’s not used to doing that.
To me the main problem is still his serve. He really needs to learn to serve within the time limit, ie be more instinctive when serving instead of having to think so much before he serves.
I hope Rafa plays at BA and Rio so he has more time to work on his game on clay.
I didn’t realize that Rafa was still using the old racket at WTF.
It would be good for Rafa to play at BA and Rio and maybe get some good feelings back on the clay.
Nativenewyorker (AT 5:33 AM),
—didn’t realize that Rafa was still using the old racket at WTF.—
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I have written about Rafa’s racket multiple times.
https://tenngrand.com/2016/01/05/doha-r2-previews-and-picks-djokovic-nadal/comment-page-2/#comment-73384
NNY, after reading some articles/comments, I come to a conclusion that Rafa is still in the transition phase of his game. He’s trying to find his aggressive game of 2010/2013 again but this time there are some complications:
1) he’s still getting used to his new racket/strings;
2) he recognizes that he has to hit a flatter FH to be more effective on the HCs, now that he has lost some power on his topspin FH;
3) as a result of pt no.2, he’s a bit confused as to when to hit a flat FH vs a topspin one and fell into same old habit of hitting a CC topspin FH which was not effective vs Verdasco. He also tends to overhit his FH when hitting it DTL;
4) he tried to move inside the court as shown during the WTF with success but because of his poor serve at the AO, he wasn’t able to do so and was forced to play more defence;
5) the TV rule had affected his serve with him saying he didn’t have enough time to think and prepare;
6) he’s caught between defending and attacking, hesitant whether to defend or to attack sometimes;
7) his BHDTL is still a WIP, and his ROS too.
I think he needs time to figure out how to play his more aggressive game with the implementation of the current changes he’s making. I think he will get there when he gets the balance between defence and offence right, and gets the gist of when to hit with topspin and when a flat shot. The most important thing is to fix the serve, by serving with instinct and not being deliberate. Maybe just practice serving to targeted spots until he can do it with eyes close! I feel if he gets the precision right he can then serve with confidence or at least at ease. He needs that serve down the T badly, the one he used to serve to get out of troubles in the past.
Sela is beating Verdasco – he is 2 sets – 1 and 4:1 in the 4th set!
I can’t believe that Rafa lost to Verdasco. What is wrong with Rafa???????????????
I think that I was the only one who predicted Sela to win this match. He hasn’t won it yet, but the ESPN commies are talking about Nando seeming tired. That’s what Rafa takes out of his opponents.
Nobody can believe that Rafa lost to Nando. It’s like being in a nightmare and then you realize that it’s actually happening.
Players give their all to beat Rafa then they are fit for nothing after that; they always lose in the next round.
nadline10 (AT 6:46 AM),
Beating Rafa is everybody’s meal ticket.
On coaching change
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/uncle-toni-open-rafael-nadal-coaching-change-163506163–ten.html
http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Toni-Nadal-One-of-the-biggest-disappointments-we-have-ever-had-About-a-coaching-change-articolo29634.html
Rafa has gone back to Mallorca to practice on clay
thanks sanju…
Uncle T is very smart and he will know where to go from here…I hope they add someone to the team to provide for fresh ideas on how to make small but significant changes…I agree Rafa can not make substantive changes to his style of play…it’s too late for it…but he can improve Rafa’s strategy against those “big hitting blood seeking opponents”…
Sanju (AT 1:14 PM),
But it’s not a coach change U.Toni is talking about.
so in that Spanish article, is Rafa saying his string and changed racquet connect with newer balls is an issue? What can he do to correct it?
Flat shots will not work as effectively as Topspin FH on clay..Rafa needs to learn to use both based on situation . The thing is flat shots will give him lesser time to react as ball will come back faster from other side in return .
Technical gurus, inputs please?
Sanju (AT 1:55 PM),
Rafa didn’t say this.
Ben Rothenberg
@BenRothenberg
Rosol
Darcis
Wawrinka
Kyrgios
Berdych
Brown
Fognini
Verdasco at #AusOpen
8 straight have lost next Slam match after Nadal upset.”
Without Rafa spoon feeding them short balls, they would all lose. Has little or nothing to do with their level and everything to do with Rafa’s lack thereof.
The players that beat them in the next round aren’t as generous as this Rafa shadow.
Get well soon Rafa.
#MIA
#AWOL
I think you are forgetting an important factor which is: Rafa lost his invisibility aura and all the players have belief in beating him! Rafa’s confidence is low and in key moments he makes uncharacteristic or so to say unexpected errors. For instance, if Rafa did not double fault in that first set tie-break he could have won the first set and everything could have been different from there on…
Rafa losing to those hard hitting players was also Rafa’s weakness in the past but he would manage to pull out the wins due to his mental strength, his confidence and his belief…and the absence of belief on his opponents side was also helpful… that’s all gone now and Rafa is forced to do it hard way…
He lost his aura because he hit short and lost matches he shouldn’t.
Players beat him because he lost his aura.
Yes but he lost his aura because he repeatedly lost matches to lower ranked players.
But the lower ranked players beat him because he lost his aura.
It’s a chicken and egg situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpKqMC2YfwI
LOL…you are right…it can be interpreted either way…
I do agree that Rafa has lost his aura of invincibility. Players do not fear him anymore. They think that they have a chance against him.
Rafa double faulting in that first set TB was pure nerves. He seemed nervous and tentative right from the start in that match. Also Rafa had 4 double faults in his first two service games in that match. You just don’t see Rafa having many DF’s when he’s playing well.
Rafa has won so many matches in his career on sheer mental will. He’s won when he was outplayed and should have lost. That’s why these losses are so alarming. Rafa always found a way to win.
Toni says, “”I hope it is only a blip and we move forward.”
Missing six slam semis in a row is more than a “blip”.
#YouSerious???
I think he referred to Rafa’s recent success in the WTF and Abu Dhabi…he was not observing it on a long-time basis I would think…I am not defending Uncle T but at least he is talking about adding someone to the team…that’s a progress… 🙂 It’s still Rafa’s decision though…
natashao2013 (AT 2:21 PM)
—I am not defending Uncle T but at least he is talking about adding someone to the team…that’s a progress…—
===
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Could you quote U.Toni’s text.
I understand that in sport results come first and if you have to make a change, you have to do it,” Toni Nadal told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope on Wednesday.
are you saying that Toni was interpreted wrongly and that he was talking about some other change? Well, we can only speculate but the title is on the subject of “coaching change” not something else…
natashao2013 (2:43 PM)
— are you saying that Toni was interpreted wrongly and that he was talking about some other change? Well, we can only speculate—
===
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I agree that you are speculating. 🙂
The text in the article: ¤¤ Toni said that “I am aware that in the sport the things depend on the results and if you have to make a change you have to do it. The game plan he used for all his career now is lower. It’s not so easy to play in a different way after 15 years. Losing that early in Australia is one of the biggest disappointments we have had because in the last four months we have been playing well. Here we practiced well but things did not go as planned. I hope that it’s only a stumble and that we keep practicing and analyzing what we did not well to do better in the next tournament.” ¤¤
I didn’t found anything about a coach change in U.Toni’s phrases.
so you are saying the author of this article is not telling the truth and the headline is misleading? well, then I say you are also speculating… 🙂
natashao2013 (AT 2:21 PM)
—…Uncle T but at least he is talking about adding someone to the team…that’s a progress…—
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It’s not the first time that the media is creating sensational headlines. 🙂
For example:
October 05, 2015: ¤¤ Uncle Toni Opens Door to ‘Super-Coach’ for Rafael Nadal.
(Excerpts)
“I think you need to ask Rafael,” he said at the China Open in Beijing, when asked by AFP if Nadal should consider a new mentor.
…
“It’s true that this year he’s going a little down but I am sure the comeback of Rafael is coming soon.
“Maybe if next year Rafael is playing not too good, then I think he can think about some changes in his game or in his team.” ¤¤
http://sports.ndtv.com/tennis/news/249607-uncle-toni-opens-door-to-super-coach-for-rafael-nadal
natashao2013 (AT 4:08 PM)
—are saying the author of this article is not telling the truth and the headline is misleading?—
===
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I am saying that I would like to see/hear evidences. I haven’t found them so far.
He’s intimated that he was open to new coaching before.
Actions speak louder than words.
#NothingNew
#Missouri
good to know it’s only a blip…that’s alright then…we can all rest easy now…
Biggest blip of all time!!!
#BBOAT
hahaha…
i don’t think i’d better say anything else about toni today…
“Nadal admitted after the defeat to Verdasco that the new brand of aggressive tennis on the ATP tour was more difficult for him to handle.”
Versdasco is the new brand.
But apparently not for Sela.
#BraveNewWorld
#YouSerious???
true…Verdasco is anything but “new brand” player…
I suppose Rafa meant the hard hitting sometimes going for broke brand of tennis that more and more players are employing these days – quick points, quick winners, not interested in point construction or any kind of strategy, many times going for broke.
So my question is: since Rafa cant stop this trend or this brand of tennis, what’s he going to do to counter that and stays relevant?
And…I suppose Rafa and his coach Toni are trying to work out something, be it minor changes to Rafa’s game, or some strategic gameplan, to deal with this current trend.
I feel, like some here, that the 2013 Rafa will suffice. The 2013 Rafa was aggressive enough, willing to move forward and dictated points, served well, hit a great FH and moved well. The most important thing was, he had no fear but was full of confidence after overcoming the initial hiccup at his first clay event on his comeback.
luckystar (AT 5:52 PM),
Please read my comment posted on JANUARY 21, 2016 AT 5:24 PM. (Below).
Rafa had talked about this new trend during FO2015 after playing against Jack Sock. I wasnt referring specifically to this AO.
luckystar (AT 6:46 PM),
But you commented the words the media put into Rafa’s mouth after his match this week.
Which comment? If you’re referring to the interview in Spanish, that wasnt done at the AO press conference.
luckystar (AT 7:11 PM),
I meant this:
luckystar JANUARY 21, 2016 AT 5:52 PM “I suppose Rafa meant the hard hitting…”
.
Words “NEW BRAND” (put into Rafa’s mouth) are in the article posted by Sanju JANUARY 21, 2016 AT 1:14 PM
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/uncle-toni-open-rafael-nadal-coaching-change-163506163–ten.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTcRRaXV-fg
Blip, setback, stumble, bumble.
So many people translating Toni who spoke in SPANISH.
Do you???
LOL.
#MuchAdoAboutNothingNew
Exactly hawkeye. There’re so many translation versions from Spanish to English. What I’m referring to is the ‘new brand’ of tennis, not what Rafa had said, or not.
Rafa had mentioned this ‘new’ brand of tennis during FO2015, so its only logical for me to assume he’s referring to the same thing here at the AO.
Luckystar (AT 8:03 PM),
¤ Currently, the words NEW BRAND (put in Rafa’mouth) have nothing to do with translation from Spanish! The article is written in English and the author of it has also referred to Rafa’s real phrases from his post-match interview in English this week in Melbourne.
.
¤ Some posters are commenting and laughing at words “NEW TREND” put into Rafa’s mouth THIS week. The author of the article writes about AO2016, not FO2015.
Lucky, it’s funny. What are journalists supposed to do. Just quote Toni and Rafa in Spanish.
Silly.
The issue is that Rafa’s level has dropped precipitously since 2013. Anyone who watched his matches that year and sees him now, could not help but notice the difference.
There is no new brand of tennis out there. The truth is that there have always been guys who go out on the court, play aggressive, swing for the fences as though they have nothing to lose. They have been around forever. It’s nothing new at all.
The other unfortunate truth is that Rafa used to know how to handle their brand of tennis and beat them.
Lucky, yes that’s obbviously what he meant when he said:
“The game is changing a little bit. Everybody now tries to hit all the balls. There is no balls that you can prepare the point, no? Everybody hit the ball hard and try to go for the winners in any position. Game become a little bit more crazy in this aspect.”
However he conceded that he didn’t do enough to put the ball in difficult position for them to do this.
The Top 4 don’t seem to be too affected in slams by this brand of tennis.
Nor would 2013 Rafa.
#ProblemaMental
Yeah Hawkeye, we know Rafa clearly has his problem now.
I do appreciate the big four that we have, they dont play hard hitting brute force, almost brainless tennis.
When Rafa first started out, many people were so critical of him, saying he relied on his brute force or raw power. They looked at his physique and assumed his brand of tennis relied on brute force and speed and nothing else. They failed to see the intricacy of his game – how he patiently constructed points, getting himself into advantageous positions and then trapped his opponents before going for the kill.
While Fed played his quick attacking brand of tennis using his variety of shots, Rafa used his strategic brain to beat his opponents. Rafa also has no shortage of shot making abilities.
Both Novak and Murray too play thinking tennis, not using raw power to overcome their opponents.
Fed always upgrade his game to stay relevant; I do believe Rafa can too as long as he’s willing.
Toni says:
“The strategy he has played with his whole life matters less now. It isn’t easy to change style after 15 years.”
How does he know it matters less??? He’s rarely employed that strategy since 2013.
#ToniYouSerious???
“According to Clarin, Rafa will play probably his next tournament in Buenos Aires. A few weeks ago Rafa said that he would have trained to South America after Australian Open, but because of losing that early he is arriving to Mallorca to practice on clay. ‘Almost surely he will play Buenos Aires’ – said Nicolas Almagro.”
Some have tried to “correct” others by saying Rafa would not return to Spain.
#UnreliableSourcesAreEverywhere
#WhereIsRafa?
Rafa’s comments are kind of concerning. Does he really believe that Verdasco did anything special in their match? Look at what happened in his next match against the likes of Sela! He didn’t look so good there. However, we do know that beating Rafa takes it out of players. I just don’t think that Verdasco did anything special. He pretty much took what Rafa gave him.
so true…Rafa’s take on Nando’s match is concerning indeed…
Verdasco was horrible especially in the first set and Rafa still lost.
Nativenewyorker (AT 3:22 PM),
If my memory serves me correctly, you have always praised Rafa for praising other players…
had a quick skim read on tennis-x this morning. there is a piece by sean saying that in his view rafa’s problems are almost entirely mental. who would have thought that sean would be so perceptive!
as he said though, at one level it’s good that it’s mental because that is fixable..at the other, it’s bad because he and his team don’t seem able to..
He’s been listening to me and is finally realizing I’m right.
#BrokenRecord
thing is though he’s one of the few to see and write the obvious…why all this talk about the game changing so much?? the 2013 rafa would still be beating people up fine…also the 2013 rafa would know how to add things to his game and adapt anyway…
When all is said and done, isn’t it about what is best for Rafa? That’s how I see it. I would hope that Sean Randall’s piece is out of genuine concern for Rafa and realization that he is important to this sport. That’s how I would like to take what he said.
amy (AT 3:47 PM),
–had a quick skim read on tennis-x this morning—
===
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No wonder.
amy,
It’s bad because mental issues are more difficult to resolve. It’s not like changing a faulty technique on a shot or correcting a serving position. The comments from Uncle Toni do not give me any encouragement. This idea that somehow a new style of tennis has been invented, is really disingenuous. There have always been guys who come out blasting with big serves and big forehands and just go for it. There are tactics to counter it. Rafa used to know how to do it.
Nativenewyorker (AT 11:53 PM)
—The comments from Uncle Toni do not give me any encouragement—
===
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The comments that he did not say…
—Nadal admitted after the defeat to Verdasco that the NEW BRAND of aggressive tennis on the ATP tour was more difficult for him to handle.—
(AT 2:13 PM, AT 2:17 PM, AT 3:22 PM)
===
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The thing is, I did NOT find THESE words in Rafa’s post-match interview on January 19, 2016:
http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/news/interviews/2016-01-19/rafael_nadal_190116.html
I would like to know when Rafa said THESE words (or has the journalist put them into Rafa’s mouth?).
—Toni says, “I hope it is only a BLIP and we move forward.” —
(AT 2:11 PM, AT 3:51 PM, AT 3:54 PM)
===
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Somebody has put THIS word in U.Toni’s mouth. (And some clients of T-X have had fun here.)
.
europa press, Jan. 20, 2016: “But I hope it’s a setback and we’ll move forward in the near future, ” Toni Nadal said to Cadena COPE.
Patrick Serenas coach take on Rafa is very interesting.
Read the article. He says that Rafa always in past 10 years has continuously dropped balls short with his FH and he has been saying it all along but people did not dare to step inside the court and hit the short balls respecting Rafas speed. He feels its all about Rafa being a step slower now and that’s root cause of all issue. He says Rafa knows his speed and reflexes have gotten slower. He also says Rafa wants to come inside court, stay at baseline and play attacking but the minute he is nervous, he steps behind the baseline and retreats to older style and due to lack of speed, gets brutally hit for winners.
I think he is spot on. I always loved hearing Patrick. He is insightful.
Here is the article. It is in English and not translated, so hopefully we will not have baseless arguments about speculation/interpretation and actually discuss the merits/demerits.
http://www.si.com/tennis/2016/01/20/rafael-nadal-patrick-mouratoglou-australian-open
@ sanju,
That’s exactly what I have been saying all along…lack of speed it is…
The short balls issue happens all along, we Rafa fans already knew about it, that’s nothing new. Its just like Fed’s BH, the flaw is/was already there, but he was quick to cover that flaw against most players because they’re simply in awe with him, until one day a youngster named Rafael Nadal exposed Fed’s backhand flaw and showing everyone else how to do it and that Fed wasn’t/isnt perfect.
Rafa’s footspeed wont just deteriorate so much for no reason.Remember how quick he was against Murray during FO2014? How could it deteriorate so quickly come Jan 2015? Aging and injury would affect his movement but the effects wont be so sudden or so drastic.
Its all due to his FH; he’s mistiming his FH because he couldnt impart the topspin to get the same results he had previously. After reading about what Rafa said about the balls during his interview, its not difficult to understand why Rafa’s FH is/was badly affected. By the end of last year, Rafa had gotten used to the balls and getting his FH timing back. Notice that his footspeed was more or less back to normal by then. He was also learning to hit a flatter FH to deal with the ball changes. He changed his racket strings during IPTL and so had to get used to them again.
I think its still a WIP, he will get used to all these changes -strings, flat FH, BHDTL, serve and ROS, playing close to baseline and moving inside the court, etc. The AO is too soon for him, as he hasnt enough time to figure things out, like when to hit flat and when with topspin and to get the switching right and naturally. He was also caught between defence and offence, probably still getting used to playing closer to the baseline and trying to force himself not to fall back to defensive play well behind the baseline.
Sanju JANUARY 21, 2016 AT 1:55 PM
—so in that Spanish article, is Rafa saying his string and changed racquet connect with newer balls is an issue? What can he do to correct it?…—
===
.
I already wrote that Rafa didn’t say this. I post the translation made by a Spanish speaker.
¤¤ Question: “The experts ensure that your forehand is not the same as before, that it has lost the characteristic topspin that unhinged your rivals.”
RAFA: ” It is so. Against Verdasco, it did not have it, for example. There are different factors causing this. The balls have changed a bit and are now hollower. The balls are less lively. A few years ago, the ball came out very fast off the racket and nowadays they stay longer on the strings. The rivals who hit the ball flatter feel the error less with these balls. And this favors playing in a ‘going for broke’ way. With the other balls, it was more complicated because you felt that when it came with top spin it was difficult to hit it because the ball was going away from the strings fast.”
Question: “Things have changed.”
RAFA:” Things have changed and I have tried to adapt to the change…” [and so on…]
.
P.S. I have written multiple times that there is no confirmation that Rafa has changed his racket frame.
luckystar JANUARY 21, 2016 AT 4:18 AM
—I read a google translated version of his Spanish interview done before he left Melbourne. … When asked about his serve problem, he said something like now he’s not given much time to think and prepare so his serve is not as good as before.—
luckystar JANUARY 21, 2016 AT 5:27 AM
Its at http://www.elespanol.com. Its in Spanish, the Googled translated English headline is : ‘I have no fear of my date’.
===
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Rafa gave this interview after his match in Melbourne. He wasn’t asked about serve, it’s incorrect translation (Spanish: ¿Ya no sirve lo que hacía el antiguo Nadal? Google: “You no longer serves that made the old Nadal?”).
I post the translation made by a Spanish speaker.
¤¤ Question: “Does what the old Nadal did no longer work?”
RAFA: ” Currently, tennis is played in a faster way. Before there was more time to prepare the points. The same game of today, with my version of eight or nine years ago… I sincerely believe that I would still be at the very top.” ¤¤
Yep, I read a properly translated one too. I think Rafa certainly feels rushed by this TV rule implementation, so his serve is somehow affected. The pace of play is also quickened and Rafa is affected the most as his game is based on constructing points before winning them, not first strike tennis.
Perhaps that explains the rise of hard hitting, quick winners brand of tennis. Rafa is certainly at a disadvantage here unless he plays this way too which I doubt he will. He moving more inside the court to take control of points, the way Fed and Novak do, is the way forward for him imo.
Luckystar (AT 10:12 AM)
—Yep, I read a properly translated one too.—
===
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There is a short version in English published by EL ESPAÑOL and the whole article in English translated by Genny. Which one did you read?
Haven’t read in detail the one from Genny though I have that version.
Luckystar (AT 11:00 AM),
The translated text I posted AT 8:29 & 8:56 AM comes from Genny’s one.
There’s been a concerted and we’ll orchestrated effort to stop Rafa from catching fed that started with draw rigging in 2008 and continued with the new Rafa time violation rule.
As I predicted, it exacerbated Rafa’s anxiety preventing him from finding calm with his rituals between serves. Over the years he’d added more and more.
Didn’t know about the ball change but not surprised.
All about protecting Rogers slam record.
Yep. I think while Rafa was away during 2nd half of 2014, they meddled with the balls to make them more difficult to hit with high rpm. Those who hit the hell our of the ball, like Sock for eg., was still able to hit with high topspin as he’s a hard hitter. The TV rule was implemented while Rafa was away injured but he stormed back in 2013 to win two slams and regained no.1. This time they tried something else to stop Rafa and it appeared they have succeeded, for the time being.
Rafa doesnt play that way, ie hard hitting, so his FH is severely affected. No wonder Rafa is now practicing hitting flat shots with his FH, its just that he’s not used to do that in actual matches. It takes time and practice makes perfect so I believe Rafa will get it and soon.
…but they’ve never expected Novak’s rise. Novak is going to break Fed’s records one by one and setting his own records.
Also the lefties that Rafa once owned are turning the tables on him. He has lost to verdasco, Klizan, Berrer, Lopez in quick succession.
If Rafa can overcome the present problems and comes out the winner at the slams again, the next thing they will do is speed up all the courts and make them all low bouncing.
Rafa is already feeling the quickening of pace of play now with the tv rule and shorter time between points and on top of that, the changes to hollower balls.
If Rafa can conquer all these problems and emerge a more aggressive player on all surfaces and winning at the slams again, then I think he’s really the greatest of this era.
Perhaps, all these changes will finally force the re-emergence of that fierce and fearless little Rafa of 2004, and I’ll thank all those who put such adversities in front of Rafa, forcing him to turn aggressive and fight off all adversities.
Not young anymore Rafa is lucky that he has time to become the fearless 2004 Rafa
No, then that has only meant that Federer has been and will be the greatest of this era because he has adjusted to conditions tailor made for defenders and manufacturing rivals for him. The conditions of now are really not THAT fast. Maybe the time between points but that is due to a pre-existing rule. That rule was not written because RAFA turned pro. It was present well before then. And let’s face it, towelling off after hitting an ace is pretty annoying (not referring to Nadal here).
How do you know Rafa wont emerge the winner next time? They have not ended their careers yet.
When did I say Nadal can’t win? I said conditions cannot be used to crown Nadal when the courts were made for his type of game. And they still are. I have seen no real improvements in court speeds.
Wrong, courts are not made for Rafa to win. I wonder where you get that. Rafa doesnt like slow conditions, he likes conditions where the ball can be lively after the bounce. Its a musconception that Rafa likes and strives on slow surfaces. He’s excellent on clay not because of slowness of the surface but because of the high bounces.
Note that Rafa’s records at the slower HCs aren’t that fantastic; he managed only one AO, 3 IWs and zero Miami. He won 3 Canada, 1 Cincy, 1 Olympics gold, 2 USO, 1 Madrid indoors, 1 Dubai and 1 Tokyo, all on medium to fast surfaces.
Indoor HCs are not his forte as they’re usually low bouncing surfaces.
Wut? What conditions have favoured him pray tell? Everything is slow now. And he’s won more than enough at the few tournaments that play in remotely quick conditions as also ones that didn’t favour him-which is basically a majority of the tour.
Luckystar Nadal likes to play on any surface that gives him time to react to the ball and takes his spin well. Basically defense. You call it a slow surface/ high bouncing surface, it’s all the same in terms of connotation….As long as he can rely on defense as his trump card. And most surfaces today allow for it. He will likely still struggle on HCs because big hitters with a decent height are never out of the picture. But he got a much much better chance at winning than he would have in the past. So he’s already won a lot there.
Fedfan what are you talking about? As I’ve mentioned, Rafa won on medium to quick HC surfaces more than on slower HC surfaces like AO, IW and Miami. Slow surfaces doesnt equate higher bounces as the O2 arena in 2015 had shown – its slow and low bouncing.
Rafa DID not benefit from slowing down of HCs, in fact its Novak who benefited from it, winning 5 AOs, 4 IWs and 5 Miami!!
I would even say that Fed was the one who benefited the MOST when they slowed down Wimbledon from 2002 onwards and most HCs in general after the 1990s so dont come here and tell us that Rafa is the biggest beneficiary of the present playing conditions. It’s Fed who benefited the most from conditions being slowed from 1990s pace to pace that suited him most during 2004 to 2008!
Luckystar (AT 2:58 PM),
—Fed was the one who benefited the MOST when they slowed down Wimbledon from 2002 onwards and most HCs in general after the 1990s so dont come here and tell us that Rafa is the biggest beneficiary of the present playing conditions. It’s Fed who benefited the most from conditions being slowed…—
===
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Fed fans repeat what their maestro says. Fed has admitted that he has benefited from slower courts, but he has said that Rafa has benefited more.
Fed’s interview in Stockholm on Oct. 20, 2010.
(An excerpt, from the 2:36 to 3:13 minute marks in the video below)
Question: “Lately conditions have become worse for you: the surfaces [are] slower, the balls are heavier. What do You think of that development ?”
FED: “I mean, I think, it’s been also a bit benefit for me, because the faster the court, the smaller the margins are in some way. So, I became such a great athlete from the baseline that I could defend and attack so well with my footwork, and then with my technique that allows me to do so many things. I think, actually slow surface maybe also helped me a little bit, but I really feel like it’s getting a little bit too extreme and I am sure it HELPED Rafa, but he has adapted as well to the faster courts…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nX2K-B1qX4
Exactly augusta.
Rafa played on the same surfaces as Fed during 2004 to 2008 for eg.and he won at Beijing, Montreal and Madrid Indoors Masters in 2005; won Dubai 2006 beating none other than Fed in the final. He also won Toronto and Beijing Olympics in 2008. He reached the finals at Wimbledon in 2006 and 2007 playing on the same grass surface that Fed played(and won).
I just dont see how the slowing of surfaces, presumably after 2008, benefited Rafa, when he didnt win much on the HCs or grass, but continued his dominance on clay. After 2008, Rafa did win on quick HCs at Montreal and Cincy in 2013 and Tokyo in 2010, medium paced ones at USO2010/2013 if some insist that the USO has been slowed down.
All in all, he won only 5 titles on slower HCs – 1AO, 3 IW and 1 Doha – how’s that for ‘benefiting’ Rafa??
I will come here and tell you whatever I please. You don’t own the website.
There is no way any remotely informed person will argue that Fed somehow benefitted out of a slowdown. He may have adjusted to it and worked on his fitness accordingly but his style/game is an out and out evidence of his nature to attack.
Fed trained on indoor hard after leaving Basel and his most formative years were spent learning the Aussie all-court tennis under Carter.
His volleying/ net game of today is something he ALWAYS had and didnt use as often because it simply wasn’t a winning strategy all these years. Right now, it is his means of compensating what he has lost physically. Even in terms if equipment Fed used half gut instead of full poly which is mainly characteristic of the modern defender/baseliner.
Nadal by contrast got his best ever chance to win on HCs due to a combination of slow conditions/strings. Even Nadal knows he got the chance of his life due to slow conditions leaving him with more time to reach balls that would normally END a point.
So no. Conditions are the last parameter to proclaim Nadal the greatest. Because he simply isn’t.
Preach
Fedfan, read again. I said greatest of this ERA, not GOAT.
You CAN’T deny that Fed won most of his titles on already slowed down surfaces during 2004-2008. Did he S&V to win his titles? No! The surface speed during 2004-2008 suited his play to the T, when prior to that he wasnt winning anything major while both Hewitt and Safin won their majors before him, in 2000 and 2001.
And what’s with Rafa having the best chance to win on slowed down surfaces when he was playing on similar surfaces as Fed as early as 2004, unless you agree Fed has also benefited on such surfaces.
Again, Rafa hadn’t win much on surfaces other than on clay, how then would he benefit from the slowed down surfaces??
And what is this ‘you dont own this website’??? Why such a comment??
In the first place, this greatest of the Era talk was on the assumption that IF Rafa could overcome all the problems and adversities, including the ball changes, quickening of pace of play AND the speeding up of the courts (should they do that next), to continue winning at the slams. So that encompasses winning on any type of surfaces, slow or quick.
It doesnt matter what Rafa has already won but what he is able to win, on all kinds of surfaces, quick or slow; only if he can do that, then we talk about GOTE.
No, the TV rule is not new but the enforcement, lately, is because of Rafa. When the rule was first introduced it was 30 seconds between points and it was to stop players deliberating wasting time by engaging with the spectators, undoing and tying up their shoelaces unnecessarily to annoy their opponent and arguing with the umpire. Stand up Nastase and Mc Enroe.
But Nadal does waste time. As did Djokovic for a long time. Maybe it’s not deliberate but if it stalls the game for the other guy, then yes the rule has to be enforced. It’s not like some persecution drive. Nadal can serve quickly if he puts his mind to it. I think Nadal’s problem is either pressure driven (to win big tournaments) or speed related, meaning he can no longer fall back on his defense like he used to.
I would totally agree with you if the rule was enforced for everyone, every time the go over the time limit with a shot clock for all to see when the time starts and ends. It’s no use letting some go over the time because they are not serial offenders or because they are not Rafa. Similarly, if they don’t enforce and punish ALL code violations including swearing and smashing equipment, including the sponsor’s bench, then the enforcement is unfair.
Many a time Murray is guilty of audible obscenities and all that happens is an apology by the commies on his behalf. What’s that about?
Not only is racquet smashing not punished, but the players are allowed more than 25 seconds between the points in order to get another one from their bag.
Wrong. It is new. It was redefined with a different penalty so it could be called more acceptably while still rushing Rafa..
Fedfan is consistently wrong.
As Murray, Nole and Agassi has said, Rafa is the GOAT.
No fed fan boy can change that.
Federazzi are a comical lot.
Fedfan..I don’t think any Rafan is now even bothered about whether he will be called greatest of his era or GOAT..All we want now is for him to start winning again the bigger matches and tournaments. The rest will follow.
After Rafa won USO 2013 and his 13th..there was unanimous voice that its matter of time before Rafa touches 17 and he has won just 1 slam in past 9 slams and has seriously derailed. So right now we will talk of 17 when Rafa wins 16. Till then 1 at a time.
To be honest, Djoko has more chance of crossing Rafa than Rafa has of crossing Fed as we speak BUT things can change . No one thought Rafa will dominate 2010 and 2013 like he did , similarly no one thought after 2010 and 2013 , he would have the years 2011 and 2014 as he did.
In 2014, Rafa only played for half a year and even in that first half of the year he had back injury.
Yes nadline..he maybe limited due to injury..what I am trying to say is things change..no one thought injury will havoc his 2014 after 2013 like it did.
2009 injury created havoc after his 2008..2014 injury created havoc after his 2013..and 2011 Novak created havoc after his 2010.
And how’s Fed being the greatest of this era when he’s also not winning in conditions that’s supposed to not favoring him?
Wut? What conditions have favoured him pray tell? Everything is slow now. And he’s won more than enough at the few tournaments that play in remotely quick conditions as also ones that didn’t favour him-which is basically a majority of the tour.
Fedfan, please read carefully. I said ‘conditions that’s supposed to NOT favoring him’. You understand the meaning of my comment?
And what had he won enough on conditions that didnt favor him? His game worked better on HCs and on grass, so how’s him winning on them considered not favoring him? Its on clay the slowest surface that he didnt do well; I mean winning only 11 clay titles in 17 years?
Also, conditions during day time maybe quicker relatively (even with the so called hollow balls) but they’re as slow as ever at night.
And what’s your point? Its not whether the balls are heavy or light, but whether they’re lively or not. Heavier balls may not be topspin friendly.
Rafa is adjusting to hitting flatter shots, he did hit flatter during his younger days in 2004.
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/nadal-content-in-the-direction-he-is-going-australian-open-2016
Rafa is positive which is good news. But he is still only talking about competing and working hard which is upsetting.
Sanju (AT 5:28 AM),
The article you posted is based on Rafa’s interview with EL ESPAÑOL that has been cited (& quoted) many times here, you included (JANUARY 21, 2016 AT 1:55 PM).
There was never a better translation that what was provided above.
Why is there an issue if it is getting discussed and quoted again madam?
Sanju (AT 10:02 AM),
My comment was intended for informational purposes, sir. 🙂
Why is it upsetting?? Didnt you see his progress during end of last season? Its a matter of getting the balance right.
I seriously doubt a new coach could do anything as according to you Rafa is old at 30 and had no time left to change. A new coach is not a magical formula, it may end up worse as Rafa has to adjust again.
Rafa knows what the problem(s) is/are and he’s addressing them. Working hard and training hard may not be just doing the same thing; he may be working to get the balance of defence/offence right; getting the switch between flat and topspin shots right; getting used to returning serves from a more aggressive position and working on his serve.
Why because of one match we all gone so upset again? Yes, we were all frustrated because he was tentative, hesitant, served poorly and made some poor shot selections during the match, but once he upped his aggression he went on to win set 2 & 3. At least he knows he should play better in set 1 to win it so he now should know he cant afford to start slow esp when everyone these days are hitting hard and playing aggressively from the get go.
He can now make use of the smaller events at SA to build up his confidence and implement all those changes he has made. There are 8 tournaments for him to get everything right and be ready for the FO, I’m confident he can get there in good shape and good mind.
All of a sudden I am in tune with hawkeye regarding Rafa’s situation. I can’t deny that I’m not upset. In fact I am unable to watch any of the top guys playing without welling up about the fact that yet again Rafa is not among them. The other day, I watched a ladies’ match between players I’d never heard of because I couldn’t bring myself to watch the men.
Let’s hope the sun shines for Rafa again and his fans have something to smile about in the near future.
Vamos Rafa!
^^^^^Wrong!!!!!!!!!!! Not hawkeye.
It’s Luckystar I am agreeing with above! I thought hawkeye had been to Damascus. 🙂
nadline10 (AT 8:36 AM),
LOL
You’re true hidden feelings betray your outer persona nadline.
Come to the Dark Side nadline. Join Me and together we can rule the TG universe.
Or something to that effect.
#FreudianSlipsAreEverywhere
Upsetting as in I would like to hear something different than just more practice and more hard work. Maybe he is doing more and not telling.
I am not saying a new coach is the solution. That is a easier and popular opinion. Like we all know our bodies best and what works and what does not, similarly Rafa knows himself best and what will work for him from a support system perspective. All I am saying is the positivity is very good and working hard is great but more of the same old thing may not be sufficient.
Tht said the clay events in 2013 set him up for the massive year, hopefully it will be the same again. I remember start of 2013 after Rafa returned from the 7 month layoff, we all were shocked with his play in initial matches and all commented on how he was just a shadow of his former self but come Acupalco(the Mexico tournament0 and he just transformed and even beat Ferrer 6 0 6 2 in final and ofcourse Indian Wells where he beat Fed, Berdych, Delpo to win it.
I don’t say that Rafa should add someone else to his team lightly. I take that seriously. Also, I am not taking anything away from Uncle Toni, who should get well deserved credit for helping Rafa to win 14 slams. But I also believe that there are times when a change is needed. Things change over a player’s career. Rafa is struggling mentally now in a way that he never did in his career up to now. His serving has been abysmal. Opponents seem to read him like a book, knowing where he is going to serve and where to hit before he does it.
It’s not about being popular. It’s about being able to express what each of us feels about Rafa’s situation and what he can do about it. I do not think that sticking with practicing hard, harder, hardest is going to get it done. It’s true that we don’t know what is going on behind the scenes with Rafa and his team. But all one has to do is watch that loss to Verdasco and realize that this is a dire situation.
As a matter of fact, it’s not a popular opinion to speak out as some of us have on this site. As far as this loss being a one-off, I beg to differ. What about the loss to Fog at last year’s USO in the early rounds? The early round loss to Brown seemed to follow this unfortunate pattern of the last few years with Rafa getting knocked out early at Wimbledon.
What about the lopsided nature of Rafa’s loss to Novak in the Doha final? That was the least competitive Rafa has been. So there is a pattern here. In the closing months of last year, Rafa seemed to be getting himself together but it has not translated to the beginning of this year.
If the other top players can make changes as their careers progress, there is no reason why Rafa cannot do the same. Someone to help him with his serve would be nice. His serve is hurting him big time right now. Sometimes a new person can give a fresh perspective and have new ideas. It’s not about changing Rafa’s basic game. That cannot be done. But there are incremental changes that can be implemented.
I guess we will have to wait and see if these changes are being put into place and it will just take a bit longer to see the results. What happens during the clay season, should give us more answers.
Just seeing Verdasco lose to Sela, tells us that he was absolutely beatable.
Nny, left you a note on the Williams vs Kasatkina thread 😉
rc,
I can’t find the thread. Should I look in WTA?
Here ya go:
https://tenngrand.com/2016/01/21/australian-open-r3-previews-and-picks-williams-vs-kasatkina-sharapova-vs-davis/#comment-80242
Comment below on article says. Who was this strategist?
future_goat
Nadal parted ways with a consultant who worked on his strategy in 2014. He needs to bring that guy back. Uncle Toni can stay.
Sanju (AT 5:30 AM),
Address your question to the author of that comment (on the ATP site).
Are you the monitor of this thread? Don’t tell me what to do or what to ask . If you don’t know the answer, kindly don’t respond. God you behave like some warden of a hostel 🙂
Sanju (AT 10:04 AM)
This applies to you too! 🙂
I never tell anyone what to do or not to do 🙂
If someone on that thread said he had some strategist and frankly I have never read about that, so I asked if anyone knows.
Sanju (AT 10:45 AM),
—I never tell anyone what to do or not to do :-)—
===
.
You did AT 10:04 AM. 🙂
Sanju, don’t mind augusta. It’s not her fault. She can’t help it.
She has a ritual “situation” like Rafa.
More articles on Rafa from maybe the same source which will infuriate augusta further 🙂 Talks about retirement etc.
http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Rafael-Nadal-Retirement-doesnt-scare-me-I-have-nothing-to-prove-articolo29678.html
Lol too funny. 🙂
I was first to post the English translation from the original source but I don’t think I deserve any special Rafa points. 🙂
Do you????
Sanju (AT 11:22 AM),
Yep, it’s from the same source.
Nicolas Almagro has spoken very positively about his compatriot Rafael Nadal. The Former World No. 9 does not think the World No. 5 is finished and invites journalists to think the same.
‘All the things you write, there are all an extra because Rafa will be always there and no one will take away what he has done. I bet my head that today he is running in the airplane doing sprint in order to arrive in Mallorca to practice and I don’t bet the fingers of my hands, but almost surely we will see him playing in Buenos Aires. What he wants is winning and at the end he will win, because that’s the mentality he has’.
‘That mentality brought him to be World No. 1: work, spirit of sacrifice and willing to win. I can already tell you he doesn’t read what you write, instead he changes page and reads about Real Madrid. If I were you, I would write that he will be back. Rafa is on the way of the comeback and you will see how he will win the 10th Roland Garros’
Nadal is playing more aggressive even if in Melbourne Verdasco dictated the point: ‘When something changes, you have to reinvent (yourself). He is closer to the baseline when he returns, it makes the difference. It will take time to feel comfortable with the changes, because he used to play from the back of the court. It’s a difficult moment but I am not worried for his long-term future, I believe he will be back at high level but I don’t know think he will win another Slam’-
Jim Courier thinks Nadal’s attitude has to change: ‘If I were his coach, the first thing I would do is remind him of his greatness, which it seems he doubts sometimes’ – he said to NY Times. And the attitude of Rafa’s opponents also changed: ‘These guys realized they had to try to take the racket out of Rafa’s hand by overpowering him. It’s a strategy that frankly has been used too rarely against the big four. Those guys have been too good for the field if you allow them to play their way. Disruption is the only option to cause an upset’.
Former Spanish player Alex Corretja revealed to BBC: ‘He can still win a Slam, it’s not easy to beat Nadal at the best of five sets. Maybe if he faced another opponent he would have arrived until the second week. It’s a while that he is unlucky with the draw. Do players believe more that they can win now? Maybe yes, even if it does not mean that they are not respectful of him’.
Both Toni Nadal and Francis Roig said that Rafa does not play his forehand with so much tospin like he was doing before he used to “kill” his opponents. ‘It’s right. With Verdasco I have not played with topspin, for example. There are different factors that cause it. The balls have changed a little bit. A few years ago balls came out very fast from the racket and nowadays they stay longer on the strings. Opponents that hit less strong make less unforced errors with these balls. Things have changed and I have tried to adapt to the change. I’m not playing with the effect I had before, I’m playing in a little different way. I was doing things well, but against Verdasco I had no time to hit where I wanted to. I didn’t have the right position on the court to dictact the rallies. I could have player deeper, using more the angles, and I didn’t succeed to do it’.
Making changes is possible, but changing drastically at 29, it’s not. ‘These are not radical changes, it’s not that we become crazy. I want to apply the changes my coaches tell me in order to stay on the top. Changes are always little. You cannot make drastical changes, not when you are 23 nor at 29. You cannot go against your game style. You can modify and do little changes, but you cannot go against your mind and your way to see the sport.’
That mind, that mental strength that has given him too many disappointments last year. And Rafa has not had any problem to admit it: ‘It’s clear that you lose matches with your mind. But you win with it, too. It ‘s not that you win 14 Grand Slams with the mind. The only way to win is to have shots that allow you to do it. When you face high level opponents and you’re at he limit, the mind is important. When mentally you are bad, you lose matches and 2015 is a proof. How can you recover that mental strength? With the wins and consistency. Last year I lost to people who I should have not lost and it’s logic they believe they can beat me. And when you believe there are more options this will happen’.
What is the success? ‘It’s something very partial. The real success is the happiness on a personal level. If you have much money, if you are No. 1 in everything they propose you, but you are not really happy with your personal life… you could have success in one thing, but probably you don’t have it under the aspect that counts more. Being happy is the true success and in order to be happy you need people you love on your side, you need people that love you. Having a stable life and being coherent. If you are not coherent you won’t be happy’.
What does the concept of talent mean for him? ‘The talent is something people confuse. Having talent does not mean play well or hit strong the ball or not making unforced errors, or because you play a one-handed backhand very well or because you run very well. In tennis, and in sports in general, the ultimate goal is to win. The summary is obvious: who wins more has more talent. It’s the same if you learn a thing in 15 minutes or in three hours. If I practice for four hours and you can do it only for 15 minutes, you will have learned for 15 minutes, while I have practiced for four hours. This is what it means to have talent. Why? Because from the mental point of view I have the talent to keep having chances, to keep working and to accept that I made errors with the mentality of doing better. There are many ways to intend the talent, but at the end the talent is winning more. It’s the same if you do it in a beautiful or bad way, in the way you want. The talent is doing a given activity in a better way’
Interesting. It’s nice that you reposted this link in its entirety for all to see.
Thank you sanju.
What I don’t understand, is why the balls were giving Rafa trouble. The other top players don’t seem to have any problem with them.
I did enjoy reading Rafa’s thoughts. I hope that things work out. That’s all I can do as a fan. I want him to have at least one more great run in this sport.
Nativenewyorker (AT 8:56 PM)
—What I don’t understand, is why the balls were giving Rafa trouble.—
===
.
Rafa explained.
Sorry, but you failed to quote my next sentence. To the effect that the new balls are not bothering the other top players
Context is everything. So it helps when you don’t just take one sentence and ignore what followed.
Nativenewyorker (AT 9:34 PM)
—Sorry, but you failed to quote my next sentence… Context is everything.—
===
.
You’ll find context in Rafa’s answer to the question he was asked.
Rafa was hitting more topspin than anyone else hence he’s the most affected. Rafa explained it in his interview.
Sanju (AT 11:36 AM)
This is from the same article:
https://tenngrand.com/2016/01/18/australian-open-day-2/comment-page-8/#comment-79625
I add to my post AT 12:08 PM that I meant the same article (= Rafa’s interview) published by EL ESPAÑOL in Spanish on January 21, 2016.
Sanju makes the most of his posts.
Best source of information on Rafa here when he posts.
Vamos Sanju!
No wonder a client of “T-X” lacks information.
As opposed to a client and supplier of excess spam.
I’m wondering who can reliably tell us where is Rafa instead of inaccurately trying to tell others that he won’t return to Spain.
As I said, sanju posts the relevant information about Rafa and it’s always reliable and accurate.
Vamos Sanju!
It really coincides with what I have been thinking…great reading! Thank you sanju!
Rafa thinks the game has changed, that players try to hit winners with every ball, but they only seem to do that against Rafa. I have watched many ping pong matches this week that Rafa would have killed for.
nadline10 (AT 1:47 PM),
I repeat: beating Rafa is everybody’s meal ticket.
It’s an all you can eat buffet and everyone is getting their fill.
They must be stuffed.
Rafa would have hit the ball short enabling those players to employ the new brand creating a blip or hitting their soft second serves into the net like he did against verdasco.
Verdasco was horrible and won. Sela proved that.
Even Rafa said he didn’t so anything special to put any pressure on verdasco.
^ This! I agree all the way!
Nativenewyorker (AT 8:58 PM),
Verdasco didn’t agree.
nadline10 (AT 1:47 PM),
Verdasco broke two nails during the match against Rafa.
Marca Jan. 22, 2015 :
(An excerpt, translated via Google)
¤¤ Verdasco, who was for nearly five hours on court with Nadal on Tuesday in the first round of the Australian Open, yesterday lacked the necessary spark…[to trouble Israeli Dudi Sela].
“From the beginning I realized that I did not feel my legs. I lacked energy and spark. The match against Nadal takes your body to the limit. I ended up with two broken nails. The three times I’ve won it, I lost in the following match. It’s a bit frustrating because two days ago I felt amazing,” said Verdasco. ¤¤
http://www.marca.com/tenis/open-australia/2016/01/22/56a196ef268e3e740a8b45b2.htmlhttp://www.marca.com/tenis/open-australia/2016/01/22/56a196ef268e3e740a8b45b2.html
Poor verdasco broke a nail.
How can he beat Sela without a pedicure?
Come back sanju!!!
We need more of your relevant and accurate information on Rafa here.
The client of “T-X” is in trouble.
I do hope that Sanju continues to post relevant articles and information here. He’s done a good job of digging up some great stuff!
If verdasco can beat Rafa then almost any journeymen player can.
The federazzi plan worked to peRFection.
As usual fedfan’s federazzi revisionism is inaccurate and simply wrong.
The rule was redefined just like real tennis fans not blinded by a single player know.
http://m.tennis.com/pro-game/2012/09/atp-changes-time-violation-penalty/39398/#.VqOJKv9yLCQ
All these changes related to balls, slower/lower bouncing courts, tv time rule, etc. while probably have contributed to Rafa’s failures they are not key factors and more sound like excuses to me…
Rafa has been plagued with injuries all his life and it had to take tool on his body as well as on his mental state. The comebacks become more difficult every time. Rafa is not any younger and his style of play has always been and will remain to be taxing on his body unless he implements some changes…whether it’s new coach ( I still think it would be good to add some fresh ideas to the current team) or different strategies and game plan to counter “new brand” tennis, it’s apparent that it has to happen sooner than later…
And I don’t think Rafa winning on clay comes solely due to high bouncing balls allowing his top spin to do the damage! He is natural on clay, the slow dirt allows him to slide, to run around the ball to hit FHs, to play long rallies and win points even though he is slower than 2 years ago…the problem comes from Rafa not trusting his own game any more…
These interviews show exactly what I feared…Rafa seeing the hard hitting tennis as something that his style of play can hardly beat…Rafa of 2013 would just know his game would suffice for any of those “dangerous” opponents…Rafa has to be reminded who he is and what kind of damage his tennis can do…
natashao (AT 4:46 PM),
—All these changes related to balls, slower/lower bouncing courts, tv time rule, etc. while probably have contributed to Rafa’s failures they are not key factors and more sound like excuses to me…—
===
.
If I may ask, whose excuses?
Excuses of anyone who may think those are the reasons for Rafa’s slump…it’s rather strange that anyone, and I am not pointing at anyone here but speak in gereal terms, who has tennis knowledge would relate to those changes as main reason for Rafa’ drop in level, his mental lapses, his DFs, his defensive and rather passive game…I am sure team Nadal would never blame any of these factors for Rafa’ s downward path..,
Natashao (AT 11:47 PM),
Thank you for explanation that you don’t think these are RAFA’s excuses. 🙂
nats,
I agree with you about this stuff related to balls, slower courts, tv time rule. The other players have to do with exactly the same thing. Players should be able to adapt.
As a matter of fact, Rafa had no problem with the new time rule in 2013. I didn’t see it hampering or impairing him in any way. We know what he accomplished that year. He was playing some of his best tennis, aggressive, taking no prisoners, serving well and being mentally strong.
So I do not buy that argument. Rafa has been able to handle big strike players with aggressive games throughout his career. There have always been guys who play like that. It’s nothing new. But Rafa was able to handle them in the past. That’s what has changed. Rafa’s mentality and his game.
Nativenewyorker ( AT 9:03 PM)
—I agree with you about this stuff related to balls, slower courts, tv time rule—
===
.
If I may ask, WHAT do you agree with?
Nny already said!
AT 9:38 PM,
So, NNY meant this:
hawkeye63 JANUARY 22, 2016 AT 11:46 AM:
“There’s been a concerted and we’ll orchestrated effort to stop Rafa from catching fed that started with draw rigging in 2008 and continued with the new Rafa time violation rule.
As I predicted, it exacerbated Rafa’s anxiety preventing him from finding calm with his rituals between serves…”
No, that is not what I said! It’s what hawkeye said! That is whose quote you posted.
Well said!
My post at 11.28 PM was directed at nny
hawkeye and nats,
Thank you! That’s all I have to say!
I thanked (AT 1:01 AM) Natashao for explanation that she doesn’t think these are RAFA’s excuses. 🙂
.
(Someone’s excuses were posted on JANUARY 22, 2016 AT 11:46 AM.)
Well said nny!
Augusta thinks you’re me!
Hahahahahahahaha
Yet another fantasy has been constructed AT 3:31 AM !
🙄
The fantasy is all yours My fan…
augusta08 JANUARY 23, 2016 AT 10:36 PM
AT 9:38 PM,
So, NNY meant this:
hawkeye63 JANUARY 22, 2016 AT 11:46 AM:
“There’s been a concerted and we’ll orchestrated effort to stop Rafa from catching fed that started with draw rigging in 2008 and continued with the new Rafa time violation rule.
As I predicted, it exacerbated Rafa’s anxiety preventing him from finding calm with his rituals between serves…”
@ 2:07 PM,
.
Summary:
1. hawk wrote that “the new Rafa time violation rule” exacerbated Rafa’s anxiety (JANUARY 22, 2016 AT 11:46 AM);
2. NNY agreed with one poster that the “tv time rule” is NOT a key factor (JANUARY 23, 2016 AT 9:03 PM).
.
Then hawk, for some unknown reason, constructed the fantasy that somebody thinks that hawk, who wrote that the rule exacerbated Rafa’s anxiety, and NNY, who wrote that the rule is NOT a key factor, are the same person (JANUARY 24, 2016 AT 3:31 AM).
🙄
Summary:
1. Someone said Rafa was going back to Majorca
2. The so-called expert said he wouldn’t return and would go directly to SA.
hahahahahahahahaha
#WhereIsRafa?
Obviously Rafa wins on clay not just because of high bounces, if not he will be dominating everywhere if the bounces are high, but, he isnt dominating everywhere except clay, right? Everyone here knows that Rafa has exceptional movement on clay, if not he wont be the king of clay!
We all know Rafa had mental frailities this past year and so his game suffered. Rafa himself said it, that the balls are different now than few years ago, so why are we doubting him and said its an excuse? If its as simple as getting back to 2013 form, then why would Rafa want to change to hit a flatter FH? Why doesnt he concentrate on his topspin FH i/o of making changes? Its because he knows that his topspin wont work well with the balls they’re using now so he has to adapt to the changes.
The injuries would take its toll on his body but he had done stem cell treatments to his knees and his back. He didnt have any injury in 2015 but its just psychologically, he still couldnt trust his body. His speed and movement were back to normal by end of 2015, (if not he wont be beating Stan, Murray and Ferrer at WTF) and there’s no coincidence that his FH was clicking again at that time, ie he’s no longer mistiming his FH.
I do believe that Rafa and his team know what’s wrong with the current situation and are working to overcome the problem(s). Last time in 2013, its about TV and speeding up play and Rafa still managed to come through on top of the rankings despite being rushed and warned so often. This time they meddled with the balls so now Rafa has to adapt the way he plays and I bet he will succeed again. Next time, I suspect they will speed up the courts and adjust them to low bouncing. Rafa may then have to up his mph on his serve and serving bombs, when he has mastered the flat FH by then.
luaky,
Rafa did not have any trouble adapting in 2013 to the change in the time rule, which was significant for him. You said it yourself. Rafa was able to handle it and had a brilliant year in 2013. That’s why I don’t buy any of this stuff about the balls or the time rule or this or that. Rafa has changed. We have discussed this here at length. He is nowhere near the level of 2013. All one has to do is go back and watch his matches that year. He looked like an entirely different player.
Sorry, my post was address to LUCKY. I spelled her name wrong. Typos!
Yes he had problem in 2013 with the TV rules hence all the warnings. However, what the TV rule did was to force Rafa to be aggressive and hence we saw that Rafa at the NAHC swing. Why Rafa was aggressive? So that he could shorten points and need not take a long time between points.
Its unrealistic to expect Rafa to be as quick as ever now that he’s two years older and had his injury issues. However, he was still very quick, almost his 2014 level by the time he played at WTF last year. How could he beat Murray and Ferrer, two of the quickest movers around,when he didnt have his footspeed?
But I thought we had already discussed Rafa’s problems in depth already? Why now we have to repeat all over again!!
Does it mean that it’s just the balls that caused Rafa’s problems?? The answer is NO! This is ONE of the problems, not the ONLY problem, and we only found out now that we read about his interview done before he left Melbourne.
This explains why Rafa is working to hit a flatter FH, which both VR and myself noticed Rafa was hitting during IPTL or during WTF. This further shown to me that Rafa is working on solving his problems one after another. He needs time, at least he has improved to be able to beat Stan, Murray and Ferrer last year.
As for big hitters, Rafa did lose to Delpo at Shanghai, Rosol & Kygrios at Wimbledon; even an aggressive Ferrer beat him in straight sets at Paris Masters in 2013, one of Rafa’s best years!
In my opinion, problem is twofold:
Rafa has lost speed and he knows it that he is not as fast and that is hurting his confidence. He almost mentioned he was not in the right position to hit his shots against Verdasco.
Rafa wants to move to an aggressive style but is not entirely committed to it. The minute he gets tight, he retreats back to his defensive style and due to lack of speed, his defense is not the strength it used to be anymore. They were playing the Rafa Fed AO 2009 final yesterday and Rafa was so aggressive, he made Federer look passive, he almost stood on baseline 70% of match. He has to be committed to stay aggressive as much as he can and not retreat when he gets tight.
You cant compare Rafa now at 29 to Rafa at 22/23 in 2009; just like we cant compare Fed now at 34 to Fed at 24 in 2005, that’s just being unrealistic!
If Rafa gets back his footspeed of 2014 Im more than happy. He appeared slower at AO vs Verdasco because of Verdasco’s aggressive hitting; shall I remind you of Rafa at Shanghai 2013 vs Delpo? Its the same scenario, against an aggressive big hitter, if Rafa starts tentative, he’ll get into trouble, this isnt the first time and wont be the last!
Fed today would win three slams in 2005-06.
yeah..he probably would
I have to agree that we cannot compare Rafa now to Rafa at the 2009 AO! That’s seven years ago! Yes, it’s also true for Fed. I remember being shocked as I watched Fed playing Safin at the 2005 AO semifinal. They showed it some months ago on the tennis channel. Fed’s foot speed was so much quicker. His shots were like lasers with their precision and accuracy. I had almost forgotten how extraordinary he was back then. Just seeing made me appreciate the quality of his tennis. Safin had to play the match of his life to get that win.
I saw a replay of the 2009 AO on the tennis channel some months ago. I just happened to catch it. Sometimes the tennis channel will go back in time and replay some of the classic slam finals. That was a different Rafa.
I don’t expect Rafa to play like that again. He has lost a step or two and that’s natural. It’s true of Fed, too. All great champions have to get older. It’s not sudden, but little by little things change and there is some deterioration.
I guess we may not see the 2013 Rafa again. I am not sure what to expect. I just hope that things get better for Rafa.
L’Équipe (a French newspaper devoted to sports) published an interview with Carlos Moya today, Jan.24, 2016. Among other things, he was asked about Rafa.
(An excerpt translated from French by Mark Nixon)
Question: “We’ve been hearing a constant rumor for the last two years about a Moya-Nadal team-up …”
CARLOS MOYA: “That’s come from the media and John McEnroe. But we’ve never spoken even once about that possibility. I’m convinced Rafa will end his career with Toni and with the same team that’s been around him for years. I know Rafa well and I think he’d think it unfair to separate himself from Toni because things aren’t going so well. I’ve never looked to be a part of his team. We’re good friends, we often eat together, and we trained together at Christmas. That’s all.”
.
Question: “Do you think he’ll win another Slam?”
CARLOS MOYA: “Of course I believe that. He’s not yet thirty. He needs to improve in certain areas and he knows that. He works. It’s a normal process: first of all, you try the new things in practice, and then you apply them in a match, under pressure, and then you don’t think about them any more. It worked at the end of last season, but not here. You can see he wants to play more inside the baseline. Against Verdasco, he was a metre inside the baseline, but he wasn’t doing any damage. Positioning isn’t everything. Being a metre inside the baseline and pushing the ball, that’s not the answer. Right now, Rafa is a bit confused when he plays under pressure. He should develop this game without thinking. Right now, we see him thinking.”
The article in L’Équipe in French:
http://www.lequipe.fr/Tennis/Article/Carlos-moya-raonic-un-des-mecs-les-plus-pros/627555
^ Thanks Augusta for posting this. This is exactly what I thought, and Rafa is working to get it right. Still, that serve needs to be fixed; his familiar foes all can anticipate where he’s serving.
Nice to hear from Carlos Moya.
I appreciated reading Moya’s comments. He knows Rafa very well. But the serving issue must be addressed. It all starts with the serve. I hope that he is right. But I feel that time is not on Rafa’s side. He just lost a whole year because of this mental aspect, the loss of confidence. He seemed to be on the right track in the closing months of last year. But it has not yet translated onto the court this year.
I do hope that Rafa can get it together.
I do feel Rafa’s serve is affected by his back issue. Even though he had his stem cell treatment done, he’s not going to stress hus back and reinjure it.
I hope some experts could help him out on his serve issue and his team is looking out for them.