Rafael Nadal-King Of Clay

Nadal was the first man since Boris Becker to be world number two in his teenage years.

Nadal is the nephew of former F.C. Barcelone footballer Miguel Ángel Nadal.

Although he plays with his left hand, Rafael actually is right-handed. When he was younger, his uncle and coach, Toni, decided that his two-handed backhand would benefit from a strong right arm, so he taught Rafael to play with his left.

Nadal is a clay court specialist, there is no doubt about it. He's won four straight French Open titles now and is clear favorite to make it a 5th straight one in 2009. He has completely dominated on clay, virtually winning every tournament he plays. In 2006 Nadal broke Guillermo Vilas' 29 year old record of the 55 consecutive matches won on clay. He would eventually win 81 consecutive matches and surely put it beyond anyone for a very long time.

Nadal's technique, physical fitness and determanation makes him an unstoppable force on the slow red clay. Not even the greatest tennis player of all time, Roger Federer, is a match for him on clay. In 2008 they met in the French Open final for the third consecutive
year and this time Nadal crushed Federer 6-1, 6-3, 6-0. Federer himself must be one of the best clay courters of all time but proves no match for Nadal these days.

The spaniard however is unique from all the traditional clay court specialists in that he does really well on all surfaces. He has worked on a bigger serve and flattening out his backhand to become a more attacking player. All this has helped him to win the Wimbledon title in 2008, something that would be out of question a few years ago. The grass surface at Wimbledon has been significantly slowed down in the last ten years or so.

When the courts were still fast the serve-and-volleyers dominated and base liners like Nadal didn't have much of a chance to win the title. The only base liner who could win the title in recent years was Andre Agassi, but he had a much more attacking game then Nadal. Whatever the case may be Nadal has done exceptionally well to win Wimbledon. slow surface or not. He had to deal with the greatest tennis player of all time who owned Wimbledon for five consecutive years.

It was only on Nadal's third final at Wimbledon that he could break through and win the title. It was no easy task though. He beat Federer in what was arguably the greatest match ever with a score of 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8), 9-7. Nadal really seems to have Federer's number at the moment and if Federer does not become a more attacking player against Nadal the trend might just continue. So it's pretty obvious that Nadal likes clay and grass surfaces the most.

This doesn't mean he is a mug on hard court. Last year he made career best performances at both the Australian Open and the US Open, reaching the semi-finals in both. He has also won four Master's Series events on hard court and six on clay courts. In total he has won 31 career titles and more then $20 million dollars in prize money. And the most astonishing part is that Nadal is only 22 years old.

The year of 2009 has pretty much picked up where it left off for Nadal. He started the year with a surprising loss to Gael Monfils in the quarter finals of Doha but that was all forgotten when he lifted the trophy at the first grand slam of the season at the Australian Open. Against all odds he won a grand slam on hard court! There is just no limits in the mind of this guy. Mentally he must be the best player in the history of the game because doubt doesn't enter into his mind, only belief.

The early rounds of the Australian Open was easy going for Nadal, it was only when he got to the semi-finals against an inspired Fernando Verdasco that the fight for survival started. They ended up playing one of the most memorable matches in the history of the tournament, slugging it out form the base line for over five hours.Nadal would eventually prevail 6-4 in the fifth set, but only after absorbing a barrage of winners from a rejuvenated Verdasco.

He had to face old rival Roger Federer in the final who was starting to look like his old self again after a disappointing 2008 season. Few people including myself gave him a chance if the final went the full distance, sinceNadal only had one day of rest after the marathon match against Verdasco. But it is never a wise decision to underestimate one the greatest athletes in the history of the game. Nadal came back two days later and stunned the tennis world by winning the title in five sets.

Federer had chances to put the Spaniard away but he simply refused to go away. By the time they reached a fifth set Federer was visibly spent, mentally that is. He had given it his all and Nadal didn't go away. In the end Federer couldn't hold back the tears and cried throughout the closing ceremony. A truly amazing feat for the undeniable Nadal. After the Australian Open Nadal's next tournament was indoors in Rotterdam where he made the final but got knee problems against Andy Murray and lost.

This after he had problems with his knees at the end of last year as well. The playing style of Nadal puts a lot of pressure on his physique and he plays such a busy schedule that it is no wonder his body is starting to feel the pressure and the knees remain a long term concern forNadal . After Rotterdam it was onto Davis Cup back in Spain which was played on clay so that would have been easier on the knees. He won both his single matches, one which was an easy victory over world number threeNovak Djokovic.

After that it was onto the hard court season of North America which included the two Masters Series events in Indian Wells and Miami. In Indian Wells he was five match points down against old nemesis DavidNalbandian in the fourth round. It looked like it would be a third straight victory for Nalbandian over Nadal after he won the first set and went ahead in the second. Nalbandian couldn't convert on five match points however and eventually Nadal won the final set 6-0. Another amazing escape by Nadal.

After this Nadal didn't look back and he won a windy final against Andy Murray again, this time avenging the loss at Rotterdam with an easy straight set victory. Moving onto MiamiNadal didn't look like the same player as in Indian Wells and once again the way he plays must have been taking it's toll after going the distance in Indian Wells. So no big surprise when he lost to an inspired Juan-Martin DelPotro in the quarter finals, after beating him easily the week before.

So really it's been another amazing year for Nadal so far who is clearly the best player on tour at the moment. Only Murray comes close now after Federer had another disappointing North American hard court season. Next up is the clay court season which is of course Nadal's kingdom. Already he is the clear favorite to win a fifth straight French Open title and win every tournament he plays in. Frankly there is just no one who can challenge him on the surface and it is pretty much a done deal.

After four years of dominance Rafa has finally lost a match at the French Open. Rafa was going for his fifth straight title, trying to break the record that him and Bjorn Borg holds together of four consecutive Roland Garros titles. But he was going to be denied by a countryman of Bjorn Borg, Robin Soderling, in the fourth round. Soderling was simply in devastating form and took advantage of a Rafa that was starting to show signs of vulnarability in the latter part of the clay season.

Up until the French Open Rafa had probably his most dominant clay court season to date. He won three clay court events in three weeks, which included the Masters Series events in Monte Carlo and Rome, as well as a regular tour event in Barcalona. Then Rafa did something strange. He decided to play the tournament in Madrid after complaining about the conditions there as not being good preparation for the French Open. But not only that, he needed to rest. So playng in Madrid didn't make much sense for Rafa. Hoewever he decided to play and it proved to be a costly mistake.

He was beaten in convincing fashion by Roger Federer in the final after a long semi-final against Novak Djokovic. This was the last thing he wanted before the French Open. It would have been much better to take some time off from his packed schedule and get ready for the French Open. This is something that has always puzzled me about Rafa. Year in and year out he plays a full schedule and with his physically taxing game style it makes even less sense. It was just a question of time before his body and mind would feel the strain.



By losing at the one grand slam that was basically a lock for him he has now lost his air of invincibility. In 2008 and the first half of 2009 he has been utterly dominant and had taken over the number one ranking from Federer in that time. But since Federer has taken advantage of the fact that Rafa lost in the early rounds of Roland Garros by winning his first title in Paris, he has now made big strides towards taking back the number one spot from Rafa and return as the king of the tennis world. By winning the French Open Federer has now completed the career grand slam, thereby making it surely impossible for Rafa to ever catch up with his accomplishments.

Federer will also be the favorite now to win back his crown at Wimbledon this year, after losing it in dramatic fashion to Rafa last year. And the problems doesn't stop there for Rafa. After the French Open he has withdrawn from the warm up tournament for Wimbledon at Queens due to a recurring knee problem. So not only is his confidence down, but his preparation to defend Wimbledon is hampered. Maybe after paying paying a very steep price he will finally learn that he has to give his body proper rest and that he doesn't have to play every tournament to hold onto the number one ranking.

It will be interesting to see now how Rafa copes with his problems. It's aolmost certain he will be back, but the question is when will he be back and whether he will be able to dominate like before. It looks more and more likely that Federer will return to number one and that he could dominate at the grand slam again. Rafa sure didn't make it easy on himself...

It has been a while since I wrote about Rafa in this lens. In my last update he lost to Robin Soderling in the upset of the decade in the French Open fourth round. He consequently withdrew from Wimbledon due to knee tendinitis to the disappointment of all his fans world wide. Things didn't get much better for Rafa after Wimbledon either. He still performed reasonably well, but he wans't the old Rafa any more. He suffered a series of losses to the likes of Cilic, Davydenko, Djokovic, and Del Potro. At the US Open he did make it to the semi-finals, but was blasted off the court by Del Potro, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.

At the Masters Cup at the end of the year he lost all three his group matches in straight sets against Davydenko, Djokovic and Soderling, which may have been the lowest point of his year. He did however find some form when he helped Spain to win the Davis Cup later in the year at home on his favourite clay surface. And at the start of 2010 it looked like that trend was continuing, as he won the Abu Dhabi exhibition tournament at the start of the year, getting some revenge over Soderling in the final. Then in Doha he made it all the way to the final again, but lost to Davydenko after having match points in the second set.

It was very uncharacteristic of Rafa to lose from that position, after winning the first set 6-0 and playing like the old Rafa again. But it was encouraging signs for Rafa nonetheless. At the Oz Open he went in as the defending champion, but came up against a very in form Andy Murray. Murray took the game to Rafa and won the first two sets, after Rafa withdrew due to injury. It wasn't the first time Rafa has been having injury problems of course, and his taxing game style seems to be taking it's toll on him more and more. He is currently taking a break to recover from his injury, and hopefully he will be back at Indian Wells.

After the Oz Open he also dropped to number four in the rankings, being passed by Djokovic and Murray, but has since passed Murray in the rankings again. Once Rafa comes back he will have a lot of points to defend, and may slip even further in the rankings. But once the French Open comes around he will have a good chance at winning a fifth title there and make up some important ranking points. I think when the clay season comes around Rafa will really start finding form again. This is where he will try to really boost his confidence and try to get back to former glory again.

Lets hope he can do it and that his injuries will give him a break. Rafa is a great champion and good for the game.