A recent article in one of the United States’s leading tennis magazines had the temerity to describe Rafael Nadal as ”one-dimensional”. It can only be assumed that the writer does not watch the game much.
No doubt attitudes across the Atlantic will change now that the 22-year-old Spaniard has added the Wimbledon championship to his four consecutive French Open titles.
Nadal, unlike Roger Federer, who has won the past four US Opens, has yet to build a big following in New York, principally because he has not gone beyond the quarterfinals in five attempts and last year lost in the fourth round against his countryman David Ferrer, the world number four in the post-Wimbledon rankings.
The top three in those rankings remain as they were, headed by Federer, with Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the Australian Open champion, tucked in behind.
Any one of this trio may finish the year as number one, although there were many after Sunday’s astonishing men’s final at the All England Club prepared to hail Nadal as the ”unofficial” world number one.
He now holds a 12-6 career lead over the Swiss (9-1 on clay, 2-3 on hard, 1-2 on grass). This was their 14th overall meeting in a final, with Nadal now leading 10-4, and their sixth meeting in a grand-slam final, with Nadal 4-2 ahead.
Counting from the 2005 French Open, when Nadal won the title for the first time, 13 of the 14 majors have been won by either Federer (eight) or Nadal (five), the one exception being in Melbourne this year when Djokovic, the 21-year-old Serb, broke through, beating Federer in the semifinals.
Such statistics, underlining the mighty battle that has been raging at the top between Federer, the world number one since February 2004 and Nadal, who has trailed him as the number two since July 2005, are crucially important after what is generally perceived to be the best Wimbledon men’s singles final of all time.
Yet barely had the feast been digested before two questions were being asked. Can Nadal do what Federer has failed to do, namely win all four slams? And is Federer a spent force, having won 12 majors since the first of his five Wimbledon titles in 2003, but none this year?
To nobody’s surprise Nadal pulled out of this week’s clay-court tournament in Stuttgart, though it was typical of the man that he flew to Germany to make the announcement in person that his right knee, a cause of concern throughout the Wimbledon fortnight, was not up to playing.
Obviously he was exhausted after becoming the first man since Björn Borg to win the French Open and Wimbledon titles back to back. However, his knees, which have strapping support for every match, remain a worry, particularly on the US concrete hard courts, which are murder on anyone with the slightest physical problem.
Nadal was suffering from tendonitis at the US Open last year, and the hard courts almost jolted him into submission, or as near to submission as he ever gets. ”It’s like putting miles on a car. Eventually the car will wear down, and Rafa is not the lightest guy out there,” said Pat Etcheberry, a Florida-based fitness coach who worked with Pete Sampras and Justine Henin.
On the plus side, Nadal has significantly improved his serve, which is giving him more free points, while his overall game is also developing, as was only too obvious against Federer. It is not so much that the Swiss has faded but that Nadal is constantly improving — and that has shaken Federer’s confidence.
Toni Nadal, Rafael’s uncle and long-time coach, monitors his nephew’s physical condition constantly, while modifying his style. There will be the opportunity perhaps to ease his schedule between the slams: this should help prolong the Spaniard’s career, although many still fear that he will burn out prematurely.
Nadal has been compared to Borg, who left the sport at the age of 25. But Borg was a different character, his exit having more to do with loss of desire. It is hard to image Nadal losing his competitive edge, assuming his body does not break down.
As for Federer, he is still only 26, so he has time on his side to win three more slams and beat Sampras’s record of 14. But should the US Open title slip from his grasp in September, that record will look an awfully long way off. —