Nadal no longer invincible on clay?

[gzhpcu]

Yes, and having Michael Chang in his corner does not hurt either...

[klacr]

It will be interesting to see how far Nishikori can go in his career. How will he do in the grand slams? Can he compete with Federer, Djokovic, Nadal in a best of 5 sets match? And yes, Having Michael Chang in your corner can definately help, but in what ways?

Another interesting coaching hire and one that I'm curious about is Fernando Verdasco and Thomas Enqvist. I posted the article in the interesting links thread a few weeks ago.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[GeoffWilliams]

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[DougEng]

Confidence, some chronic fatigue, injuries?

After his Monte Carlo loss to David Ferrer, he now lost in three sets to Almagro in Barcelona... Think he has a mental problem... has lost confidence...

Normally Nadal has a bit of off-form after Wimbledon. In his best clay court seasons, he tends to drop in performance after 5-6 months as the season enters the hard court pre-US Open tournaments. He rarely does well at the Australian Open but tends to pick up from late February to July. Partly that is attributed to not playing as well on fast surfaces.

Hence, after an injury, Nadal historically does well for several months.
Last year was no exception. In fact, he was, as we all know, extremely good from February 2013 right through to the Australian Open 2014 finals. It was the longest stretch of playing well for Nadal and it ended in back problems.

Like any other player, even Federer at his peak, Nadal at peak form is limited to a certain number of quality matches. A highly successful player is playing 4-5 matches each week and that's a tough pace. Djokovic in his streak had to cool off. Even recently after his double Masters 1000 win (Indian Wells, Miami) Djokovic had wrist problems, etc.

I think playing and winning 4-5 matches per week is normally sustainable for many 4-6 months for well-conditioned top players. It's too hard to play 90-100 matches and be equally as well prepared for each match. A player who loses early in a couple events may actually do better in the next one since he is well-rested.

Given that Nadal had an unusual stretch of amazing wins even in the traditional fast court season (Aug-Nov 2013), he needs a break. Doing well at the Australian and right after certainly did not help. Given his back, some comments on confidence, he is as some say blinking. Stopping for water. Taking a nap. He will recharge. He missed a few easy shots, hit a bit short.
He did the same in Australian, got into trouble but made it to the finals, blisters, back and all.

The only question is, how long can he stay at #1 or #2. Another year or two?
I don't think he is declining given his amazing results lately but more fatigue.

But another 12-18 months, there may be a clear drop. With his style, it will be hard to get the same results at age 29-30.


Best,
Doug