tennis schedule atp
Hey Rafa fans, what should Rafa do for a longer career?
1) Should he change his playing style?
2) Should he team up with Roger and talk to the ATP council members about distancing the timings between slams and tournaments? (Rogi and Rafa are President and Vice-President if I am not mistaken.)
3) Cut down on the number of tournaments he plays and make a lighter schedule?
I am a Fed fan but I have tremendous respect for Rafa and his achievements. I am one of the many fans who believe that Rafa’s absence is a big loss for the tennis world. I was wondering what do you all think about this. Peace.
Changing your style of play is incredibly difficult, especially during post-puberty and especially if that is the style of tennis that brought you all your success in the first place. Difficult, but not impossible. Usually, the best you can hope to do is add new dimensions or tactics to your repertoire as a player (Nadal has already been doing this for some time now), but the core of what type of player you are will almost certainly remain the same throughout your career.
Nadal isn’t gonna start going out there and hitting 120 mph second serves and smacking routine slam dunk overheards a la Sampras. He ain’t gonna be cranking 110 mph forehands outta nowhere a la Blake or Gonzalez either. Just like Roddick or Blake isn’t gonna become a phenomenal topspin grinder like Nadal and start beating Federer. You can tweek and refine your game but for the most part your game is your game.
If I were Nadal I’d start going for more on my 1st serve, especially on faster surfaces even though my 1st serve % will almost certainly drop, but his service percentages are already incredibly high anyway so I don’t see the problem. And I’d try to stand more closely at the baseline and dictate with flatter, faster and harder shots even though that’s not Nadal’s natural stroke type. Also a solid net game helps in shortening the amount of mileage you put on your legs in your career. But keep in mind Rafa has already been putting tremendous effort into doing this for a couple years now. He’s been very successful at times, but sometimes he also reverts back to his old habits of becoming too defensive and it cost him at Roland Garros.
Although Nadal’s defensive skills are phenomenal and have been the foundation of his success, he should only rely on them when he absolutely has to. Don’t give away ground unless forced, always stand on the baseline ’cause the second you go into that two meter behind the baseline mode, you’re gonna be doing a lot of running and even if you win the match on defense, your mileage on your legs is gonna be twice that of the average player which isn’t good for a great long term career.
And yes, Nadal should play less tournaments. Unfortunately, he’s the type of player who needs to constantly practice and play to be on top of his game. Whereas Federer can take off an entire month and come in and win a tournament. Nadal doesn’t have Fed’s natural talent and cannot do that. He needs to be constantly match tough or he becomes very vulnerable and that’s why he’s so reluctant to play fewer tournaments. But his bad knees are slowly but surely getting worse and it looks like he’ll have no choice now.
ATP Tennis Show – Favorite Event 18.09.2008