Rafa has been down before, but he never stays down - that’s what makes him the people’s champion.
He’s never had a run like that is his career though and a few weeks shy of his 29th birthday, he’s at the typical age of decline for a tennis player. Just one tournament win since the French last year in Buenos Aires. His form for about 6 months going into the French last year was poor. He woke up for the second week in Paris to get over the line.
He seems to be blaming his forehand for most of his recent woes. What used to be a big weapon for him is now turning into his achilles heel. I didn’t see yesterday’s defeat but looking at him in Monte Carlo last week, he’s getting way too much top-spin. He needs to adjust to have any chance of defending his title in Paris. With his track record, you couldn’t completely write him off and if he does meet Novak, it’ll be in the latter stages, so could well have played himself back into form at that stage. An early exit is a real danger though, now that he’s consistently losing to the likes of Fognini and Verdasco.
2011 he looked even better coming into it. Rafa will bring the pain in Paris as he invariably does
2011 Novak completely took the eye off the ball losing to Federer in the semi final. It should be noted that going into the French Open in 2011, Nadal wasn’t exactly operating at a bad level. He won Monte Carlo and Barcelona and was runner up in Indian Wells, Miami, Rome & Madrid (losing all 4 finals to Novak).
Nadal is playing awfully for almost a year now, the worst he has at any stage in his career since he turned professional. Difficult to see him just turning it on like a tap.
Since winning the French Open last year, he’s played 12 tournaments - losing to Dustin Brown in the 2nd round in Halle, losing to Nick Kyrgios in the 3rd round of the Championship, losing to Martin Klizan in the quarter final of the China Open, losing to Feliciano Lopez in the 2nd round of the Shanghai Masters and losing to Borna Coric in the quarter final in Basel. In 2015, he was hammered in straight sets by Berdych in the quarter finals in Melbourne, beaten by Fognini in the semi-final in Rio, won in Buenos Aires (albeit a weakened enough field), beaten by Raonic in the quarter finals at Indian Wells, beaten in the 3rd round by Verdasco in Miami, outclassed in straight sets by Novak in Monte Carlo last week and then yesterday’s 2nd round defeat to Fognini.
As if 2015 could get much worse for Nadal - he’s only gone and lost to Federer in a final. Federer wins 6-4 5-7 6-3 to win his 7th title in Basel.
Rafa needle pulls out of piss tests, sorry Wimbledon.
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