Rafael Nadal looks battered on his bench in Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena. He points to his stomach with a confused face, while he is talking to the physiotherapist. He then holds a black trunk with fresh air at his forehead to cool his overheated skull.
Nadal’s body seems to be up on Tuesday in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open with a 4-1 deficit in the fourth set against Canadian Denis Shapovalov. Yet a little later he qualifies with the set positions 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 for his 36th semi-final at a grand slam tournament.
Nadal was saved in the fifth set by his strong serve. He took advantage of the sloppy Shapovalov, who was annoyed by Nadal for taking a lot of time for the serve and sitting in his seat too long during the breaks.
Will Nadal still get a life out of the top hat on Friday against Matteo Berrettini ten years younger? The 25-year-old Italian won on Tuesday in a five-setter (6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, 6-2) against veteran Gaël Monfils from France. Last year’s Wimbledon finalist thus qualified for his third semifinal at a grand slam tournament and his first in Melbourne.
gift of life
Nadal called his place among the top four a “miracle” and a “gift of life.” The Spaniard feared the end of his career when he was out for five months from August last year due to a rare bone defect in his foot that cannot be treated.
It is not the first time that he feared that he would no longer be able to play tennis. When the foot problem became public in 2005, he thought tennis was over. Nadal was 18 years old at the time and considered making a switch to golf, but it turned out he could live with the pain. Until last year. Sometimes he could only train for 20 minutes in a day.
Nadal doubted whether he would ever play an official game again, he told Eurosport. The uncertainty gnawed at him. ‘You can accept injuries if you have a calendar, if you know how long it takes to heal. That is different with the foot. You go to the weight room every day, to the track, but you don’t see any improvement.’
medical miracle
The foot isn’t the only injury he’s struggled with throughout his career. It is a medical miracle that Nadal is still winning after physical discomfort to his foot, shoulder, knee, hamstring, back, wrist, hip, abs and ankle. Hardly a season went by in his long career where he didn’t have to cancel games.
Nadal always looked for solutions to get back on the track. Sometimes he changed the way he played to cope with an ailment. In recent years he has been working on his service. By bending his knees less deeply when throwing up the ball, he is now ready for the return faster. As a result, he keeps points shorter so that he has to walk less, a tactic that saved him from destruction in the fifth set against Shapovalov.
Does that also work in the semi-final against the top-fit Berrettini, who looked a lot fresher after his match against Monfils? Nadal has two days to recover. He will need it in Melbourne, where he was the best only once in his career.
After his victory in 2009, the Rod Laver Arena was often the place where his body protested. In 2011, his hamstring got in the way against David Ferrer, in 2014 he could barely move in the final against Stan Wawrinka due to back problems and in 2018 he gave up against Marin Cilic due to a hip injury.
Topspin less effective
Nadal has to work harder in Australia because his top spin on the fast hard court is less effective. The bounce is less high, making it easier for opponents to return his balls. He therefore prefers to play in the middle of the day in the scorching heat, when the track is driest. Perhaps he thinks differently after his stomach problems.
The foot, the stomach, and in December it was corona. When Nadal made his comeback, he was struck down by the virus in Abu Dhabi. He lay flat for four days and still felt “physically devastated” for days after. He arrived weakened in Melbourne, but immediately won his first ATP tournament there. He was then delighted to see Novak Djokovic sent home for failing to take the mandatory coronavirus vaccine.
Just like Djokovic and Roger Federer, who is injured at home, Nadal is currently on 20 grand slam tournaments won. 21 wins, it would be another miracle. But Nadal is realistic. “I’m not 21 anymore.”