Rafael Nadal, running from corner to corner, the tennis player who never gets tired, who transforms a hopeless situation into one where he emerges victorious. Such a point, in this case Alexander Zverev’s set point against Nadal in the semi-finals, is one of the most shared videos from Roland Garros on social media.
The German makes Nadal run so far that he almost disappears from view. Nadal can barely get to the ball in full speed and still manages to get it past the German. Then the Spaniard’s left fist flies through the air. Such a typical point can safely be described as the ‘Rafa moment’, which the general public has come to love so much over the past fifteen years.
Supreme Nadal wins Roland Garros for the fourteenth time
It is this defensive side of clay king Nadal that is often highlighted. But he has won 22 grand slam tournaments, two more than Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, as he has improved every year. The Nadal of 2022 is a much more complete tennis player than the Nadal of 2005. If you look back on images of his first-ever grand slam title at Roland Garros, in the final against the left-handed Argentinian Mariano Puerta, you see a nineteen-year-old player in three-quarter pants and a sleeveless t-shirt tirelessly chasing the ball. A player who could rely on his physical and defensive qualities.
That is no longer possible. Due to age, injuries and the evolution of tennis, Nadal really had to play differently, the French tennis coach said Patrick Mouratoglou this year on Instagram. “Rafa is much more aggressive now. His serve has become much more dangerous from ‘insertion service’, and he has improved his slice and his drop shot. Just like his net game. If he hadn’t, I don’t think he would have become the player he is today,” said the former coach of American Serena Williams, the most successful tennis player with 23 Grand Slam titles since the professional era began in 1968.
One-two punch
Today’s Nadal prefers to play very short rallies. In the final of the Australian Open, early this year against Daniil Medvedev, Nadal lost the first two sets. The fit Russian made the swing changes far too long for the Spaniard. Only when Nadal started to play more aggressively and the average rally shortenedfrom 6.27 in the first set to 4.31 in the fifth set, he won his 21st Grand Slam title.
The same happened in the final of the masters tournament in Rome last year, against the number 1 in the world Novak Djokovic. The Serb was much better in the rallies of nine strokes and more, but Nadal had a head Start in the rallies of up to four strokes.
Today Nadal excels in the so-called one two punch: the first shot is the serve, the second shot – the knockout – is the dominant forehand. With speed and impact, Nadal’s left-handed serve is the perfect preparation for one of the best shots in men’s tennis: his forehand with the extreme topspin and iconic swing over the head.
The aggressively playing Nadal hinted at a possible retirement in Paris last week, due to his chronic foot injury. But he played his best tennis ever these two weeks. In the quarterfinals against Djokovic, Nadal seized the initiative from the first point and put the knife to the Serb’s throat.
When the fourth set came into the final phase, it was Djokovic who figuratively hung in the ropes, smashed by Nadal’s hard punches. He was up. Today’s Nadal is aggressive, all-round, a player with superb volleys. He hit 37 winners this Sunday in the final that was won 6-3, 6-3 and 6-0 against Norwegian Casper Ruud and won 17 of his 22 net points. He’s a player who can still hit his old specialty, the passing trick, but he doesn’t need it as often anymore.
Wimbledon
Three weeks ago, participation in Roland Garros was in danger for Nadal. He left the tournament in Rome injured, because of his chronic foot injury that played up again. Before that, he had been out for a month due to a rib injury. Now he’s halfway through a calendar slamwinning the four Grand Slam tournaments in a single calendar year, a feat Germany’s Steffi Graf last delivered in 1988.
A calendar slam would be the ultimate goodbye to one of the greatest tennis players ever, who has had to reinvent himself every year. As it looks now, he doesn’t want to miss Wimbledon either. And tennis fans certainly don’t have to fear the end of his career. “I would never have dreamed of being so competitive at 36. This title gives me energy to keep going,” said Nadal on Sunday after his fourteenth title at Roland Garros.