Rafael Nadal, the 22-time Grand Slam champion, is much more than just his famous on-court rituals. While his meticulous placement of energy drinks and water bottles, often dismissed as ‘superstition,’ is well-documented—as he himself acknowledged in his autobiography—Nadal also possessed a lesser-known strategic advantage. Former American pro John Isner has now revealed this key element of Nadal’s dominance.
The former World No.8 appeared in an episode of Nothing Major podcast, dated March 14. During the conversation, former American pro Jack Sock asked him: “Did anyone try to practice with you to see like your game before they played you at a tournament if they never played you before?” Turns out, it was none other than Nadal! Isner replied, “Yeah, Rafa did that to me in Beijing (China Open).” But how?
“So we were scheduled, if it all worked out, we would play each other in the quarterfinals. And I was seeded, making up six right, he was number one. And my coach said, ‘Rafa wants to practice with you so I set it up’. I’m like ‘Okay’. By the way, he’s horrible to practice with. He hits the ball so hard and he hits winners. And it’s Rafa, so you don’t say anything, right? You just let it go.” Later, he decided to check the main draws and guess what?
“I’m like ‘Is that what he’s doing? Is he like anticipating we are going to play in quarterfinals?’ After I started thinking about it, I’m like ‘Yes, that’s exactly what he was doing.’” So what was Nadal’s real purpose in practicing with him going into the China Open in October 2017?
“He wanted to see my game, my serve, how I’m hitting the ball on the practice court four-five days before he played me in the quarterfinals if it worked out that way. Sure enough, I played him in the quarterfinals and I lost to Rafa.” Isn’t that a genius move? Surely it is.
Per him, it showed “his greatness I think. That he would ask me to practice because if I wasn’t on the same side of draw, he was not going to ask me for practice…Just goes on to show that a guy like that, the all-time great, they don’t leave no stone unturned and I thought that was interesting.” As it was destined, the two eventually met in the QF round where Nadal ousted Isner, 6-4, 7-6. Nadal’s breakdown of how he won?
“In general terms, I think I played with not many mistakes,” Nadal said at the time. “I don’t remember a lot of mistakes. I went to the net very often. I think I did the things that I want to do, and I did it well, so very happy.”
This just tells volumes of his intelligence and brilliant strategies before going against his opponents. But you know what? It wasn’t the case when he started his career with a maiden Slam win in 2005. Nadal’s one mistake cost him the grass-court season over nearly two decades ago. How?
When Rafael Nadal failed to make a strategy after lifting maiden Slam at the Roland Garros
In the 2005 French Open, a 19-year-old Rafael Nadal became the first teenager to win a major title, since Pete Sampras in the 1990’s US Open. It was the beginning of Nadal’s clay court domination. It earned him 14 titles in Paris, eventually. Also, he earned the 3rd spot on the ATP ranking list. But what about other courts, especially grass? Well, that turned out to be a serious problem for the former ATP icon.
Few days ago, Nadal talked to 2003 US Open winner Andy Roddick, for an episode of his Served podcast, dated March 11. In the conversation, the Spaniard revealed his one mistake that resulted in a poor grass court season. And it came right after his French Open triumph. “After winning my first Grand Slam, I was young I won Roland Garros then my mind was ‘Okay, I won Roland Garros.’ So I didn’t put all the tension to the grass-court season.” Simply put, he didn’t care to strategize his performance on grass courts. Result?
“I went to Halle and I lost first round. And then I arrived to Wimbledon and I lost to [Gilles] Muller.” Playing on grass became a huge challenge for him that season. Until the French Open, he had a 24-match winning streak. But it came to an end after he lost to Germany’s 147-ranked Alexander Waske in Halle. And eventually, his Wimbledon campaign wrapped up early as well after Gilles Müller beat him in the second round. However, he then worked on his grass court performance consistently. And it yielded results three years later.
In 2008, Nadal went on to win his first-ever Wimbledon grass court title. And guess who was his opponent in the final? 20-time Slam king Roger Federer. Nadal outplayed the five-time defending Wimbledon champion with a score line of 6–4, 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–7(8–10), 9–7. It was the first time that the Spaniard won a Slam outside of the French Open.
The post 8 Years Later, Ex-American Pro Reflects on Rafael Nadal’s Greatness While Revisiting His Unpredictable Strategy appeared first on EssentiallySports.