"Roger still feels he's just better. And, frankly, he's not." - Jim Courier

Just one quote from a very detailed and informative column appearing in Sports Illustrated which goes some way to try and dissect the conundrum of "How Rafael Nadal humbled the great Roger Federer".

What I like about the article is that it moves away from the "Oh Nadal's just got into Federer's head" simplistic approach and offers an insight into just what hard work and application it took on behalf of Rafa, coach Toni and the rest of the team to turn Rafa into the world number #1 and winning machine we see today - and how Feds has stood still.

Probably the singular, most important phrase Toni has ever uttered and what eventually probably turned Rafa into what he is today is:-

"He's so much better than you," Toni would say, "but if you believe and work, you can win."

And so to work the Rafacrew went. The article reports: -

"Toni and Rafa both knew that Rafa's forehand, whose height was lessened by grass and hard courts, couldn't do the job alone. Every dimension of his game had to improve. Toni would list his nephew's deficiencies, stroke by stroke, each time they faced Federer."

And they didn't stop there:-

"The truth, however, is that Camp Rafa is a fairly sophisticated operation. A Majorcan trainer, Juan Forcades, oversees Nadal's conditioning. Physical therapist Rafael Maymo spends much of his day taking notes on when and what Nadal eats; when he goes to sleep and when he wakes; how much time he spends hitting forehands, backhands and volleys. Toni, meanwhile, has harped on his nephew's weaknesses so effectively that even in the earliest rounds of last year's French Open, Rafa was scared of losing. Toni reassured him -- "You're Number 1 on clay!" -- but it didn't matter. He never relaxes - Toni says - He's so afraid for every match."

Further insights are added by Mats Wilander and the excellent Jim Courier.

The greatest quote though comes from Feds himself:-

"Honestly, I preferred the days when I didn't have a rival."

... yeah, I bet you did.

Here's the full article.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/sl_price/05/14/federer.nadal/index.html