Hello.
More than 24 hours have passed since the match and whilst I've come to terms with it now and decided to pull out the old laptop, I have to admit that I'm currently wondering what to say about it. Not just the result, but about Rafa in general.
I was really extremely puzzled when I read in various quarters that people thought Rafa's draw in the AO wasn't bad. To be honest, I think that translated more into the fact that Rafa had avoided the Prince of Darkness until the final instead of concentrating on Verdasco in the first round, a potential match against Kevin Anderson who is just the kind of player that could give Rafa trouble before having to potentially beat the World's No. 4 and 3 before meeting the No. 1 in a final. It was tough, and yes you can sound wise after the event but I was sure that Verdasco would give Rafa a hard time in his opening match. Why? Because his attitude is the kind that I deplore. He's slipped down the rankings and yet still has a nice time swanning around the world playing a sport he loves and trying only when he feels like it. And obviously having Rafa Nadal standing on the opposite side of the net was one of those days when he thought he would actually feel like it and really, really try. I got up yesterday morning to look at the Livescores before turning the TV on and wasn't in the least bit surprised to see they were in a fifth set. But with Rafa at 2-0 up and having a break point, I did what I do all too often these days ... visualise what I want the outcome to be. You know, deciding that Rafa will break here for 3-0, he'll hold for 4-0, Verdasco will fold and Rafa will prevail. Phew!! But Verdasco saved the break point with an ace ... and then bombed down another two. I turned the TV off. A check on Livescores saw Rafa serving to try and level at 3-3 so I knew he'd lost his break ... and when I looked again at 5-2 down, I knew he was out.
But it's not about my feelings towards Verdasco or any of those other ball bashers who queue up to have a right old go at Rafa more so than anyone else ... it's down to Rafa, and his current inability to do anything about it.
I started by saying that I don't really know what to say about it all. You see, I know nothing about the technical aspects of the game and I don't care to. I've always just enjoyed watching the sport for what it is, and liking some players over others. And I do marvel when I read some really good posts explaining the technical aspects of what Rafa is doing right or wrong or suggestions of things he should try or do better to give himself the edge over his competitors. I can't do that. I did used to think that Rafa's match play was quite simple. It was a bit of "cat and mouse". He'd just move his opponents around from side to side to side, eventually getting them wider and wider out of court so that they struggled to make a penetrative shot and he simply just chose a moment to move into court for a simple put-away or let rip with a down-the-line winner that they had no chance of reaching. Or the other alternative was that they had expended so much energy in being moved around and out of position that it ultimately just ended with a weakly hit shot into the net.
I therefore found it really interesting in Rafa's presser yesterday for him to reveal how he thinks the game has changed a bit and that players now want to hit every ball, that they don't prepare the point, that they hit hard and try to go for winners in every position. He always made them move in order to craft a point, but they don't play to prepare to hit their winners any more. They just hit, and if he's not able to move them into a position where it's difficult to hit from, that's where they have their success. And that's where he's vulnerable or either failing in his matches - he just can't put them into difficult positions and so the winners come. It was also interesting to read in his pre-tournament presser where he called Djokovic, Federer, Murray [and himself] "natural tennis players". I get what he means. When Rafa gets to "play" tennis against these players, he has a greater chance.
I therefore found it really interesting in Rafa's presser yesterday for him to reveal how he thinks the game has changed a bit and that players now want to hit every ball, that they don't prepare the point, that they hit hard and try to go for winners in every position. He always made them move in order to craft a point, but they don't play to prepare to hit their winners any more. They just hit, and if he's not able to move them into a position where it's difficult to hit from, that's where they have their success. And that's where he's vulnerable or either failing in his matches - he just can't put them into difficult positions and so the winners come. It was also interesting to read in his pre-tournament presser where he called Djokovic, Federer, Murray [and himself] "natural tennis players". I get what he means. When Rafa gets to "play" tennis against these players, he has a greater chance.
Cor, I've just surprised myself there.
Anyhow, that's the technical stuff over with. I'm afraid the rest of this post will just be some emotive ramblings - some of which you may not like. We struggled through last year together, waiting for the breakthrough, waiting for that one tournament where it would all just "pop" again and where the real Rafa Nadal stood up to enthral and excite us one more time, the latest "comeback". I remember seeing it over and over how people said that at this or the other tournament or this or the other match that Rafa was "back". He never was. He was certainly much better towards the end of 2015 and had some nice wins. Getting to the semi's and finals was a step in the right direction and he made a decent enough start to 2016. But Rafa's not "back", and I don't think he ever will be. By "back", I'm sure people mean to his tournament winning ways and where you can have decent expectations that there could be a trophy bite at the end of it and that includes Slams. I don't think he'll be back to that degree and we'll just have to ride with it and hope for the best.
I'll offer this up in explanation. Rafa's made a number of "comebacks" in his career because his battles with injury are legendary. The foot injury in 2006 which led on to the issues with his knees, which resulted in his absence from the game in 2009, then on to 2012 when we wondered if we'd ever actually see him again. Three major absences from the game ... but he came back from 2006, he came back even stronger in 2010 and stronger even still in 2013. And when Rafa stood on Rod Laver court in the 2014 Australian Open final to face Stan Wawrinka - a man who hadn't so much as taken a set off him previously never mind beat him - he wouldn't have been blamed for thinking that finally he stands on the precipice of his 14th Slam and that era of dominance that injury had taken from him before. But it wasn't to be.
I blame that 2014 Australian Open for a lot of things. Another sustained injury causing yet another absence from the game but worse than that ... I think it broke his spirit.
Rafa had an up and down clay season that year. He won in Monte Carlo, lost in Barcelona, had a lucky win by retirement in Madrid and lost in Rome. Before the French Open, he began to reveal how troubled and down he'd been over that AO loss, how the defeat had impacted him. I don't want to use words like "depressed" or "anxiety" because Rafa didn't, but my emotive ramblings are leading me to believe that the damage was done then, and he's never properly recovered. I assume that when you're an elite sportsperson dealing with an injury, you have to be strong too of mind. Because it's not just about recovering from that injury and doing all the right things to rehabilitate and strengthen, exercise and gym work, I assume it's a hard slog to stay focused, to concentrate on the end game and stay strong through the set back. Then it's practice, and more work and a return to the Tour. Then it's matches, match play, learning when and how to make your moves, learning to win again. It's a long process and I'm sure it's hard. But can you imagine after a serious injury and recovery you find yourself right back at the place you started. Only this time you know what you have to go through to recover again. And then it happens for a third time, and then a fourth. How to you get through all that without it having an impact on your psyche? How can you not be affected?
However bad the impact of the AO loss was, there was still a tiny nugget for Rafa to summon up in 2014 with the two Masters and the French Open victory, but the year continued to be lousy. Again through injury he missed the US leg of the Tour and ended his year with an appendectomy. More recovery awaited him but you can't clear you mind by hitting endless balls on a practice court and I can't even bring myself to bore you over the confidence issues of 2015 because every media jock in the world had [and continues to have] a voice about it. No, my view is that the straw that broke him was Australia 2014 when he should have gone on to maintain his dominance at the top and enjoy it - but his body let him down. And he's never been the same since and I fear he never will.
"I don’t know. Good thing of Novak, the better thing, is he’s an amazing player. Second good thing is he never has injuries, so that helps a lot to have full confidence on yourself, and to don’t lose the rhythm never.
When you are in the top, you have injuries, is tougher to recover that confidence and that level of tennis. So going to be decisive if he keep going that way with no injuries, that he has the chance to practice an play as much as he can, that matches he wons. That’s something great for him, very positive thing."
That was what Rafa said in his pre-Australian Open presser. Read and digest it. Put it into context and consider it. The above was a luxury never afforded to Rafa and because of it, that is why we see the player that we do today. Maybe it's just one recovery too many.
I'm not prepared to let it go for Rafa just yet though, but I have very different expectations. Ones that are more real, even though I don't want them to be those that give him as much pain as yesterday must have. I just think though that he has to be deserving of that one time where the Fates collide in favour for him. And whilst I have that thought ... I'll keep watching. Just,
Bye. xx
