Truth & Rumors > Tennis

I think it's incredibly premature to say that Nadal will never win the US Open. He has reached the semis the past two years so I really don't think it's ridiculous to think he could pull it off. When it comes to sports, never say never...

While this article was clearly meant to be inflammatory (a six time major champion with one slam and multiple masters series victories on hard courts will never win the other hard court slam? Really?), there is a grain of truth to it. Nothing to do with the speed of the courts as he has had success in all of the hard court Masters Series events but the fact that the Open is held late in the year when his body is starting to go into free-fall does have some impact on his performance I feel. Tennis fans have been musing for years whether his physical, pounding, grinding game style can last his full career and, as a subset of this, whether he can maintain this for a full calendar year before the (limited) off season rest. And when he's visibly tired the anti-Nadal game plan of all-out attack starting with the second serve and focusing on the backhand does come into play. Put it like this: it's no surprise that the Open is the last one he will add to his bulging trophy cabinet.

T n R searching..searching..searching for a story..
Good job.

This story really has no legs. Yes, he has had trouble at the Open so far getting past the semis. 5 matches out of 7. Contrary to your analysis he has played very well on faster hard courts, check his record and count the Masters Titles. But he is only 23 and just beginning the prime of his career, has a winning record against almost everyone and rarely does his head get in the way during matches. Trouble hitting through the ball ? No one hits with more topspin and when playing well he is virtually unbeatable. A step slow ? Get real. Rafa will definitely win the Open. Watch.

My own feeling is while Rafa is already a certified great in the world of tennis last year may actually have been his peak. Sure he is only 23 but he on three occasions now he's had time out from the game. For somone so young this must be a worry. The acid test will be
next years FO. I'm not convinced he was as badly injured this year as he made out and it was a huge loss for him. He was, up till then, Borg like at that GS. I know he has the talent to win US but the timing is lousy for him. He seems unprepared to change his playing style/schedule His condition (tendonitis) is permanent and aggravated by the very thing he does best: play hard tennis for lengthy periods.

Remember too that at the same age Borg had reached two US finals.

Him winning the US Open will be dependent on how his knees hold up for him... and solely on that.

He will win it in 2010. Vamos Rafa!

I think Rafa has a couple of fairly new adversaries that can actually counter his topspin game well in hard courts. Cillic , DelPotro, Solderling are tall enough to actually be comfortable with rafa's most common scoring shot, the high bouncing top spin. As they get better- rafa's job becomes much harder and needs variety and physicality. So I think schedule in the next few US opens may determine his progress there. If he does not face a bunch of these ANTI- Rafa's before the final he definitely will have a higher chance to get there. BTW I still do not understand why the Fed did not walk away with the open. He played the last couple of sets to delpo's strength when he had plenty of weapons to diversify his game and beat him. I like how Delpo has improved but , he did not have YET the total game to beat Federer - if the latter played smart insrtead of self-destructing by engaging in masochistic smack it tennis - a a pissing contest with an obviously stronger man! Not so smart. On second thought, Rafa did some of that too, but this year after the injuries, his physical weapons just were not there to try something different and make it a contest.
I hope he recovers by next season, and is able to show us a little more of that magic he does when healthy. Overall, though, is it not great the type of talent AND STRUGGLE for the top this year?
Kudos to the top 10 players in the world for making the slams an open to all party again!!!!

Rafa has all the strengths to win us open and complete career slam and at the same time he does have all the weaknesses to lose too. we have to see how he fairs in the first few months of the next season, may be go a bit slow, dont mind losing some important matches including FO and wimby, he will be ready and fit for the ultimate job !! but it's hard decision to go slow in the beginning of the season, and few players will plan that way. anyway, let's tennis fans wish good luck to Rafa.

If he wants to win it :

Play at least 4 torunaments less + not meeting against Djokovic, or Del Potro in the semis.

He has all the weapons to succssed at the US OPEN, but after wilmbledon he completely runs out of gas after a hard , long clay season.

What an as*hole Tennis Week is......remember how Rafa improved from the terrible grass court player to the Wimbledon champ. The guy is still improving.....still.
Sure, he has injuries, but who knows, he will learn how to control his schedule and concentrate to some important matches. People like Del Potro, Djoko, or Murray would be very tough rivals but he still has chances. Who knows. Rafa knows how to win the big time.

The most telling reasons that Nadal will win the USO are that A) He is a consummate perfectionist who will settle for nothing less. And B) He has more drive than anyone else out there. Period. He will figure out what he needs to do to accomplish this around the same time this 'Tennis Week' contributor figures out how his words taste on the way back down.

How many people 'convincingly' showed that Fed would never win the French Open, that Fed's time was over, that Nadal would never win Wimbledon...Come on man. Try to come up with some more constructive predictions like who IS going to succeed. These articles are only good to piss off a players fan base, and are a bit too easy...

Never is too strong a word. I would never write Nadal off but his last few losses have shown his limitations on hard courts, from Djokovic in Cincy to Davidenko on a fairly slow court when Nadal was injury free. And Fed will doubtless employ the tactis he used against him when beating him at Madrid next time they play. Clearly, he is vulnerable to offensive players on hard courts.

So as Nadal inevitably loses a little speed as he gets older his results may well slip, which will make the US Open, the hardest tournament for him, an even greater hurdle. He may follow the pattern of other defensive, retrieving players who win from a very young age and also peak and decline young, such as Chang and Hewitt.

Keep in mind, Rafa is only 23 yrs old. He still has a lot to learn. While his history in the U.S. Open has not been as impressive as his history in the French Open, it is too early to give up on the idea of him winning a U.S. Open.

Add another Anti-Nadal player to the list, the 155 lbsder Russian. The thrashing defeat handed to nadal by Delpo and Cilic took out all the doubts out of other players. Nadal run too much, we will know the true answer in 12 to 18 months. Now we know why Nadal clay-padding his schedules. He complained about too many tournament but he played both China and SHanghai opens. He does not have to play period. Watching Nadal ran left and then right ,stretching , desperate chopping is kind of pitiful. No number one or two ever has to do this much hard work.

I find arguments based on any specific set of players able to beat Nadal incredibly unconvincing. Just look at Roger Federer's french open win, even if we generalize his previous failures to inability to win against any super fast lefties who can kick the ball up high to his backhand beyond his comfort zone, whenhe plays consistent enough, there will be times when the mortal enemy does not make it to the stage to stop him at all.

The fact Nadal has the ability to make it deep in every grand slam almost as consistently as Federer means he will have a chance.

Fed will never win the French..... oh wait

Why is this in the Truth and Rumors section? This is just someone's speculation.

Anyway I disagree that he's lost a step. The only thing he seems to have lost is some control/placement on his serve and a chunk of confidence. He will definitely have chances to win the US Open but just like most players who win slams on their least favorite surface (Federer at the French for example) he's going to need a little help in the form of someone else taking out the players that he matches up poorly with, and none of these heavy hitters have proven themselves to be consistent enough for that to be unlikely.