2010 U.S Open Champion: What’s next for Rafael Nadal?
With the final victory over Novak Djokovic at the United States Open in New York, Rafael Nadal has joined Andre Agassi, Rod Laver and Roger Federer as the only Open era contenders to have completed their career Grand Slams.
After winning 9 Grand Slam trophies, this Spaniard has also surpassed Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi in terms of the highest number of major victories.
He is also the first player since Rod Laver back in 1969 to have captured the French Open, Wimbledon and the United States Open in a single season.
The top ranked Spaniard, after coming back from injury this season has performed extremely well and almost won every single notable match on the tour. How Rafa did it definitely leaves several questions and here are some of their answers.
1. Rafael won no championships for an entire season. Post May 2010, the Spaniard has won almost every thing that mattered. How does Nadal do it?
The 24-year-old Rafael has played some tremendous tennis ever since his return on the tour this season in May. Although Roger Federer was solid throughout the year, Rafa’s game centred on his ground stroke smashes. Nadal encountered an injury to his abs
during last years’ United States Open and was thus eliminated by eventual champion Juan Martin Del Potro. However, the actual reason for the lopsided score was that the Spaniard had no wind at his back but it wasn’t the case in 2010.
2. How many Grand Slams will Rafa capture?
When the Spaniard is not feeling 100% confident, Rafa’s ground strokes can sit up, especially on hard surfaces and in fact, his movement suffers as well.
What is the actual key for Rafa is what he does during his not so rough spells. Prior to his first Wimbledon trophy back in 2008, the Spaniard was looking to turn his backhand as one of his strongest weapon on the court. His opponents have always attempted
to get away from his huge, spinning forehand. However, all of a sudden, Nadal got to know that getting it to the backhand would just result in a flat slingshot that generated more winners when whistled through the court. Once the clay surface had boosted his
confidence, Nadal was even harder from the backcourt.
Nadal has worked extremely hard on his serve right from the start of this season which was quite evident at the Australian Open as well where otherwise the Spaniard was struggling. Then, during this summer, he completed an undefeated clay court season by
defeating Robin Soderling in the final of the French Open at Roland Garros.
In the final of the U.S Open, he outperformed Novak in every single serving category that mattered, blasting a total of eight aces to five, two double-faults to four, and grabbing a bigger share of first as well as second serve points.
Therefore, no matter how many major titles the world number one grabs in the future, his serve will definitely be a key factor in all his victories.
3. So is he going to surpass Roger’s mark of sixteen Grand Slam titles?
There won’t be any surprise if Rafa overtakes Emerson at 12, however he would need another three to four flawless, and injury free seasons to surpass Roger’s mark. And for contenders who have been playing on tour for as long as Rafa is, the wheels can come
off extraordinarily quickly.
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