I remember there was lot of talks around two or three years ago whether Nadal can continue with his Physical,grinding style which puts a lot of pressure on his body etc.
A lot of statements were made like McEnroe saying" His Body is writing cheques that his body cant cash". Tony Pickard was saying at 20 years his body has undergone lot of wear and tear and you wonder how much more can his body take" etc
Three years down the line, Nadal is still doing quite good. Having reached a lot of finals in 2011 only being edged out by extra ordinary Nole, and just last year he won 3 GS.
He looks over the hill at 25, so I wouldn't say completely unfounded. Then again, there were all those warning about Roddick's serving style making him prone to shoulder injuries, and that turned out to be the least of his problems.
But yeah, I think he does have more injuries than average, seeing he was injured at least 6 different times against Djokovic, and more against Fish, Dodig, and Tsonga etc.
He looks over the hill at 25, so I wouldn't say completely unfounded. Then again, there were all those warning about Roddick's serving style making him prone to shoulder injuries, and that turned out to be the least of his problems.
But yeah, I think he does have more injuries than average, seeing he was injured at least 6 different times against Djokovic, and more against Fish, Dodig, and Tsonga etc.
If Nadal hasn't already put a nail in the coffin of those critics he definitely will soon as he continues to rack up the slams. Djokovic is the only player who can stop him, yet Djokovic is struggling to beat Federer in the slams and struggling with his own body. So I'd say the Nadal critics are walking tight rope right now. History will beckon if Nadal wins multiple slams in 2012.
If Nadal hasn't already put a nail in the coffin of those critics he definitely will soon as he continues to rack up the slams. Djokovic is the only player who can stop him, yet Djokovic is struggling to beat Federer in the slams and struggling with his own body. So I'd say the Nadal critics are walking tight rope right now. History will beckon if Nadal wins multiple slams in 2012.
How is Novak struggling to beat Federer in majors, lol? Man, I'm tired of stupid people on this board. If I remember correctly he beat him 2 times this year in majors (AO, USO) and only lost at RG. You are struggling with your brain, lol.
The problem with Rafa's style of play is the same it's always been. When he's facing someone like Murray here in Tokyo, Nole, Federer in London last year, Tsonga at the AO 2008 for examples, he's got a very, very hard time changing the course of the match because they can just overpower him and his topspin. His physicality, well, he's a bull physically but even today you can sense he getting fatigued by the end. And eventually all the running he does catches up to him and guys who can hit sharp shots deep on a consistent basis can break Rafa down.
Difference in slams is that Rafa's so physical that it's hard to keep playing on point offensively for a 5-set match for several hours. Therefore, Rafa is a lot more vulnerable outside of slams than in them.
This is not the 80s. Players have access to the best training methods ever. Injuries that used to end careers can now be treated. Nadal's grinding style is bad for the body but he gets away with it because of the advances made in the field of sports science.
Well His physical grinding style remains intact and somewhat efficient but the Top guys are working this talentless physical freak finally. Now its upto good old Federer to follow the suit and dump the Naduller once for ever.
You can't blame them. Plenty of players that were based mainly of physical strength and endurance have burned out quickly in the past (Courier, Chang, etc). Of course Nadal is on a different level, but you can't blame those including myself, thinking that his career would slow down much faster than it did. In fact, in a way it has and his many "injuries" have some merit as I thought he was playing better overall tennis in 2008 from May to August than 2010 despite the fact he won the three slams in 2010.
Its simple, nadal was only ever going to last a few years at his peak with the way he plays, now its taken it out of him. Its the begining of the end for nadal, Murray out fought, out classed and out lasted him today by a long way, he actually made him look silly in the 3rd set. How the mighty have fallen....
Murray also defeated Federer 3x in a row or something at small tournaments like these 250s, 500s, 1000 masters etc. and Federer stomped on him at the Australian Open. People keep parroting this nonsense.
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