Nadal will bounce back to take the North American hardcourt slam. I really think he will. He has time to recover from the brutal clay season and regain full fitness by the start of Toronto.
He was trying to give a rest to the bothering left knee as evident from his withdrawal from Halle and thereby coming into the grass slam under prepared. But as his issue is not with his tennis and more with his fitness, you have to think he has the game to win US Open.
Come on Johnny...he could maybe win USO or AO but to say he can win WTF...it's indoor, it's relatively fast...no way in hell. He never won it, he never got even close. Now suddenly after all this you think he has a chance there?
I think the AO is easily his best shot at a Slam outside RG these days. He very nearly did it last year, it's a favourable type of HC for him and it's right at the beginning of the season before his body has worn down. The problem is Nole, but he won't have to face him every year.
I'm really disappointed with Rafa's performance today. I mean, what the hell was that?
That said, I like his chances of going far in USO and maybe even win it. He always bounce back after a bad slam, thus why I actually like his chances there a lot more than before.
Ivan Ljubicic, one of Nadal's haters in the past, told SSSports of Italy today morning that he saw Nadal limping in his practice session yesterday. Nadal signing autographs in the end tells everything. So I don't think he lost any confidence with this defeat. It is just a casual cost he pays once in a while to be able to win more grandslams going forward.
I think he will come out relaxed at the US Open and surprise everyone with his tennis. Mind you he already won the only hardcourt tournament he played this year, Indian Wells.
He seemed surprisingly unaffected this year compared to last year where he looked flat out pissed. Very gracious with Darcis at the net, lots of smiling and clapping to the crowd, mostly annoyed at the journos in the pressroom rather than downbeat etc... Doesn't seem like he really expected much of himself here this year so I don't think he'll be taking any long hiatuses this time.
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