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How could Nadal go about changing his roster to focus soley on soft surfaces?

990 views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  Commander Data 
#1 ·
He could still play the AO/US Open particularly, if he won Wimbledon and US open in a year he could just rely on momentum or hope they start f"ing with the surface to make it more clay like like they did to AO in 2008.

Would he get into trouble if he obviously tanked in the first round of hard court tournaments? Federer and Shaggassi openly tanked matches in their careers, but is there anything that would punish you if you deliberately tanked in the first round of hardcourt tourneys? Would he lose sponsorship deals?

What is the official ruling about skipping tournaments if one is healthy? There has been a lot of talk about him just focusing on clay, but lets bring it all together in this thread to discuss exactly how he could get around the establishment and do this, without losing major respect from the public and his fans alike.

He would become a hated player in the locker room if he entered grand slams as the 5th-10th seed in the future, because he would draw oppenents he shouldn't, particularly at RG and Wimbleton. If this was due to injury so be it, but if players saw he was tanking matches and not caring about his ranking, he would piss off many players, but could end Federers run of consecutive semi finals by doing this :D

I know I come off as a hater, but I do really respect the man, he showed a lot of personality when he beat Karlovic in the post match interview.
The tour is built around hardcourt, but if Rafa could find a way to just hope for the best at AO/USO and focus soley on Wimbledon/French he should do it.

But is he a player that needs to play himself into form? It seems so. Federer can just show up and start playing well, but we saw when Nadal came back last year after RG injury and skipping Wimbledon, he came back very strong at US open, and may have won without the ab injury, but he just couldn't play well off the bat. Wimbledon only has Hale/Queens and thats it, would it be enough, even off the back of RG, to warm up for Wimbledon? Federer can still beat Nadal here, although in a couple years will be interesting how Federer goes here, but hes still a lock for the final, hes a god on grass.

Anyway we should discuss how Nadal could go about changing things, just skip all hardcourts all together, or only use one or two warm ups for the French instead of playing 3 tournaments like he did in 2009 which we all agree was stupid.

Im a Federer fan, but born on clays thread about Nadal big career being over really open my eyes to what an asset Nadal is to this sport, hes a very humble champion and I want to see him around in the business end of grand slams, even if I'll be rooting for Federer all the way :worship: He's the only one who can take Federer in GS finals, except maybe Del P.

Discuss.
 
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#2 ·
............

So what he has to do?????
 
#3 ·
Yes, what does Nafael and his team have to do to work out their schedule so he only plays on clay and grass except for the two hardcourt slams?

Could he feasably skip/tank in the first round/skip/tank in the first round etc all hardcourt tournaments and use the rome/madrid as warm ups for the french, then Halle/Queens as warm up for Wimbledon, use minor clay events to play himself into form and hope they dont speed up the Wimbledon grass?

Would he face sanctions/lose sponsorship deals if he obviously and deliberately tanked hardcourt matches on a regular basis and would the locker room hate him as consequently his ranking would drop to 5-10 and he would draw top 3 players in quarter finals?
 
#5 ·
Go and play the seniors with Tsonga, might win a match or two.
 
#8 ·
I dont think Nadal should play less tournaments, he should practice alot less and use tournaments to play his way into form whilst getting points at the same time.

Of the tournaments he should play just MS and GS on hard, all his 250 and 500 mandatory should be clay.
 
#12 ·
But would he be allowed to under ATP rules? He could buy a clay/grass court and just practice on that all day and only turn up to FO/Wimbleon and just hit and hope at the US Open for a career slam, but would he be allowed to skip tournaments if he was medically cleared to play?
 
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