[Just like heaven]

Very long interview for CNN (in Spanish).



Sounds confident about AO.

[Ash86]

Latin American press reporting today that Nadal is to be announced tomorrow as playing Acapulco next year (its 20th anniversary). Seems legitimate compared to earlier reports. http://www.marca.com/2012/10/16/tenis/1350394769.html

I wonder if he'll still play IW? If he plays Acapulco and gets to the final he'll be in Mexico till Sunday March 3. Then on Monday March 4 he's playing an exo vs Del Po in New York. Then flying to IW for a hard court tournament with a day's practice seems a bit much! If he skips IW and does Acapulco, New York exo, 2 weeks training and then just Miami it would make more sense. Odd otherwise.

[star]

Originally Posted by Ash86

Latin American press reporting today that Nadal is to be announced tomorrow as playing Acapulco next year (its 20th anniversary). Seems legitimate compared to earlier reports. http://www.marca.com/2012/10/16/tenis/1350394769.html

I wonder if he'll still play IW? If he plays Acapulco and gets to the final he'll be in Mexico till Sunday March 3. Then on Monday March 4 he's playing an exo vs Del Po in New York. Then flying to IW for a hard court tournament with a day's practice seems a bit much! If he skips IW and does Acapulco, New York exo, 2 weeks training and then just Miami it would make more sense. Odd otherwise.

I hope he doesn't skip IW.

But the mens tournament doesn't begin until the 9th and he will have a bye. Probably, he won't play until the 11th at the earliest.

[Litotes]

It seems London is not out of the question yet:
http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2012-10-16/10837.php

[Action Jackson]

Tennis X is not a reliable source of info. It's very unlikely Nadal plays London, but once there is proper news about it then it will be revealed.

[mrigank]

Hard courts have always been tough on Rafa's knees and as his participation in Acapulco shows,it seems as if Nadal is planning to focus more on clay than ever and likely avoid slow hardcourt if possible. But my point is that why hasn't Nadal adapted his game more effectively to hard court even though he has all the tools to so? Consider this:

1. Rafa's serve at the US Open 2010: If nadal can develop a serve in order to win a major, surely he can do so in order to enhance his hard court career. Using his USO 2010 serve would give him plenty of free points, making him less dependent on rallies. Why hasn't his team worked on this? Or was that serve a fluke or something?

2. Flatter groundstrokes: If you watch the video of the Miami 2004 game vs Roger, Rafa's groundstrokes used to be much flatter back then and his loopy forehand hadn't developed. Given that Rafa has already achieved enough on clay to be called GOAT, should'nt he try to go back to the flatter style of play in order to enhance his legacy on hard courts/WTF etc.?

3. Volleys: Improving his already good volleys and coming to the net more often to ensure shorter points instead of standing way behind the baseline

My basic point here is that Rafa needs to improve his HC record if wants to compete for overall GOAT in the future. Why not adapt his game more to the hard courts instead of focusing even more on clay on which he is already a GOAT, which Rafa seems to be doing with his decision to play acapulco. He already has the tools to improve his HC play, why doesn't he choose to use them?

[Tag]

or he could play on clay

you know, the surface he's good on

even if he plays until 40 (lol), nadal is never going to anywhere near the best in history when it comes to hard courts and indoors

grass courts, he might be in the top 10 eventually

he has the AO and US he needs, no need to kill himself anymore at those tournaments. QF is good enough, SF is a bonus. anything more, perfect

edit: sampras v2 serve at US Open 2010 fucked his shoulder up

[Honestly]

Dull doesn't have the tools for HC. His serve sucks, he doesn't have flat shots in his repertoire, he can't volley, and he can't return. The fact that he won 2 slams on HC is only due to the slowest era in history. It would be better for him to stay off of HC to protect his fragile knees. That way he will at least win some events and play for a little longer.

[Lugburz]

how many discussions/threads we had on this subject?

[duarte_a]

Originally Posted by mrigank

Hard courts have always been tough on Rafa's knees and as his participation in Acapulco shows,it seems as if Nadal is planning to focus more on clay than ever and likely avoid slow hardcourt if possible. But my point is that why hasn't Nadal adapted his game more effectively to hard court even though he has all the tools to so?

No he doesn't. Watch the CNN interview video posted on the nadal injury thread.

nadal adjusted his game so he could max out his wins and he did. He tires his opponents out and that's how he wins.

Originally Posted by mrigank

1. Rafa's serve at the US Open 2010: If nadal can develop a serve in order to win a major, surely he can do so in order to enhance his hard court career. Using his USO 2010 serve would give him plenty of free points, making him less dependent on rallies. Why hasn't his team worked on this? Or was that serve a fluke or something?

It was something alright although I don't think it was a fluke.....

Originally Posted by mrigank

2. Flatter groundstrokes: If you watch the video of the Miami 2004 game vs Roger, Rafa's groundstrokes used to be much flatter back then and his loopy forehand hadn't developed. Given that Rafa has already achieved enough on clay to be called GOAT, should'nt he try to go back to the flatter style of play in order to enhance his legacy on hard courts/WTF etc.?

nadal's chances of winning WTF are very low. He hasn't on a title off of clay in + 2 years. And healso said in the video if it was easy to change his style he would've done it.

Originally Posted by mrigank

3. Volleys: Improving his already good volleys and coming to the net more often to ensure shorter points instead of standing way behind the baseline

Mc'Enroe said nadal volleys better than Roger. Don't see why he needs to improve his volleys.

Originally Posted by mrigank

My basic point here is that Rafa needs to improve his HC record if wants to compete for overall GOAT in the future. Why not adapt his game more to the hard courts instead of focusing even more on clay on which he is already a GOAT, which Rafa seems to be doing with his decision to play acapulco. He already has the tools to improve his HC play, why doesn't he choose to use them?

He has no chance of being in the GOAT debate. He is a glorified clay court specialist. From now on he may win a couple of titles on hardcourts but certainly not the AO or the USO.

What tools?!

[Sham Kay]

Knee up fist pumps are out of the question from now on, for one thing.

[Looner]

More golf, less tennis, better for both sides.

[TechnoViking]

Nadal will return and win RG, and Wimbledon is possible with a good draw and some luck, but he is done at winning anything above 500 on hard. The sensible thing to do would be to only to play enough HC tournaments to maintain a top 4 ranking and consequently save his knees and prolong his career.

[Looner]

Let's hope he returns to the golf course ASAP.

[Topspindoctor]

Noserertards scared of Nadal coming back

Looking forward to the GOAT abusing the sissy one handed backhand of the ballerina and making him cry like in the good old days.