Clay Monster cut it too close for comfort in that 1st set. he was ever so close to being down 2-5. its that good old fashioned mental toughness that he brings with him.
they played in Monte Carlo as well as at Indian Wells last year. Nadal demolished him (Chela) completely on both occasions.
Not to disagree with you but I'd make the same point both Argentinian commentators were making on FOX-LA -- namely that Chela was playing as well as they'd ever seen him (talking about the first 7 games or so) and that if it was anyone but Nadal across the net, the set would have been his. But that's just it, how many players in his 101 match winning streak have out-played Nadal for a few stretches of their matches? Quite a few if my memory still works. But the question that no one's been able to answer just yet (excepting Fed in that sole loss, which is certainly an outlier, being as it is
less than 1% of his last 102 matches) is how to maintain that level of perfection for say, over one set. Never mind that Nadal also has a lot to do with their drop in perfection as he starts to bang and/or retrieve harder and harder thus forcing the opponent to lose his rhythm. Soon after that, as we saw with Fed in MC and Chela 2day (and an almost infinite number of times before) they crack, by either going for too much or simply giving up.
I think it is clear that ATM the only way Nadal loses on clay is if he beats
himself. Which of course, is bound to happen if only because of the law of probabilities.
