How to Win: Lessons in Tennis from Rafael Nadal

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: May 4, 2010

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Rafael Nadal was in personal turmoil last year with his parents being separated. He was in professional turmoil with a severe tendinitis injury in his knees, which surfaced at the Roland Garros ’09 and threatened again at Melbourne in ’10 with his premature retirement against Andy Murray. Most importantly, the “W”s next to his name were missing as he went title-less for 11 months—the longest period he has gone on without winning one.

Yet, cometh the clay season, and Rafael Nadal has dropped just a single set in 12 matches, has scored three victories while losing just a single game, pummeled Fernando Verdasco, 6-0, 6-1 in the finals of Monte Carlo, and won back to back Masters titles equaling Andre Agassi as the most prolific player in the Masters Series with 17 shields each. So what is it about clay that springs up the level of play of the Spaniard and transforms his game into an unstoppable force?

The style of play is obviously the major part of the reason, but that aside the most important part of this turnaround is Nadal’s comfort level at the red turf, which directly translates into confidence. One would remember the ease with which he dispatched Thomas Berdych in the Davis Cup finals on clay after failing to win even a single set in his three ties at the Year End finals last year.

Nadal is feeling confident and comfortable.

And once the confidence is back, Rafa picks out his trump card of which no opponent has a counter answer—his ability to know how to win matches. And surprisingly, Nadal has more weapons than any player in history when it comes to knowing how to win matches.

Pete Sampras did a fine job of winning matches relying on holding his serve and edging out one return game here or there to win even when his opponent was going ballistic at him on ground strokes. Roger Federer uses his fear factor and reputation to make his...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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