2018 US Open Final: Djokovic v Del Potro

[Sundaymorningguy]

Maybe he should skip his usual 5 tournaments on clay too and maybe play 2-3 before the French

 

[herios]

He's already doing that though. Nads only played in Canada and skipped Cinci.

Yes, I was thinking in a similar fashion like @Sundaymorningguy.
Skip the warm ups for the HC slams
I know he skipped Cincy and still got hurt. So basically he lasted only 10 consecutive matches on HC.
I know he liked to play a lot to get in form. He should have enough confidence in himself that he could get his mojo going in the first week of a slam without going to a warm up event.
Or do something light like Roger did with Hopman cup. Worked for him.

 

[The_Grand_Slam]

Nadal should think about limiting his clay season

He plays like 20 matches each year in a 8 week period From Monte Carlo to French Open.

That is bound to take its toil

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Nadal should think about limiting his clay season

He plays like 20 matches each year in a 8 week period From Monte Carlo to French Open.

That is bound to take a toil

There is a serious question implied in your post that bears closer scrutiny I think: Is Nadal really hurting himself during the couple of hard court tournaments that he plays, or is it the result of his seriously heavy clay schedule, like a cumulative affect of the clay court season that manifests itself during the hard court swings?
Obviously there is no comparison, but I grew up playing on clay, satellites and futures in Europe...Going on hard courts was heaven after clay ! Clay is hard man...

 

[Jelenafan]

Congrats to Nole on his 3rd USO.

Family emergency impeded my weekend tennis viewing but yes, the Beast Nole is bad.

Rafa I do think that nearly 5 hour Thiem match took its toll on him.

A lighter overall schedule throughout the year might best for him.

 

[The_Grand_Slam]

There is a serious question implied in your post that bears closer scrutiny I think: Is Nadal really hurting himself during the couple of hard court tournaments that he plays, or is it the result of his seriously heavy clay schedule, like a cumulative affect of the clay court season that manifests itself during the hard court swings?
Obviously there is no comparison, but I grew up playing on clay, satellites and futures in Europe...Going on hard courts was heaven after clay ! Clay is hard man...

IMO he is definitely overplaying on clay.
Even if he wins all 5 tournaments which he plays on clay without dropping a set the travel,back-to-back days/weeks grind of matches like MC-Barcelona then Madrid-Rome in consecutive weeks hinder him.
And it's not like he overplayed on HC or grass this year
He just played 3 tournaments on HC and 1 on grass(of course the length of matches affected him but not the schedule)
Even earlier in the year in his injury at Melbourne he hardly played many matches from Shanghai Final till Australian Open so not sure how people can suggest limiting his schedule even further on HCs is the solution