Champs offer Rafa advice

[scoop]

I did this feature at the US Open - asked several tennis champions for their advices and suggestions they would give Rafa to get back his mojo --
http://www.tennis-prose.com/bios/champions-offer-advice-to-rafael-nadal/

Champions Offer Advice To Rafael Nadal



With his once mighty game and confidence flagging, the formerly invincible Rafael Nadal is enduring through the worst slump of his career, dropping out of the ATP top five this year. Nadal, the fourteen-time major champion, has always prided himself on refining his game and finding new ideas and tactics to constantly evolve and improve. But today, Nadal seems to have stagnated into a mediocre version of himself. One of the beauties of tennis, is that change can happen in an instant – advice, inspiration and counsel can generate from absolutely any source – for example, the American of the 70’s Jeff Borowiak once said he was losing a match at Wimbledon – until an astute ballkid had the gumption to suggest he should go to net more. Borowiak heeded the helpful advice from the youngster and eventually he won the match. So for this feature, I asked several prominent champions if they could offer the 29-year-old Nadal any advice or suggestions about how to regain his missing mojo –

Peter Fleming: “He’s just lost his confidence, that’s all. He just needs to go out and have fun again and just let it go. And hopefully things will come back to him.”

Manuel Santana: “Rafa is a champion all the way. As a champion, he’s going to make better what’s happened to him. He’s such a good player. I see many people around here saying he’s finished, finished, finished. He’s not finished. He’s going to win at least one more time Paris. The players don’t understand that Rafa is not finished. He’s only 29. The master (Roger Federer) is 34 [smiles]. My advice to Rafa to break this slump? Right now his second serve is a little weak. He certainly knows that he has to make more first serves. He’s a champion. And he’s going to be a champion for many more years.”

Rennae Stubbs: “It’s hard to tell someone that great what to do. I do think he knows what he has to do. When you don’t have that confidence and you’re losing matches and the balls are getting short on the court and obviously, the forehand… you just gotta keep working hard. You have to just try and win that one match that can change things around for you. And maybe that one match is here. He stated that he’s feeling really good and he’s almost back to his best. If that’s the case, then it’s hard to tell somebody as great as him what to do. I think he knows what he has to do. For me, he has to just win one of those really big matches against one of those big players again. And his confidence will be bac like that.”

Guy Forget: “It’s hard to give advice to someone who’s won so many matches. He’s been one of the best ambassadors we’ve ever had in our sport. So I trust him 100 percent to find the right solution. I think he’s had some physical issues in the last year, year and a half, that probably changed his way of practicing and of training. He had to do a little less. I think by doing that, he maybe lost a bit of speed, which is normal. And if any of the top guys – whether it’s Roger or Rafa or Novak – that are good in defense – lose a little bit of their speed, then you can lose a bit of your confidence. And it’s all linked together. As soon as you start to be physically fit again, you can train more, you can be faster, then you play better and have more confidence. It builds up. I think as soon as Rafa will be physically fit again, he’ll get up to where he was. I don’t think there’s any need for him to change the way he plays. Of course, he can serve a little bigger. But Rafa has been unbelievable the past six, seven years to always improve his game, to always find new things from the way things worked earlier. He’s such a true champion that I wouldn’t dare giving him advice [smiles].”

Corrado Barrazzuti: “A big champion like that, it’s very difficult for me to help Nadal. For me, it’s very difficult to give advice to Nadal. Because he’s a big champion, he’s won all that there is to win in the world. What I can say… I really don’t know [laughs]. I don’t think that he needs much advice. Nadal is a big champion. And he’s gonna make a lot of victories still in the career I think.”

Feliciano Lopez: “Advice from me to him? I think it should be the opposite [smiles]. Well, all those players, they go through tough moments. I remember Roger, two or three years ago, he wasn’t playing his best. He was able to come back stronger. I think now with Rafa, I thin he’s going to do the same. It’s not easy to be top of the hill every year. So he’s not playing his best. But he’s going to be okay. He’s not at the end of his career.”

Mark Woodforde: “It’s tough to break away from something that’s held up for years and years since he was a youngster. Being primarily a defensive player, his movement has always been supreme. I think he’s with a bit of a confidence lapse, his movement being compromised, so he doesn’t recover out of the corners as well. In the past, he’s been able to adapt to playing on hard courts in New York and grass on Wimbledon by flattening out his ground play and getting closer to the baseline. And a willingness to move forward. I think it’s easier said than done, but for longevity in his career, I think that’s maybe something he needs to look into – is just trying to shorten up some of the points, otherwise, if he continues on hovering so deep behind the court playing these elongated points, it’s tough to see him playing for another five years.”

Tom Gullickson: “Obviously, a guy with his credentials, I’m sure there’s no panic or there certainly shouldn’t be any panic. I think kind of just getting back to fundamentals a little bit and if I were him I’d kinda review tapes of when I was playing my best tennis – on all surfaces, not just clay – when he won Wimbledon, when he won US Open. I would virtually take out those tapes and study what I was doing then and compare it to what’s happening now. And just think of continuing to get better all the time. I think his game has leveled off, stagnated a little bit, while the other guys up at the top are getting better. And it’s kind of interesting to watch Federer kind of re-create himself under Edberg’s influence and obviously going to the 97 instead of the 90 and I think he’s serving better, the backhand is better. He rediscovered the joy of winning points at the net, which I think, for me, as a coach with a formerly aggressive player, I love the fact that Federer is kind of setting the trend of You can win at the net. I think these guys, Djokovic, are finishing more points at the net.”

“I think when Nadal played his best tennis on hard court and on grass, his court positioning was very good and he was playing more inside the court. When he loses confidence, his natural instinct, he tends to fall back behind the baseline sometimes, and wait for the ball to settle, wait for it to reach its peak, rather than taking the ball on the rise. When he’s inside the court playing aggressive with his forehand and then finishing points at the net – all those things go together. Better court positioning makes taking the ball early at the top of the bounce a lot easier. And because of that your transition game is going to get better, because you’re a lot closer to the net. You don’t have far to go to get in good position to make a volley. And close the point with a volley. These would be my suggestions.”

Henri Leconte: “I think he has to start working on his game to play maybe shorter points, because he wants to… I don’t think he can play the same way he did a long time ago, you know, from the baseline and stay back and make winners. I think he should try to change a little bit his game like Roger did, to shorten points, to play better, go for the shots. That’s what he has to do.”

Scoop’s latest book Facing Nadal is available at amazon

 

[Mastoor]

I have one more:

Mastoor: “Hire Todd Martin as an additional coach to work on your service." ;-)

 

 

 

[Moxie]

Thanks for that, Scoop!  I think Gullickson's advice is especially detailed and useful.  It's a lot about being more aggressive with Nadal, and the specifics of daring to take the ball more on the rise is a good call.  Also, I've heard it suggested before that he study old videos of when he was playing his best.  Great for the confidence, too, which is what he needs.  I think this week in Basel, even though he had to keep getting himself out of jams, had to have been good for the bad juju in his head.  He turned things around against the types of players that trouble him on faster surfaces, and he made his first final at this tournament.  I'd say it's all moving in the right direction.

 

[ClayDeath]

all this advice is fairly useless for a number of reasons.

1. what can you really say to a guy who firmly established himself as an all time great in the sport. many will say that he has done enough. and the true insiders of the sport cant really say anything that may be viewed as negative. they have to say something positive when asked.it was the same thing with Borg. the man took home 11 slams by age 25 and walked away. all you can say is that he left too much on the table. you cant really arrive at any other conclusion with borg. but it is a little bit different with rafa. rafa walked away without walking away. he flat gave up the b ig game hunt. he walked into Paris and said he was not interested in winning 15 RG crowns. his way of saying he was not going to put in the effort to win more. he also said that he was not the favorite against anyone. you don't hear djokovic and Federer walking into slams and saying they have won enough and that it does not matter if they lose.

2. you cant fix what does not want to be fixed. first of all he refuses to change a single thing.  he has already said he is going to do it his way. the hunger and the relentless will to win is gone. the fire no longer burns in the belly. you cant do a damn thing about that. he has to find it from within again or it is no deal.

3. the casualties are dramatic and significant on all fronts: he has let some of his fitness go. he has let some of physicality go. his practice sessions are lame and pretty much laughable. he lingers around in his backhand corner hitting forehands. his practice sessions are also very short. he just does not care to put in the long hard yards on the practice courts. he has not suffered such heavy casualties on all fronts by accident. he simply has too many other interests and he is not interested in working hard anymore. I know of somebody who was actually at his practice sessions in Melbourne in 2015. rafa was just content to fart around. and sure enough he got killed by berdych. a man he had owned for a decade.

consider this: in the past he won even when limping around. he is actually healthy now and cant win at all. how many times has he lost to fognini this year? and what about aging dustin brown? who the hell is he exactly and yet he ran rafa right off the court at Wimbledon. I think dustin was ranked #110 at the time.

he is spent force. he spent too much mental and physical capital in achieving all he did. he does not have much more to spend now. that is the only valid explanation you have as to why he walked away from the sport and lost so much focus.

he and his team has to put in a positive spin and say all the right words for their sponsors and their millions of fans. rafa in his current state cant win any titles on any surface unless he changes his fitness and his training. there are players out there nearly 10 years older than him that are winning titles. so why is this all time great not winning any of them.

Federer is pushing 35 and contending for the slams and winning masters events.

 

I don't have to listen to anybody. I can just see with my own eyes what is going on. there are no results and that is what is going on. who cares about how many semis he makes or finals of small events he loses. those are no results. and that is the bottom line at the end of the day.

if he wants to win than he has to be willing to make some sacrifices like djokovic and ferderer and go out there and work very long and very hard on his game. and then he also has to put in the long hard yards on his fitness. he also has to find clay. he has to start training more on the red clay to rediscover his ground game which is in absolute shambles.

clay is the wellspring from which he flows. his 46 clay titles that include 9 RG crowns should spell that out fairly clearly. he has to go dominate them on clay before he can win on other surfaces again.

 

will it happen? the answer is NO. the fire no longer burns in the belly. that is the starting point for everybody.

 

more on this next time.

 

[ClayDeath]

it is just a very long road back now.  the clock may be running out on him.

 

it will take 8- 9 months just to fix the fitness and the physicality issue. I think he has already said he wants to play another year or 2. but if anybody can do it a little quicker then he can.

 

also if he cant win on clay which is his best surface then he certainly cant win on his worst surface.

 

I would set some goals. one of them would be to take down djokovic at RG in 2016. that would be his biggest goal.

 

other goals would be to take monte carlo, rome and Barcelona in 2016.

rest will take care of itself if he can make that happen.

 

that is of course assuming he wants to capture another slam. find the hunger and the drive and set some goals.

 

[Moxie]

"all this advice is fairly useless for a number of reasons."

The notion that you have a better bead on it that any of these other experts fairly proves that you haven't a leg to stand on.

 

[ClayDeath]

but I have my eyes and I can see.

 

I am just not into blind worship.

all those experts said they have no advice for this all time great. all except one said that he has to shorten the points.

 

 

and I am saying what is happening: what is happening is that he winning exactly zero titles.

 

furthermore he is winning exactly zero hard court titles since 2013.  soon enough the end of 2016 shall too come to pass. and there will be exactly zero titles on hard courts then too since 2013.

 

and if that is not enough, there will be just one small clay title at best in 2016. and that is like hamburg if nobody else shows up like this time.

and even then he would not have won if fognini had not choked in key moments.

 

ferru is not 1/2 the man rafa is and how many titles does he have again this year alone? ferru is also ancient and has no weapons.

 

the reason rafa is not winning is because he does not want to win. you are just going to have to accept that at some point.

I understand your loyalty but I have to be objective and call it exactly as I see it.

 

 

I see a huge drop on all fronts but nowhere it is more evident than the dramatic drop in fitness and physicality. he cant win without his fitness and his physicality.

 

and he most certainly cant win without a work ethic. Federer was pretty much laughing at him earlier this year. he asked if rafa was training enough and spending enough time on the practice courts.

courier also wondered the same thing. you want to tell them too that they don't have a leg to stand on.

 

but I don't have to have to hear it from the experts and the true insiders. my eyes are good enough.

 

I am enough of an expert to clearly see what is going on. I don't rely on these experts.

 

unless he sets some serious, concrete goals and then just goes after them, nothing is going to happen.

 

read this again: he cant win on any surface unless he goes and trains long and hard hours and also works very hard on his fitness.

it is over at the current rate. that much is clear enough. djokovic would have demolished him today. he has won 8 of last 9 matches against rafa and he has destroyed him in every one of them.

Federer is 35. rafa is 23-11 against him. he had the mental edge and also the momentum after taking the 2nd set. so what happened?

at the end of the day the result is the same: zero titles

 

nobody gives a damn how many semis and finals he makes. he does not have what it takes to win titles anymore.

 

the tragedy--in terms of history-- is that no other all time great declined so significantly in such a short period of time. but it was no accident. rafa did not want it anymore. and certainly no other all time great suffered such heavy losses on their best surfaces right in their prime.

rafa shut his shop down. he had a winning record against 100% of the top 30 players. they did not beat him.

 

he simply gave up the big game hunt.

 

why do you think all these people are out there trying to offer advice. he just cant win titles anymore in his current state.

 

some of them are just being respectful by saying it is temporary. it is not temporary if he wont change a thing.

 

I will explain next time what he has to do next year if he wants to challenge the best at RG.

 

[ClayDeath]

Clay Death wrote:

“all this advice is fairly useless for a number of reasons.” The notion that you have a better bead on it that any of these other experts fairly proves that you haven’t a leg to stand on.

actually I do.







now go back and read my post again.







also talk to me when he wins a title. any damn title.



don't talk to me about progress. he has been talking about progress too. he has always said that he thinks about improving every single day. he is just saying the right thing for his fans and his sponsors. saying and doing are 2 different things.

show me a title on any surface.



now read this again: zero titles for the remainder of this year. zero masters titles next year. zero slams.

and maybe--just maybe one 500 level event like rio in 2016 if nobody shows up.

will you call that progress too?

they measure you by titles you win in this sport. they take your measure by the number of slams you have won and the number of masters series events you have won.



right now 500 level titles, masters, and slams are out of his reach.



you have to remember how he won: he won with his relentless will, his amazing fitness, his supreme physicality, his movement, and his great topspin forehand and his more than adequate backhand.

he also returned well when he was playing his best tennis. he was able to back up his relatively weak serve with his bullet proof ground game.



how is he going to get all that back without putting in 7-8 hours a day on his tennis and his fitness?

 

[Moxie]

but I have my eyes and I can see. I am just not into blind worship. all those experts said they have no advice for this all time great. all except one said that he has to shorten the points. and I am saying what is happening: what is happening is that he winning exactly zero titles. furthermore he is winning exactly zero hard court titles since 2013. soon enough the end of 2016 shall too come to pass. and there will be exactly zero titles on hard courts then too since 2013. and if that is not enough, there will be just one small clay title at best in 2016. and that is like hamburg if nobody else shows up like this time. and even then he would not have won if fognini had not choked in key moments. ferru is not 1/2 the man rafa is and how many titles does he have again this year alone? ferru is also ancient and has no weapons. the reason rafa is not winning is because he does not want to win. you are just going to have to accept that at some point. I understand your loyalty but I have to be objective and call it exactly as I see it. I see a huge drop on all fronts but nowhere it is more evident than the dramatic drop in fitness and physicality. he cant win without his fitness and his physicality. and he most certainly cant win without a work ethic. Federer was pretty much laughing at him earlier this year. he asked if rafa was training enough and spending enough time on the practice courts. courier also wondered the same thing. you want to tell them too that they don’t have a leg to stand on. but I don’t have to have to hear it from the experts and the true insiders. my eyes are good enough. I am enough of an expert to clearly see what is going on. I don’t rely on these experts. unless he sets some serious, concrete goals and then just goes after them, nothing is going to happen. read this again: he cant win on any surface unless he goes and trains long and hard hours and also works very hard on his fitness. it is over at the current rate. that much is clear enough. djokovic would have demolished him today. he has won 8 of last 9 matches against rafa and he has destroyed him in every one of them. Federer is 35. rafa is 23-11 against him. he had the mental edge and also the momentum after taking the 2nd set. so what happened? at the end of the day the result is the same: zero titles nobody gives a damn how many semis and finals he makes. he does not have what it takes to win titles anymore. the tragedy–in terms of history– is that no other all time great declined so significantly in such a short period of time. but it was no accident. rafa did not want it anymore. and certainly no other all time great suffered such heavy losses on their best surfaces right in their prime. rafa shut his shop down. he had a winning record against 100% of the top 30 players. they did not beat him. he simply gave up the big game hunt. why do you think all these people are out there trying to offer advice. he just cant win titles anymore in his current state. some of them are just being respectful by saying it is temporary. it is not temporary if he wont change a thing. I will explain next time what he has to do next year if he wants to challenge the best at RG.

What an explosion of verbal diarrhea. Your points are based on exactly nothing. You're spamming all of these threads with the notion that Rafa has no work ethic. Tell me where there is any back-up for that idea. You won't hear anyone's ideas but your own, including experts. It might be interesting if you were even vaguely interested in conversation or debate, but you really never have been, have you? You prefer to proclaim, rinse and repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

 

[Federberg]

I think his Basel performance is showing that he's getting very close to peak form again. Cream always rises to the top

 

[ClayDeath]

we will find out if anything is going to happen on the clay circuit in Europe.

 

there have been a number of times in his career when he failed to win anything until he got going on clay again.  lets see how it goes in monte carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, and rome. if it is a repeat of this year and then just limps into paris only to say that he does not care to win 15 RG crowns then Sampras has to be right. he is slowly making his way out of the sport.

I find it very hard to believe him anymore. what he says and does are usually do different things. he has said a number of times that he needs to spend more time on the natural surfaces. meaning clay of course. and then he runs as fast as he can to go get on the hard courts.

I am not seeing much of a work ethic. what is happening to him is not an accident. first of all the world caught up to him since he failed to improve, progress, and innovate. secondly he simply refuses to put in the hard yards on the practice courts and on the fitness front.

he says he is working hard but I don't see it. I am not seeing any results. there is no consistency in his game. that is due to inactivity. he has clearly not done enough work on his game and his fitness this year. this is not rocket science.

 

there will be no titles at this current rate.

 

I simply see a man who has said--more than just once or twice--that he has done enough.

 

he may get Rio in 2016 if he shows up with decent preparation. other than that I see absolutely nothing in 2016. maybe Hamburg again I don't know what that will prove with nobody there.

 

I have to see the change in fitness and the training before I can say that he is trying to chase the big titles again. I have to see the single minded focus and the work ethic again. I have to see substantial progress in monte carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, and rome.

 

 

[ClayDeath]

I came across this article which I wanted to share. one thing of note is that it suggests that the clay decline has been "steadier".

that was easy enough. as I have said a number of times that I actually predicted this clay decline as early as 2009. I said very specifically that his infatuation with the hard courts was going to cost him his ground game and it did. it also led to a number of injuries. he has been out with injuries 4 out of last 6 years.

there were 2 specific times when he should have backed off the hard courts a little bit: it was right after winning the Australian open in 2009 and then second time it was right after winning the u.s. open in 2013. he would not back off and paid a steep price. that is a contributing factor to the state he finds himself in now.

 

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/07/rafael-nadal-is-finished-wimbledon-loss-dustin-brown

 

 

 

more next time. stay tuned.

 

[ClayDeath]

another good read that has some stats in it:



http://www.bettingpro.com/category/tennis/rafael-nadal-is-he-done-winning-grand-slams-201507030009/



I am afraid it is not just the slams. it is getting harder to take even 500 level events.



it is here that I would take some time off and decide what he really wants to achieve with the time that is left.

you are hearing already about Federer going after 2016 and also going for the gold but you never hear Rafa talk much about the Olympics in 2016 anymore.







there is really no need to go to Bercy. you risk injury and you risk humiliation at the hands of djokovic. he has taken 8 of the last 9 matches with ridiculous ease. doubles is a huge mistake because it does not do him any good for one thing. secondly it takes away from the focus on singles. it is precious time that is being wasted.



I would go work on the fitness and also get on clay for a month.

 

[scoop]

"He does not want to win" says Clay death -- you make some provocative and interesting comments but this one saying Rafa doesn't want to win is completely inaccurate - Rafa wants to win as much as ever, perhaps even more now (if he didn't he would have tanked the second set, not gutted it out yesterday as he did) - it's just a confidence issue and fitness issue - my theory based on insider info: he can't train like he used to - all out every day - and not being able to train as hard as he used to has resulted in his game being slightly off and his fitness being substandard - to question the desire and hunger of Nadal kind of damages your argument positions - some of which are curiously interesting - anyway, it's a good debate

 

[ClayDeath]

“He does not want to win” says Clay death — you make some provocative and interesting comments but this one saying Rafa doesn’t want to win is completely inaccurate – Rafa wants to win as much as ever, perhaps even more now (if he didn’t he would have tanked the second set, not gutted it out yesterday as he did) – it’s just a confidence issue and fitness issue – my theory based on insider info: he can’t train like he used to – all out every day – and not being able to train as hard as he used to has resulted in his game being slightly off and his fitness being substandard – to question the desire and hunger of Nadal kind of damages your argument positions – some of which are curiously interesting – anyway, it’s a good debate

all we can do is go by what we see with our own eyes. I can dig up a 1000 articles like the ones I just posted that say he is spent force.



but in the end it is what I believe and what I see with my own eyes that matters.



the ultimate insider is him and we have to go by what he says. he walked into paris (RG) and declared that he did not care to win 15 RG crowns. he also added that it did not matter if he lost since he had won it so many times before.

does that sound like a player that wants to win?



he also added ultimately that slams don't matter anymore. he said good health is more important. that is shortly after the French open.



does that sound like a player that wants to win?



all arguments are valid and one can put any kind of spin on this. so it is a good discussion.



but i just cannot buy that he cant train like he used to anymore. if you can slave away and toil away in these long matches on the hard courts while tearing your body apart when you can least afford to then you can certainly train for a few hours a day on the red clay.

one can achieve supreme fitness at any age and with damn near any handicap.



how many times does uncle tony hav to say that he is not consistent anymore? why is he not sharp and consistent off the ground? why did courier and federer say that he has to go out and work hard and stop being so inactive? courier even went so far to say that he was worried about Rafa. he said he was too inactive. just another way of saying he is not doing enough to get back in the game.



this is not me but uncle tony who said that rafa just checks out of his matches right in the middle of them. his traveling coach said that Rafa won in the past even when limping around but now he is healthy and still not managing to win.



does that sound like a player that wants to win?



you have to have played the game like him and at a fairly decent level to really know exactly what is involved. his game highly dependent on supreme fitness and physicality. he outlasted them all with his fitness and his physicality. his heavy topspin game was backed by relentless will to win. he fought to the death to win and he did. I think he can do it again but it will take monumental effort to develop that fitness and physicality again. it does not look like he wants to go through that sacrifice again.

evidence just keeps mounting to suggest that he really does not care to win anymore. now he can change his stars again if he wants to but the window is closing fast so he has to act fast. he has been injured 4 out of the last 6 years and he has come back every time so he can do it again as only he can but I don't think he wants to this time.



now with respect to physical training, I don't buy that he cant train to be fit anymore. you can train for supreme fitness at any age. why are players 10 years older than him with hardly any weapons winning titles? muster got nearly crippled by a drunk driver. no problem. so he straps himself to the bench and has somebody place him on the courts so he could hit endless forehands. so you can certainly hit for hours and hours on the red clay if you want to in order to be consistent once again.



you can swim and you can do cycling. you can do spinning in the gym. and there is all that resistance training you can do. Rafa is simply not doing enough. all of it when added all up leads to me only one conclusion: he really does not care to chase the big titles anymore.



there has been a steady decline in the last 3 years. he is not going to be able to overcome that in a couple of months. and all he can accomplish in bercy and London is a possible injury. he is already on record for saying that he wont be ready for Australian open.

does that sound like a player that wants to win?



clay is his best shot. that buys him some time to go get fit and work on the ground game on the clay.



there is plenty of motivation to be had. just look at Serena and Federer.

 

[Moxie]

scoop wrote:
“He does not want to win” says Clay death — you make some provocative and interesting comments but this one saying Rafa doesn’t want to win is completely inaccurate – Rafa wants to win as much as ever, perhaps even more now (if he didn’t he would have tanked the second set, not gutted it out yesterday as he did) – it’s just a confidence issue and fitness issue – my theory based on insider info: he can’t train like he used to – all out every day – and not being able to train as hard as he used to has resulted in his game being slightly off and his fitness being substandard – to question the desire and hunger of Nadal kind of damages your argument positions – some of which are curiously interesting – anyway, it’s a good debate

all we can do is go by what we see with our own eyes. I can dig up a 1000 articles like the ones I just posted that say he is spent force. but in the end it is what I believe and what I see with my own eyes that matters. the ultimate insider is him and we have to go by what he says. he walked into paris (RG) and declared that he did not care to win 15 RG crowns. he also added that it did not matter if he lost since he had won it so many times before. does that sound like a player that wants to win? he also added ultimately that slams don’t matter anymore. he said good health is more important. that is shortly after the French open. does that sound like a player that wants to win? all arguments are valid and one can put any kind of spin on this. so it is a good discussion. but i just cannot buy that he cant train like he used to anymore. if you can slave away and toil away in these long matches on the hard courts while tearing your body apart when you can least afford to then you can certainly train for a few hours a day on the red clay. one can achieve supreme fitness at any age and with damn near any handicap. how many times does uncle tony hav to say that he is not consistent anymore? why is he not sharp and consistent off the ground? why did courier and federer say that he has to go out and work hard and stop being so inactive? courier even went so far to say that he was worried about Rafa. he said he was too inactive. just another way of saying he is not doing enough to get back in the game. this is not me but uncle tony who said that rafa just checks out of his matches right in the middle of them. his traveling coach said that Rafa won in the past even when limping around but now he is healthy and still not managing to win. does that sound like a player that wants to win? you have to have played the game like him and at a fairly decent level to really know exactly what is involved. his game highly dependent on supreme fitness and physicality. he outlasted them all with his fitness and his physicality. his heavy topspin game was backed by relentless will to win. he fought to the death to win and he did. I think he can do it again but it will take monumental effort to develop that fitness and physicality again. it does not look like he wants to go through that sacrifice again. evidence just keeps mounting to suggest that he really does not care to win anymore. now he can change his stars again if he wants to but the window is closing fast so he has to act fast. he has been injured 4 out of the last 6 years and he has come back every time so he can do it again as only he can but I don’t think he wants to this time. now with respect to physical training, I don’t buy that he cant train to be fit anymore. you can train for supreme fitness at any age. why are players 10 years older than him with hardly any weapons winning titles? muster got nearly crippled by a drunk driver. no problem. so he straps himself to the bench and has somebody place him on the courts so he could hit endless forehands. so you can certainly hit for hours and hours on the red clay if you want to in order to be consistent once again. you can swim and you can do cycling. you can do spinning in the gym. and there is all that resistance training you can do. Rafa is simply not doing enough. all of it when added all up leads to me only one conclusion: he really does not care to chase the big titles anymore. there has been a steady decline in the last 3 years. he is not going to be able to overcome that in a couple of months. and all he can accomplish in bercy and London is a possible injury. he is already on record for saying that he wont be ready for Australian open. does that sound like a player that wants to win? clay is his best shot. that buys him some time to go get fit and work on the ground game on the clay. there is plenty of motivation to be had. just look at Serena and Federer.

You quote a lot of conversations without citing a source. And you seem to forget that Rafa famously plays down his chances in all pressers. I'll give you an actual source:

http://www.si.com/tennis/2015/10/09/rafael-nadal-toni-nadal-2016-season

In which Toni says: "We’re moving forward, trying to train with a better focus and intensity. He is really improving."

Also, Rafa says: "I’m gonna keep working hard, keep waiting for chances for my future and I believe I’m gonna do it.” And: “All that I know is I’m decided to work as hard as I can, and decided to do everything that I need to do to be back to the level where I want to be. But without an obsession, without getting crazy,” he said. “Things are easier. I feel very lucky with all the things that happened to me already so I’m gonna work hard in order to have the possibility to enjoy this sport. I’m with calm and with the right motivation to keep going.”

To your point about clay:

“His confidence is built on that, his game is built on that,” Toni said of Roland Garros, where Rafael has won nine titles. “So yes, in order to regain those two we need to win back the clay. Of course we shouldn’t wait for the clay to start playing well again but the main goal remains to be again the No. 1 on the clay.” Here, Toni takes your point about the clay, but he says that he can't ONLY play the clay. You're not far off, but you miss a big point.

Also note that all of this caution was before the last two events, in which Rafa did very well.

 

[ClayDeath]

one just has to keep track of what Rafa says and pick out what is most objective and what conforms to the reality on the ground:

the reality is that his low level of play is not a function of reduced confidence. anybody that understands anything about the sport at all can figure out what is going on with Rafa. he pretty much tells you but some just wont listen or have difficulty picking out what is relevant and what conforms to what is actually happening on the ground.

his drop is play is function of inactivity. courier is not stupid. he made that observation. and we know that Federer is probably the most intelligent and objective player out there. he is also the ultimate insider. he too made that observation earlier in the year but again people refused to listen.

 

and then Rafa even tells you and still people don't listen: he said very clearly that he was not enjoying tennis. so it should not come as surprise then that he did not bother to put in the hard yards on the practice courts and on the fitness front.

 

he also said he gave up on  WTF.

 

and then he comes back with "well the WTF dream never died".

 

now he says that it doesn't matter whether he wins or loses. and that he is just enjoying being out there.

so his most recent statement is that "victories are the best medicine". how the hell is that consistent with what he said earlier that it doesn't matter whether he wins or loses.

he means well but reporters hound him day and night and he has to say something so he just keeps saying stuff.

I can go on and on because I keep track of what he says. he is my player but I am not going to be too kind to him. I don't believe in blind worship. I have to be objective and call it as I see it.

he got in a few 3 setters last week so he is starting to get into a little better groove but no need to get carried away. he is not going very far in Bercy.

who the hell did he beat exactly? who is Rosol. he is not only movement challenged but he is also inconsistent as hell. this is an all time great vs an unknown player who will never win more than 2-3 tiny tittles in his career.

Rafa cant win for a number of reasons but the biggest reason is inactivity. that in turn is a function of lack of work ethic. he gave up hard work and it cost him as we knew it would. this is not a crisis of confidence. this is a crisis of inactivity. so of course his levels were going to drop.

the drop is even more dramatic since he does not work very hard on his fitness anymore either. he brought his physicality and his fitness to the battleground and beat the whole planet with it. he had winning records against all of top 30 players. that is hard to do with so many injuries but he did it.

he simply spent too much physical and mental capital in winning all his matches. injuries took their toll also.

he simply does not care to win anymore. but he can change his stars if he wants to. he is only 29. he says he does not care to win anymore and he has said that a few times but people simply refused to listen or pick out what is relevant when he speaks.

now his latest statement is that "victories are the best medicine". now he has to go and put in the long hard yards for his victories and they will come if he can do that.

there is no way to make up all that lost ground in a few weeks. there is also no way around the fitness and physicality issue. that is going to take some time. but he can do it.

funny thing about mental and physical capital is that there really is no limit to those two commodities. you simply take a step back and start building your mental and physical reserves again. you find your hunger and your drive from within and then just go after it again.

time is in short supply now so he has to make his move fast.

 

 

 

 

[ClayDeath]

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015...ennis-men-nadal.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

 

[Moxie]

one just has to keep track of what Rafa says and pick out what is most objective and what conforms to the reality on the ground: the reality is that his low level of play is not a function of reduced confidence.

I'm not sure how you draw this conclusion, given that everything Rafa has said all year is tied to reduced confidence.

<strong>anybody that understands anything about the sport at all can figure out what is going on with Rafa.</strong>

This is a condescending trope used by people who mostly don't back anything up with facts. It's very easy to say, ("anyone who understands anything,") but it's a cheap fake towards an edge and means nothing. Cali uses it all the time. And, sorry, the rest was mostly too repetitive and boring even to read. I've offered links, and I challenge you to come up with real back up links of your own to support your theories. And if you say one more time "what I see with my own eyes," I may have to poke my own out.

 

[Tennis Fan]

I did this feature at the US Open - asked several tennis champions for their advices and suggestions they would give Rafa to get back his mojo -- http://www.tennis-prose.com/bios/champions-offer-advice-to-rafael-nadal/

<h1>Champions Offer Advice To Rafael Nadal</h1>
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<p class="post_info"><a title="Comment on Champions Offer Advice To Rafael Nadal" href="http://www.tennis-prose.com/bios/champions-offer-advice-to-rafael-nadal/#comments">24 Comments</a> · Posted by <i>Scoop Malinowski</i> in Bios · Edit</p>

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With his once mighty game and confidence flagging, the formerly invincible Rafael Nadal is enduring through the worst slump of his career, dropping out of the ATP top five this year. Nadal, the fourteen-time major champion, has always prided himself on refining his game and finding new ideas and tactics to constantly evolve and improve. But today, Nadal seems to have stagnated into a mediocre version of himself. One of the beauties of tennis, is that change can happen in an instant – advice, inspiration and counsel can generate from absolutely any source – for example, the American of the 70’s Jeff Borowiak once said he was losing a match at Wimbledon – until an astute ballkid had the gumption to suggest he should go to net more. Borowiak heeded the helpful advice from the youngster and eventually he won the match. So for this feature, I asked several prominent champions if they could offer the 29-year-old Nadal any advice or suggestions about how to regain his missing mojo –

Peter Fleming: “He’s just lost his confidence, that’s all. He just needs to go out and have fun again and just let it go. And hopefully things will come back to him.”

Manuel Santana: “Rafa is a champion all the way. As a champion, he’s going to make better what’s happened to him. He’s such a good player. I see many people around here saying he’s finished, finished, finished. He’s not finished. He’s going to win at least one more time Paris. The players don’t understand that Rafa is not finished. He’s only 29. The master (Roger Federer) is 34 [smiles]. My advice to Rafa to break this slump? Right now his second serve is a little weak. He certainly knows that he has to make more first serves. He’s a champion. And he’s going to be a champion for many more years.”

Rennae Stubbs: “It’s hard to tell someone that great what to do. I do think he knows what he has to do. When you don’t have that confidence and you’re losing matches and the balls are getting short on the court and obviously, the forehand… you just gotta keep working hard. You have to just try and win that one match that can change things around for you. And maybe that one match is here. He stated that he’s feeling really good and he’s almost back to his best. If that’s the case, then it’s hard to tell somebody as great as him what to do. I think he knows what he has to do. For me, he has to just win one of those really big matches against one of those big players again. And his confidence will be bac like that.”

Guy Forget: “It’s hard to give advice to someone who’s won so many matches. He’s been one of the best ambassadors we’ve ever had in our sport. So I trust him 100 percent to find the right solution. I think he’s had some physical issues in the last year, year and a half, that probably changed his way of practicing and of training. He had to do a little less. I think by doing that, he maybe lost a bit of speed, which is normal. And if any of the top guys – whether it’s Roger or Rafa or Novak – that are good in defense – lose a little bit of their speed, then you can lose a bit of your confidence. And it’s all linked together. As soon as you start to be physically fit again, you can train more, you can be faster, then you play better and have more confidence. It builds up. I think as soon as Rafa will be physically fit again, he’ll get up to where he was. I don’t think there’s any need for him to change the way he plays. Of course, he can serve a little bigger. But Rafa has been unbelievable the past six, seven years to always improve his game, to always find new things from the way things worked earlier. He’s such a true champion that I wouldn’t dare giving him advice [smiles].”

Corrado Barrazzuti: “A big champion like that, it’s very difficult for me to help Nadal. For me, it’s very difficult to give advice to Nadal. Because he’s a big champion, he’s won all that there is to win in the world. What I can say… I really don’t know [laughs]. I don’t think that he needs much advice. Nadal is a big champion. And he’s gonna make a lot of victories still in the career I think.”

Feliciano Lopez: “Advice from me to him? I think it should be the opposite [smiles]. Well, all those players, they go through tough moments. I remember Roger, two or three years ago, he wasn’t playing his best. He was able to come back stronger. I think now with Rafa, I thin he’s going to do the same. It’s not easy to be top of the hill every year. So he’s not playing his best. But he’s going to be okay. He’s not at the end of his career.”

Mark Woodforde: “It’s tough to break away from something that’s held up for years and years since he was a youngster. Being primarily a defensive player, his movement has always been supreme. I think he’s with a bit of a confidence lapse, his movement being compromised, so he doesn’t recover out of the corners as well. In the past, he’s been able to adapt to playing on hard courts in New York and grass on Wimbledon by flattening out his ground play and getting closer to the baseline. And a willingness to move forward. I think it’s easier said than done, but for longevity in his career, I think that’s maybe something he needs to look into – is just trying to shorten up some of the points, otherwise, if he continues on hovering so deep behind the court playing these elongated points, it’s tough to see him playing for another five years.”

Tom Gullickson: “Obviously, a guy with his credentials, I’m sure there’s no panic or there certainly shouldn’t be any panic. I think kind of just getting back to fundamentals a little bit and if I were him I’d kinda review tapes of when I was playing my best tennis – on all surfaces, not just clay – when he won Wimbledon, when he won US Open. I would virtually take out those tapes and study what I was doing then and compare it to what’s happening now. And just think of continuing to get better all the time. I think his game has leveled off, stagnated a little bit, while the other guys up at the top are getting better. And it’s kind of interesting to watch Federer kind of re-create himself under Edberg’s influence and obviously going to the 97 instead of the 90 and I think he’s serving better, the backhand is better. He rediscovered the joy of winning points at the net, which I think, for me, as a coach with a formerly aggressive player, I love the fact that Federer is kind of setting the trend of You can win at the net. I think these guys, Djokovic, are finishing more points at the net.”

“I think when Nadal played his best tennis on hard court and on grass, his court positioning was very good and he was playing more inside the court. When he loses confidence, his natural instinct, he tends to fall back behind the baseline sometimes, and wait for the ball to settle, wait for it to reach its peak, rather than taking the ball on the rise. When he’s inside the court playing aggressive with his forehand and then finishing points at the net – all those things go together. Better court positioning makes taking the ball early at the top of the bounce a lot easier. And because of that your transition game is going to get better, because you’re a lot closer to the net. You don’t have far to go to get in good position to make a volley. And close the point with a volley. These would be my suggestions.”

Henri Leconte: “I think he has to start working on his game to play maybe shorter points, because he wants to… I don’t think he can play the same way he did a long time ago, you know, from the baseline and stay back and make winners. I think he should try to change a little bit his game like Roger did, to shorten points, to play better, go for the shots. That’s what he has to do.”

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What a nice feature. I feel the same way. I don't think you forget how to play great tennis, but then other things often come into play like confidence, inexplicable losses, off court pursuits, and sponsorships. Still, I'm hoping for a good 2016 despite a few bad showings so far.