Nadal's schedule for 2017

[Front242]

Depends on whether he wants to continue grinding like a meat factory or use his head and try and end points quicker.

 

[the AntiPusher]

So, is there room for a celebrity coach in Rafa's team now. Before the argument was that there would be a clash of egos if you have both Uncle Toni and a celebrity coach on the team. Now, that argument is no longer valid. If there is room, who do you think would be an ideal celebrity coach for Rafa?

I doubt this would be a question you would have proposed if Rafa would have finished the job when he was up 3-1 in the fifth set. Rafa has got to treat last month's debacle to Fed as a mental lapse and move on.. No need for a celebrity coach..just continue to work on having a strong service game , return of serve and moving forward..he will find more success.

 

[Carol]

So, is there room for a celebrity coach in Rafa's team now. Before the argument was that there would be a clash of egos if you have both Uncle Toni and a celebrity coach on the team. Now, that argument is no longer valid. If there is room, who do you think would be an ideal celebrity coach for Rafa?

I don't believe a celebrity is the ideal coach for everyone.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

So, is there room for a celebrity coach in Rafa's team now. Before the argument was that there would be a clash of egos if you have both Uncle Toni and a celebrity coach on the team. Now, that argument is no longer valid. If there is room, who do you think would be an ideal celebrity coach for Rafa?

I doubt this would be a question you would have proposed if Rafa would have finished the job when he was up 3-1 in the fifth set. Rafa has got to treat last month's debacle to Fed as a mental lapse and move on.. No need for a celebrity coach..just continue to work on having a strong service game , return of serve and moving forward..he will find more success.

No, my question was not prompted by Rafa's loss at AO to Federer. Actually, I don't consider Rafa's campaign at AO as a debacle. It is definitely a huge forward step considering he has not gone beyond QF for 2.5 years.

My question is prompted by the impending exit Uncle Toni. I could not visualize uncle Toni playing second fiddle to some other coach. Now, with uncle Toni leaving, Rafa could hire someone who could actually help him in the last phase of his career, by coming up with some changes. Of course, you cannot change somebody completely, but minor tweaking to the good is possible.

 

[Kieran]

So, is there room for a celebrity coach in Rafa's team now. Before the argument was that there would be a clash of egos if you have both Uncle Toni and a celebrity coach on the team. Now, that argument is no longer valid. If there is room, who do you think would be an ideal celebrity coach for Rafa?

I doubt this would be a question you would have proposed if Rafa would have finished the job when he was up 3-1 in the fifth set. Rafa has got to treat last month's debacle to Fed as a mental lapse and move on.. No need for a celebrity coach..just continue to work on having a strong service game , return of serve and moving forward..he will find more success.

No, my question was not prompted by Rafa's loss at AO to Federer. Actually, I don't consider Rafa's campaign at AO as a debacle. It is definitely a huge forward step considering he has not gone beyond QF for 2.5 years.

My question is prompted by the impending exit Uncle Toni. I could not visualize uncle Toni playing second fiddle to some other coach. Now, with uncle Toni leaving, Rafa could hire someone who could actually help him in the last phase of his career, by coming up with some changes. Of course, you cannot change somebody completely, but minor tweaking to the good is possible.

I know what you mean by a celebrity coach: somebody like McEnroe, or Mats, or a superstar former pro, like Agassi, who'd come in and, I dunno, waffle a lot, flip-flop on everything, talk shallow, make no odds, then flit away again, and blab to the media, like Becker has been continually doing since Novak washed his hands of him.

I'm not a fan of this approach. So far, Lendl still seems like the only inspired choice in this regard, and the rest have been following a fad. But none of these kinds of things would suit Rafa. I know AP wanted McEnroe, but can you really imagine that contradictory blabbermouth focussing long enough on things to say something that isn't the direct opposite to what he said yesterday, while also shutting his mouth long enough to allow the island boy to listen to the birds on the trees, or to meditate upon the sounds of waves lapping on the shore, while dreaming of his fishing boat?

Moya is unproven so far, and so I'm glad that uncle Toni is staying for another year. For me, Toni is the greatest, and his knowledge and presence will be missed - but he's still got a phone, and he'll still live in Mallorca, so hopefully he's not going to be totally removed from Rafa. Plus, rafa is 31 this year, and not getting any younger. Uncle Toni's tenure has been unprecedented in tennis, and extraordinary. Moya will hopefully learn from the maestro, and the maestro's apprentice, Francois Roig, isn't going anywhere, and he's always been a great presence for Rafa, travelling around the smaller tournaments...

 

[isabelle]

the change of the guards : Lord Carlos"ll replace uncle Toni next year

 

[Front242]

Edburg definitely did some good for Roger so these multi slam coaches can add something useful alright.

 

[El Dude]

To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what Rafa needs to be coached on. I don't see any more issues in his game and he seems to be a smart guy who isn't unrealistic in terms of what his body can and cannot do. The AO proved that he can still play at the highest level, and he only lost because Roger surprisingly upped his game in that fifth set. Rafa really could have won it.

In other words, I don't see any problem with Toni leaving and no "celebrity coach" stepping in. Moya is a smart dude and seems to be helping Rafa.

 

[DarthFed]

Rafa has plenty he can improve on from a coach's perspective. Serving, return and court positioning as well as flattening out the forehand on occasion to end points quicker.

 

[mrzz]

Regarding a coach, of course a good one helps. In the case of Federer (I cite it because is the one I follow more closely), he surely learned things from Annacone, from Edberg and now from Ljubicic. Nadal, IMO, is the smartest tennis player out there, so if one guy could live without a coach, it would be him, but at the same time he might learn a lot from a different perspective. As DarthFed puts, there are some fundamentals that he could improve.

Regarding schedule, every time I see most posters protesting Nadal´s schedule, and saying that he is obviously wrong by doing this or that, I always think the same: "ok, the guy and his camp are smart enough to win multiple slams, but year in year out they make the same stupid mistakes about schedule". Either they are stupid or posters are missing part of the picture. I think the second option is quite more logic.

 

[Carol]

Maybe while he has been mentally struggled for these last two years his returns have been not so good either but usually are pretty good. His issue? unfortunately his serve which is without any discussion the main shot on HC
And about his schedule we are not idiots, just looking what he did last year on clay playing with an injury every single tournament and at the end having to retire from RG after the second match. His camp is not idiot either, the problem is Rafa who is more stubborn than anyone else but never is late to learn and it seems what he is doing now

 

[the AntiPusher]

Rafa has plenty he can improve on from a coach's perspective. Serving, return and court positioning as well as flattening out the forehand on occasion to end points quicker.

Funny you mentioned flattening out the fore hand..the past few years a lot of the experts have commented about this is something Rafa needs to do..I recalled the numerous discussions I had years ago on this board regarding that part of his game to be tweaked.

 

[Carol]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TTdAnBjWFY[/video]

 

[GameSetAndMath]

The problem with scheduling and overplaying in general is this. Players can only sign up for tourneys. They cannot predict how many matches they will be playing in a given tournament. The amount of tiredness and mileage depends not on how many tourneys you participate in, but on exactly how many matches you play.

Having said that, this problem should only be faced by players outside top 16 or so. The top players should be able to reasonably predict the number of matches they will actually be playing although it cannot obviously be an exact number.

For example, Thiem signed up for a lot of tourneys in the early part of last year. Little did he know that he will win and/or go deep in most of them. When you are a up and coming player, it is also not that easy to quit from a tourney after signing up. You can do that easily when you are a big name.

But, Rafa should never have had the problem of quitting from RG in the middle after starting.
That was certainly bad scheduling. I don't care whether it is his decision or his team's decision. The reason I am saying this bluntly is that it is not "something" that happened in those two matches (obviously stuff could happen and you may have to quit a tourney in the middle) that made him quit. It is the accumulated effect. When you know RG is important to you, you need to make sure that you are in top form.

 

[El Dude]

Good point, Game. Thiem was a victim of his own success.

As for Rafa withdrawing from RG last year, I haven't investigated it too much but it is still a bit of a mystery. He handily defeated his first two opponents but then withdrew before playing Granollers. He must have really been hurting, or just felt like he couldn't play competitively. I just don't understand how he went from demolishing Bagnis in the second round to withdrawing before the third round. Usually players at least try to make it through the next match.

I'm not suspecting anything nefarious, mind you. If anything, I'm agreeing that he just didn't pace himself well. Hopefully he will this year, as I really want to see a healthy Rafa at Roland Garros.

 

[Carol]

Good point, Game. Thiem was a victim of his own success.

As for Rafa withdrawing from RG last year, I haven't investigated it too much but it is still a bit of a mystery. He handily defeated his first two opponents but then withdrew before playing Granollers. He must have really been hurting, or just felt like he couldn't play competitively. I just don't understand how he went from demolishing Bagnis in the second round to withdrawing before the third round. Usually players at least try to make it through the next match.

I'm not suspecting anything nefarious, mind you. If anything, I'm agreeing that he just didn't pace himself well. Hopefully he will this year, as I really want to see a healthy Rafa at Roland Garros.

Uh? I don't think there is too much to investigate or there is a mastery. Maybe you have to read what Rafa has said in one of his last interviews about how much he regretted to have played those two matches in that last RG and the consequences after

 

[mrzz]

GSM, you make a really good point about players who end up doing better than expected.

About Nadal´s schedule, and overplaying in general, I really cannot agree with most of you guys and tend to think you are oversimplifying the issue -- and thus underestimating the intelligence of a few professionals. I am not saying that these people are perfect, as I said before, I am saying that may be more things to consider.

Nadal´s 2016 RG is a fine example. What was Nadal form before the 2016 clay season? It was surely less than stellar. All this guys always say they need match play to get in total shape. Ok, he went on to win Monte Carlo, but the guy finally has a good win and you expect him to halt his own momentum? He probably figured that if he could raise his level by winning matches before RG he would have a better shot than saving his body and showing up with the same level that he was unhappy with. This, or any other reasonable explanation that takes into account that they knew what they were doing...

 

[Carol]

Rafa watching his beloved soccer team winning 3-1
Cheers!

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Looks like transplanted hair follicles are working!

 

[Carol]

Looks like transplanted hair follicles are working!

No yet, he needs four more months to see the results :ras: