RED ALERT!

[brokenshoelace]

He wasn't exhausted in the Ao final though, despite his semi against Verdasco.. Never sure if it's a legitimate explanation for the loss in Madrid

You get a day off in slams. You don't in Masters 1000 events. It may or may not be an explanation, since Nadal was just not playing well that clay season to begin with and might have lost that final anyway, but a marathon match with Novak the previous day surely didn't help.

 

[Srini]

Not sure if it's physical or mental but Rafa in some matches doesn't move well these days. You can clearly see his intensity is not the same in every match - unlike before. To explain in his words - he should start playing every point with passion
He went on a tear last year and there is bound to be some let down but back to back losses on clay is a shocker.

 

[Ricardo]

As i said before, i think Rafa's true best is behind him. Sure i can see him doing well here and there, then play badly here and there..... put simply, he will no longer have the same level of consistency and IMO, you know when a player is past his prime - you look at his overall consistency (ability to play high level week in and week out) and you can tell.

Some mentioned Fed's decline, which i also remember from years ago..... when he started losing to players he owned, Blake, Gonzales, Hewitt, Roddick etc and you know the writing is on the wall. I expected Nadal to have more surprise losses from now on, and it's already happening.

 

[huntingyou]

There could be some nagging issue with his body.......not a big deal typically, but given his mental disposition and lack of urgency it all adds up.

All tennis players are confidence players, this does not apply to Rafa alone. He had great tournaments after hard losses so it's kind of a myth that Rafa needs to pound week in and out to achieve a high level. In 2010 before the UO, his game was atrocious and nobody gave him a chance.......he proceed t play his best HC tennis to date.

He doesn't need WINS to gain his game back, it's all in his mind and how he feels out there on the court. Going to Madrid and getting trounce again by a pawn like Almagro will not help. Let the points go, forget about the #1 ranking and regain the passion; that's the only way for him to get out of this funk. At the end of the day, its all about Paris and SW19 and there is still time.

 

[brokenshoelace]

I'll say this, despite me believing that Nadal is past his true peak, some posts writing his obituary are a bit premature. He was playing in the most recent GS final just a few months ago.

 

[Kieran]

I'll say this, despite me believing that Nadal is past his true peak, some posts writing his obituary are a bit premature. He was playing in the most recent GS final just a few months ago.

Bingo. And he won the GS title previous to it, and both of these on hards. I'm not thinking anything too negative yet, like Hunting, I believe the Channel Slam is up for grabs - but he needs to kick himself up the hole, sharpish!

 

[nehmeth]

Everything that has a beginning has an end......

Rafa should go fishing during Madrid and comeback ready for Rome.

Busy all week and didn't see any tennis... hearing Ralf lost in Barcelona to Almagro was a shocker. His imminent decline has been declared for at least 5 years now. Like Rasputin, no one should ever count him out. We don't know why there's been a dip in his levels, but if anyone knows how to regroup, it's Rafa.

Personally, I think he and Nole should go fishing together and plan on meeting in the final of Rome.

I personally think he is entering into the zone of inconsistency. He will have more peaks and valleys from here on.
The awful match with Ramos should have been the real alert, he is a player outside of the top 100 and Rafa struggled to pass by him.

Coming off a year where he was out for 7 months only to come back and win just about everything last year, and now he's consigned to a future of inconsistency and loss?? He's had a few bad tourneys - and we don't know why (and it's forbidden to mention any possible physical problem - at the threat of more ridiculing threads being started). I just don't think it's wise to write him off like that.

 

[Kieran]

I think some of the writing him off stuff is mere wishful thinking...

 

[nehmeth]

I think some of the writing him off stuff is mere wishful thinking...

Six years of wishful thinking will have to come to fruition eventually, but probably not until after Ralf passes Fed's slam count. :nono

 

[brokenshoelace]

Completely unrelated, in fact it has nothing to do with tennis:

Please go to the sports section and check out my thread regarding LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling's audio tape. You won't regret it. Never have I encountered such a mixture of hilarity and disgust.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Some folks need to calm down. Not too long ago we had a thread with a title
"There is something about Novak" after his AO loss and Dubai loss. There was
lot of discussion on concentration issues and what is bothering him. Novak then
came out and won both IW and M, putting that thread to rest.

Same thing can happen here. Nadal can comeback and take both Madrid
and Rome, silencing everybody.

However, considering that none of his two losses so far are to members of
CB4 (current Big Four), I do expect at least one more loss to Nadal somewhere
during the rest of the clay season.

 

[britbox]

^ Yeah, but the Internet age insists on knee jerk reactions

 

[brokenshoelace]

^ Yeah, but the Internet age insists on knee jerk reactions

Knee jerk reactions existed long before the internet. The internet just makes it easier to express them.

 

[Kieran]

I knee jerked once on the internet.

Had to buy a new computer afterwards... :nono :snigger

 

[brokenshoelace]

I knee jerked once on the internet.

Had to buy a new computer afterwards... :nono :snigger

Many teenagers do something similar, and have to clean their keyboards...

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I knee jerked once on the internet.

Had to buy a new computer afterwards... :nono :snigger

Well, folks jerk a lot of other things on the internet. Knee jerk is probably better. :snigger

 

[brokenshoelace]

I knee jerked once on the internet.

Had to buy a new computer afterwards... :nono :snigger

Well, folks jerk a lot of other things on the internet. Knee jerk is probably better. :snigger

Beat you to that joke

 

[Kieran]

Oh you naughty fellas! :snigger

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Guys, calm down, just watch the video...

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbVItpQp7BI[/video]

 

[Front242]

Call me nuts but imo Nadal's more convincing on hard courts these days than clay and I'm not just saying it because of these two last 1/4 final losses. Sure, he won Rio but far from convincingly and luckily for him Andujar donated the two winning points or he could've lost there too. Nadal's hard court matches for most of last year were far better performances and the thing I find personally is he's adopting a more aggressive approach to his hard court matches since last year and reverting back to playing miles behind the baseline on clay.

He's pushing on a bit in terms of mileage on court despite not yet being 28 and the grinding miles behind the baseline may not be the best way to win on clay anymore. To get his mojo back on clay I think he needs to attack more, get to the net more than he does lately and work to end points quicker like he does on hard court (50+ shot rallies with Novak excluded). The old grind 'em till they drop routine isn't going to cut it much longer on clay. Needs to stay a bit fresher out there. If he played more aggressively, not only would he obviously conserve energy but it'd greatly improve his mindset. Winning matches quicker and easier is the best way to perk yourself up when you're going through a bad patch of play.

Not ending points and matches quicker is gonna keep you out there longer and hard to keep the focus running down ball after ball. Instead, work the points more intelligently for a guy approaching 28 years of age and end them quicker. The focus to end matches and points quicker will keep the mind sharp and get the hunger and confidence back.

Of course, I don't really want him to start playing like a man possessed again but he clearly needs to try something different. Grinding points on clay is probably what's depressing him. That style isn't working so well now that he's getting older and maybe his recovery has slowed a tad since last year which is causing his game to go a bit awol. Try the approach to his hard court matches and adopt it to clay is my advice.