“I play each point like my life depends on it” – Rafael Nadal. Do better words exist to describe this incredible athlete’s contribution to Men’s tennis? Anyone who has even remotely followed his game will know the kind of intensity he brings to the tennis court. The sheer brutality of his groundstrokes can wear down the very best this sport has ever seen.
Rafa’s game is relentless which is not just built on aggression, it is an amalgamation of 5 key ingredients which have together made him the player that he is today:
Mental Strength – Ability to reset after every point
You’ll often hear players praise the opponent on being able to play the critical points better. A tennis match is often won or lost on being able to showcase your best tennis on the critical points, such as saving/converting the breakpoints. And that in turn affects your mindset for the rest of the match. Rafa has a unique strength to reset his mind and play as nothing happened prior to the current point being played. This ability to remain in the present is one of the treasured strengths of Rafa’s game and here lies the origin of “I play each point as my life depends on it”.
Point Construction: Tactical Mind
Rafa is very smart at constructing points from start to finish, which requires astute decision making and is one of the most important aspects of the game. His shot selection is designed in such a way that he will get you right where he wants you, before bludgeoning that heavy forehand.
Forehand – A lethal weapon
If you had to bet your life on one shot in tennis to be a winner, it’s Rafa’s forehand. That shot pulverizes the ball with so much weight and topspin that it makes the ball bounce shoulder high (which is even more pronounced on clay) with the sole aim of causing damage to the opponent.
Just to give you an estimate:
Average Topspin Rate:
Pete Sampras – 1,800 revolutions per minute (rpm)
Andre Agassi – 1,800 rpm
Roger Federer – 2500 rpm
Rafael Nadal – 3200 rpm (peaked at 5000 rpm)
This never-seen-before topspin rate not only leads to less number of errors due to a higher net clearance, but it also gives Rafa more time to recover during a point, which in turns lends him the ability to turn defense into offense. This is supplemented by the fact that a shoulder-high ball (especially to a one-hander) has a higher probability to generate a weaker reply from the opponent by keeping the ball out of his strike zone.
Stamina - Make the opponent play one extra shot
Rafa will make you earn it. He will wear you down to the core until you start to doubt your own abilities. Just when you think you’ve played a superb point, Rafa’s stamina will make you play that one extra shot to close out the rally. His endurance provides him with all the confidence in the world needed to win the point even from a losing position.
Compounding of all the above 4 factors
Albert Einstein said “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it... he who doesn't... pays it.” All the strengths underlined above work together to wear down the opponent not only physically, but mentally.
To explain this, imagine yourself as Rafa’s opponent, playing the best tennis of your life in the first set. You force the set into a tie-break and lose 11-9 in the breaker. After one hour of grueling tennis, you have nothing to show on the scoreboard. You are one set down, exhausted mentally and physically against one of the best athletes in the world, only to realize that you must start from scratch to win 3 full sets against this guy! Trust me, that is not a good feeling. As the match goes on, the strengths of Rafa’s game keep compounding to have devastating effects on the opponent at the other end.
To quote the 20-year old rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas on Rafa after his defeat to the Spaniard in straight sets at the Australian Open 2019 semi-final, “He gives you no rhythm. He plays just a different game style than the rest of the players. He has this.....I don’t know, a talent that no other player has. I’ve never seen a player have this. He makes you play badly. I don’t know. I would call that a talent.”
It is not surprising that the most memorable matches in the history of the sport include Rafa in them. Why is that? It is because Rafa relishes the longer rallies and he will push you to your limits even if he’s not playing at his best level. He will make you fight for it till the end. Here are some of the marathon 5-set battles taken place over the last decade, and all these matches have one name in common – Rafael Nadal. (Amazingly, 3 matches finished in almost the same time!)
Opponent | Occasion | Match Time | Winner |
Roger Federer | Wimbledon Final 2008 | 4 hrs 48 min | Rafa |
Juan Martin Del Potro | Wimbledon QF 2018 | 4 hrs 48 min | Rafa |
Dominic Thiem | US Open QF 2018 | 4 hrs 49 min | Rafa |
Novak Djokovic | French Open SF 2013 | 4 hrs 37 min | Rafa |
Roger Federer | Australian Open Final 2009 | 4 hrs 23 min | Rafa |
Novak Djokovic | Wimbledon SF 2018 | 5 hrs 17 min | Novak |
Novak Djokovic | Australian Open Final 2012 | 5 hrs 53 min | Novak |
Rafa wants you to engage in longer rallies, wants the grind which usually works in his favour due to his indefatigable energy to win every point. But all this comes at a cost. The cost is the wear and tear his body must go through in order to sustain that level of play for hours, matches, tournaments and seasons. It has led to a plethora of injuries which have plagued him throughout his career including injuries in the elbow, left foot, back, arm, knees (most prominent) and wrist. Though usually, he has been able to come back strong after these setbacks, it has surely taken a toll on him.
While we associate longevity in rallies and matches with Rafael Nadal, eventually longevity may not be associated with his career, after all, hence the paradox!
