Rafael Nadal has announced just a three days before the Wimbledon 2009 that has will not play. While withdrawing from a tournament because of an injury is the right thing to do for a professional tennis player who plans to play many more years, Nadal said a few things that don’t sound very professionally.

He just lost an exhibition match to Stanislas Wawrinka and said:” Today was the last test. I didn’t feel terrible but not close to my best. I’m just not 100 percent. I’m better than I was a couple of weeks ago, but I just don’t feel ready.”

Rafael Nadal withdraws from Wimbledon 2009 - Photo by AP

Nadal also lost an exhibition match a day before against Lleyton Hewitt. If it were only the knees holding him back, that would make nothing controversial but this statement in my opinion may be controversial: “When I start a tournament like Wimbledon, it is to try to win,” the No. 1-ranked Nadal said, “and my feeling right now is I’m not ready to play to win.”

This is something a top player should not say. (more…)

Rafael Nadal losing at the French Open 2009 Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Rafael Nadal’s hopes of winning another French Open in 2009 are finished.

Robin Soderling has played an excellent match and managed to dethrone the king of clay by 3 sets to 1.

I didn’t see the match today (only the last tie-break) so I cannot comment much, but from what I saw, Soderling played the right tactics; attack Nadal’s short balls and stay in the long rallies when he had to.

I believe Nadal got this aura of getting everything back and passing on every ball, but that’s of course not true.

He is just a human and doesn’t get every ball back and doesn’t pass you every time you come to the net.

Soderling showed no fear of Nadal’s passing shots and scrambling ability and kept attacking the same way as he would any other player.

Soderling played the ball and not the name. That’s an important lesson for every tennis player who competes in tournaments. (more…)

Roger Federer got the better of Rafael Nadal in today’s final of the Madrid Masters 2009. And this win was a long time coming…

Roger wins against Nadal on clay Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

The last time Federer beat Nadal was in 2007 Masters Cup semifinal, when Roger won 6:4, 6:1.

If you want to check all the matches they played, then see this excellent article about the Federer – Nadal rivalry at the atpworldtour.com. (more…)

Rafael Nadal has again won the final against Novak Djokovic, this time in Rome. Nadal already won in Monte Carlo against Djokovic and is of course the current #1 player in the world.

But I don’t like to see him there. It’s not that he doesn’t deserve his #1 spot.

He does, but not because he beats his opponents with better tennis, but because his opponents beat themselves.

I would like to see the best player in the world to be a better player than his opponents.

He should be able to attack and exploit all types of weakness and be able to win points in a variety of ways. Roger Federer is the perfect example of what a #1 player in the world should play like.

Roger Federer is able to play any tactic he wants and he can play any shot he wants – and of course he is a master of all of them.

But Rafael Nadal plays different tennis.

The tie-break of the first set in the Rome 2009 final is a great example how Nadal plays and how he wins. I’ll break it down shot by shot so that you can see what goes on… (more…)

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer played another epic final in the Australian Open 2009 and Nadal once again proved too tough for Federer.

Rafa won 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 and denied Roger’s 14th Grand Slam title which would tie Roger with Pete Sampras’s record.

Picture courtesy of Getty Images

While the official stats of the match do explain what happened in the match, they lack a few important stats. The first and the most important are the shots that force a mistake.

The official statistics shows only winners (shots where the opponent did not touch the ball or barely touched it) and unforced errors. (shots where the player was in a comfortable position and still made a mistake)

A shot that forces an error is a very good shot from the opponent that’s not really an outright winner but still forces the opponent into a mistake. (more…)

Photo by AFP

Andy Murray played a smart tactical game when winning the semi-final match at the 2008 US Open against Rafael Nadal 6-2 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-4.

Nadal’s aggressive baseline game has been an unsolvable problem for Federer and most other players in 2008 but Murray found a crack in it.

Here’s how most players play against Nadal:

1. They play to his backhand since his forehand is a stronger shot. While this stops Nadal from attacking for a few shots, it doesn’t really win points. Nadal’s backhand may be weaker than his forehand but it’s far from being a weak shot especially if he doesn’t have to move much!

2. They position themselves at the normal spot when returning his serves – 1m or so behind the baseline. Nadal’s serve cannot compare to Andy Roddick’s rockets but it’s still a very good shot and keeps the returner on defense.

3. They force the shots since they know that Nadal will bring every ball back. Forcing the shots means playing with more and more risk and this eventually doesn’t work since the long term probability of winning the point goes to Nadal. (more…)

Rafael Nadal has won an incredible match against Roger Federer in the final of the 2008 Wimbledon. There have been many speculations whether Roger’s domination in Wimbledon is fading and whether Nadal has improved his game enough to threaten Roger on grass.

RYAN PIERSE / AFP / Getty Images

Here are 5 reasons why Nadal made it this year:

1. Greater hunger
Federer has won Wimbledon 5 times already, has 12 Grand Slam titles and has been No.1 in the world for the last 5 years. Nadal on the other hand has won only 3 French Open titles so far, lost twice in the Wimbledon final and has been #2 in the world for the last 5 years.

(more…)

I enjoyed watching Federer – Nadal semifinals match at the Masters tournament in Shanghai last night.

There were a couple of situations where I noticed how Roger outthought Rafael.

Photo by Andrew Wong / Getty Images

The most evident was the situation at 4:4 at 15:30 on Federer’s serve.

(more…)

Thanks for the Tennis Strategy ebook, I’ve started reading it this morning.

It’s so simple and concise; I appreciate your ability to convey information that makes sense.

One of my bonus questions is: How do you beat Rafael Nadal on clay?

Let’s check all 4 major parts of tennis and see what you need:

(more…)

Roger Federer won the record fifth Wimbledon title today beating Rafael Nadal 7-6(9-7), 4-6, 7-6(7-3), 2-6 6-2.

I watched the match from the second set on and here are some things I noticed during the match:

©PA / R. Naden

Rafael Nadal:

1. Played extremely aggressive in the first 4 sets.

Even one of the interviewers asked him if playing closer to the lines was a change of strategy for Federer.

Rafa was aware of the situation and raised his game to another level.

2. Served high percentage of first serves (71%) and was broken only once in first four sets.

He knew that second serves will be attacked by Federer and adjusted.

Combine this with his aggressive play from the baseline and he was at the same level as Roger for four sets. (more…)