The secret of Rafa Nadal’s eternal youth

This week the Manacor player will turn 36 years old. As if it had been written since his birth, which was destined to succeed in Paris. Every June 3 he blows out the candles in the French capital, where he has been participating in the tournament for more than 20 years. The first time he won there, in 2005, many still could not understand that Christmas would dominate a Grand Slam tournament in a way never seen before. Only he has been able to win a Grand Slam tournament ten times. In fact, he has done it 13 times and is now looking for the fourteenth. The closest is Djokovic, a nine-time Australian champion. Federer has done so 8 times at Wimbledon. And the two, the Serbian and the Swiss, see how Nadal can win his 22nd Grand Slam title, while they add up to 20. No one has won more than Nadal, who is making steady progress in Paris as he speaks openly about the possibility let this be his last year. Injuries are taking their toll, but the Mallorcan’s competitive nature continues as usual.

“One of his secrets is his mind, his character, how he reacts under pressure. If you put him against the ropes he seems to be motivated to improve, when others would sink,” admits the Argentine David Nalbadian, who suffered as a rival and now collaborates with him in his tennis academy in Mallorca. “In tennis, the head is very important. And the winning mentality of Christmas is superior to that of others. When you’re in there, the desire to win many times makes you make mistakes; not to him,” he adds. Nadal, in fact, has often denied having an obsessive-compulsive disorder, despite being a person with a lot of tics. How she sorts the water bottles, how she puts the towel on her thighs at breaks, how she combs her hair, how she adjusts her pants. Always the same ritual. The rivals were first taken by surprise to see how the manacorí always did the same. Djokovic even joked, imitating him. Now, the opponents don’t care anymore, because they have understood that the worst will come later, when it’s time to play. And here Christmas has changed. “He’s a totally different player. He used to excel in defending, returning everything, because he had a spectacular physique. Now he’s adapted the game to his body, to injuries,” Nalbadian explains.

Same rituals, different game

Nadal arrived at Roland Garros like a hurricane when he was just a teenager. He played tennis as he dressed, in a carefree, unelegant way. He ran up and down. It always came. Celebrate the points by shouting, turning your “We will“In one of the most famous words in Spanish on a global scale. He seemed to enjoy when the matches went to five sets, with incredible comebacks.” I do what I can, “admits Nadal now. Injuries, which are common in such an aggressive player at the age of 36, have mortified him so much that he needs to dose himself to get fresh at the end of five-set matches. Cruel to his rivals, Australian Jordan Thompson, his first-round victim, admitted: “I was very surprised. I thought I knew how it played out to see him so much, but once you have it in front of everything it’s different. He seemed in a hurry. He served quickly and was ready to close the point in two strokes. “When it’s time to play, you have to go fast. for four to get rid of sweat. Before serving you need to clean the lines with your slippers, where you always carry messages. When it started, it was written “Come on Rafa“Now he has a star with the number of victories he has achieved in Paris, 13.” It’s hard to face him because he has a very different game. Other players look alike, he doesn’t. So you’re not ready, “Thompson admitted.” His character, his mind … He doesn’t react like everyone else. He knows how to stay cool. When you think you’ve beaten him, he’ll hit you once he’s a winner, “said young Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime resignedly, who took him to the fifth set in the round of 16.

Nadal, curiously, explains: “I’m a person who doubts a lot, I always doubt. I’m not sure about anything.” But once you play, everything is different. “Under pressure, my head always responds. My head has allowed me to get where I am, to play as I play. When you have nerves your head doesn’t allow you to do things the way you want, you feel overwhelmed. It doesn’t usually happen to me. on the court “, explains a player who for many years was trained by his uncle, Toni Nadal, who defends:” The mind can be trained, as you can train once. If you solve a child’s problems, he will not be “With Rafa, that’s how it was, he trained everything. And luckily he’s a boy who listens, obedient, orderly. Everything has helped.” The result has been that Nadal knows how to stay in control when others get nervous. A double success. On the one hand, he can do what he wants and on the other hand, the opponent sees in front of an opponent who never loses his temper. “This strong mind also allowed him to learn to train with pain when in 2013 it seemed that he could retire,” admitted in an act Toni Nadal, referring to the seven months that the player was off the field due to injury.

Working with Carles Moyà

One of the key moments of his Christmas career, however, was when he made the difficult decision to stop working with his uncle and coach, Toni Nadal. In 2016 he began training with Carles Moya, the 1998 Roland Garros champion, focusing more on strategy in order to stretch a career that could have ended years ago. In a study by Hawkeye, which monitors where balls are thrown on the court, analyst Sam MacLean showed that in recent years the Manacor player has changed his way of playing: increasingly shorter points, faster matches. And this is not one of those who go online often. Decide from the bottom of the track, to move less. He saves energy for the battles in which he will have to move, such as the quarterfinal match against Djokovic. From 2012 to 2016, when Nadal was serving, 30% of the shots were inside the court to control the game. Once he started working with Moyà, the figure rose to 42%. That is to say, it serves, advances a few meters and decides the games quickly. Don’t wait beyond the bottom line, as before. Hawkeye’s data show that if Nadal hits from inside the court, he wins 74% of the points. If you wait outside, the points get longer and you earn just 59%. Carles Moya’s team has started working with statistics like this to help Nadal get to key games cooler. Christmas rituals are the same as always, their game is not.

The injuries he has been dragging on his left foot for years, coupled with a rib injury, had caused Nadal to arrive in Paris this year without being a clear favorite. The reigning champion was Djokovic, who, after the sad spectacle offered in Australia, when he was deported for lying in his statement about the vaccination of covid-19, had proved to be at a high level of play by winning the tournament in Rome, on clay, without losing any thirst. And the young Carlos Alcaraz, destined to be the successor to Christmas, had just lost three games in six months and had defeated both Nadal and Djokovic in the Madrid tournament. The Manacor player, therefore, had not been able to prove himself in the clay court tournaments that he used to win. But once he gets to Roland Garros, he transforms. In fact, on the first day he trained on the central court, the German Alexander Zverev appeared in the stands, who will now be his rival in the semifinals on Friday (2.45pm / Eurosport). The world number 3, speaking to the press, commented: “This is Rafa’s house. When he plays here he improves his place, it’s amazing.” It’s not just that Nadal is the best player of all time on clay, with 12 wins at Godó, 10 at Rome or 11 at Monte Carlo. It’s that Roland Garros plugs it in. Here he has won 108 games and suffered only 3 defeats, two against Djokovic.

This season Nadal had already started in good form, winning 21 games in a row and three titles on the fast track, until he lost to Indian Wells against young Taylor Fritz, in a game in which he suffered an injury. His condition was a mystery until recently, but he is now back in the semifinals for the fifteenth time. “I’ve played my best game in the last four months, but for lack of a habit of playing at this level I’ve lost the second set. Playing well, maintaining mental and physical intensity is a habit, and these three and a half months I haven’t been able to train or compete. That’s why the victory has more value. In the third set I had a good level and in the fourth I didn’t lose hope “, he said after the morning victory against Djokovic, when at two quarters of two in the morning, the central track applauded him, begging him not to retire. And this year, Nadal talks about the future in a different way, stating that every match he plays could be the last at Roland Garros. “I don’t know what will happen next, but now I can compete and that’s what I’m doing. It’s not time to give too many explanations. When the tournament is over we’ll talk,” he said. The next challenge, Zverev, the executioner of the young Carlos Alcaraz. And if he defeats him, a final in which he would be the favorite again.