Originally posted by trev33
it's not just the training.. it's the way to plays the game. sometimes you just have to let the odd point, game or set go without putting in any effort, nadel can't do that.

i don't think he should quit all together but i do think he should take some serious time off from the sport, maybe a year then come back with a different playing style that will suit his knees better... if he doesn't he may do some serious long term damage.

That's been the talk on the tennis boards for over 2 years now.
You would think if the inevitable outcome of this style of play is obvious to us patzers that Uncle Tony and crew would counsel the lad accordingly. Who knows, maybe THIS IS the decision they've made. To play hard and as long as possible and let the chips fall where they may.😕

Originally posted by monster truck
That's been the talk on the tennis boards for over 2 years now.
You would think if the inevitable outcome of this style of play is obvious to us patzers that Uncle Tony and crew would counsel the lad accordingly. Who knows, maybe THIS IS the decision they've made. To play hard and as long as possible and let the chips fall where they may.😕

Rafa is already trying to modify his game. He is coming to the net much more often than he did a couple years ago, has attempted to up the speed on his first serve and make his second serve more of a weapon, and has flattened out his groundstrokes a bit to improve penetration on hardcourts and grass. But there are other problems. He has no business sliding on hardcourts, this is stupid and will eventually cripple him. His game is still oriented towards the long rally, and he needs to find quicker ways to finish points. If he wants to be more successful at the net, he needs to flatten his approach shots (except when going to the backhand of folks with one-handed backhands, where topspin can kick a ball outside their power zone). He needs to serve out wide in the ad-court and follow it to net. He needs to use the short ball to get players to net and pass them.

Originally posted by bbarr
Rafa is already trying to modify his game. He is coming to the net much more often than he did a couple years ago, has attempted to up the speed on his first serve and make his second serve more of a weapon, and has flattened out his groundstrokes a bit to improve penetration on hardcourts and grass. But there are other problems. He has no business sliding ...[text shortened]... court and follow it to net. He needs to use the short ball to get players to net and pass them.

Aye, shorten the points is the key strategy.
I wonder if he can make the transformation from supreme grinder to more of an offensive player. Seems like that will be contrary to his mentality and what he's built his game on since a wee laddy.

Yes, the sliding on hard-courts is a sickening thing to see.🙁

Sounds like you've been observing Raf for a few years bbarr, do you think with the time remaining in his career that he can indeed make the necessary adjustments to play pain free and still remain at the top of the ATP?

Originally posted by monster truck
Aye, shorten the points is the key strategy.
I wonder if he can make the transformation from supreme grinder to more of an offensive player. Seems like that will be contrary to his mentality and what he's built his game on since a wee laddy.

Yes, the sliding on hard-courts is a sickening thing to see.🙁

Sounds like you've been observing Raf fo ...[text shortened]... ndeed make the necessary adjustments to play pain free and still remain at the top of the ATP?

I can't remember anybody in the top ten restructuring their game to the extent Nadal would need to in order to stay competitive for the next five years. But Nadal is very, very talented, so I suspect it would be possible for him to do it. Whether his knees cooperate is another question. I have a real suspicion that the damage has already been done. The game today is brutal, substantially different than when I was a college player 15 years ago. If you go back and watch old matches with Sampras or Ivanisevic, back when serve speeds were getting ridiculous, points were very short, overall. Commentators during those days decried the death of tennis; that it would just be a boring shootout on the men's side. But if you watch the AO or UO, rallies frequently run 20 shots or more. The pace has not slowed, but players are fit and fast enough to deal. This just lagged a decade or so behind the serve speeds. So very fast sprints, stopping on a dime and completely changing direction are now necessary (as they always were, just not to this degree). Given the nature of the game, knee injuries are perhaps the worst injuries a player can have, with back and shoulder injuries tied for a close second. Nadal has tendonitis in both knees and now a tear in a tendon in his right knee, and this after rest and rehabilitation. Unless he makes some drastic changes, his future slam prospects look bleak.