Rafael Nadal - A Safety Player

Rafael Nadal has improved his game to suit the demands of different surfaces as well as to the need to add new arsenal to his repertoire of shots. It has however not changed the basic nature of his game.

Rafael Nadal plays the same type of game that others play, forehand though is the lethal weapon in his armour. His shots go to the same places, though a bit acute and with a heavier top spin. On account of the top spin, the opponent gets longer time to see the ball and reach it to play the return. But while returning, the top spin takes him back a bit and comes in the way of his body transfer into the return shot. When the return is weak, Nadal pounces on the ball and blasts it to the other corner.

Nadal game is very physical. He outclasses opponents by retrieving the irretrievable ball and outlasts them in five sets if the opponent is overpowering him in the initial phase of the match. On account of this athleticism, it is tough to beat him in a five set match. When he is down and out, he just hangs on waiting the sheen to go from the opponent’s play in due course of time. But these things can be exceeded by players who are faster athletes and have stronger physique. On a given day, when such opponent would play above his potential, he can make victory difficult for Nadal.

Nadal plays a percentage game, as most of the professionals do. Percentage game is more predictable. The shots are more likely to go to the safer places in a rally, which are not difficult to fathom. If the opponent takes a calculated risk and is the first to go to corners with a hard hit, he finds ways to open up Nadal’s weaknesses.

Nadal is basically a retriever who used to win by inducing errors . Since his forehand shots were very heavy, he was able to force errors into the opponent’s game. There would be very few unforced errors from his own racquet. His winners will also not be many, but always more than his unforced errors. He has now developed into a player who also hits a number of winners, but in the process, also commits many more unforced errors than he used to. He plays the high risk game only when such game is the winning game. When he finds his best shots not winning points, he transforms into the usual role of a defensive counter puncher. 

Rafael Nadal has  become a more versatile player. His winning ways are not likely to stop in 2011.