His serve is weak (for the most part of his career), his volleys aren’t very good, his backhand doesn’t generate many winners, his forehand drops deep far too often and he can be very injury prone, but Rafael Nadal is, in my view, the most difficult player to beat in the world. Yet from the first sentence, you would be shocked as to why he is so difficult to beat. This article aims to explain why so many “choke” against Nadal, why he’s acclaimed to be so “mentally strong” when that’s part illusion, tactics and footwork Nadal uses in matches and how, you, can adopt the tactics and mentality Nadal uses, to further your game and also, how Nadal is misunderstood in his style of play by many tennis fans and commentators.
And finally, this article explains as to why Nadal could (and in reality, should) be the greatest of all time – something that many fans think is “unthinkable” with Federer as the current leader of all time greatest male players.
Forehand
Nadal’s forehand averages around 3200 rpm (revolutions per minute) from a normal baseline stroke (his forehand generating much more RPM than his backhand). He can generate extreme topspin on a ball; this requires use of the body to almost use your body to “push” the ball, often Blake and Nadal do this, where as someone like Federer doesn’t use as much of his body, rather being reliant more on footwork. Nadal’s forehand and strong muscular core build allow him to hit the ball deep with security knowing that he won’t make a forehand error due to his shot being very high percentage (in not making an error), generally the more topspin you hit the less chance you have of making an error due to the shot looping over the net, as opposed to a flat drive, which is lower – this simple to explain.
Mentally Strong
Yet the subtle reasoning as to why Nadal is acclaimed to be “mentally strong” is partly explained here; when there is a big point in a match, say 5-5 in the a tie-breaker where the next point is crucial for the set, Nadal’s high percentage shot, his forehand, can be hit time and time again without making an error; usually he hits cross-court, to the opponent’s backhand, most opponents in the ATP Tour seem to have weaker backhands than forehands, and the backhand in general is a flatter shot than the forehand for anyone – try getting topspin on a backhand like Nadal gets on a forehand, and you’ll find it’s impossible. Thus by continuously hitting a cross-court forehand loop to an opponent’s backhand, this partly explains why Nadal does so well at big points: he does something that makes him hit no errors.
Further-more, this also explains why some players are said to “choke” against Nadal. He puts pressure on them to generate a winner or a forced error from Nadal, and the sheer pressure to do so; when so much is at stake, causes opponents to either make wild unforced errors (think Federer in the Hamburg Masters 2008 Final), or as is much more common, for opponents who have almost bean Nadal by being aggressive, to suddenly become very defensive, and we can see a first-class demonstration by the “choke” Almagro puts up in the video below, numerous times in his numerous match points he has chances to go to the net and finish the point, but he doesn’t and as a result, loses his game and the match.
Tactics
Nadal concentrates very well at match points when the match is close; by hitting the high percentage-shot (his forehand) time and time again in a rally, these 3 things happen:
1. The rally extends, and due to Nadal being the fittest player (or one of) in the men’s tour, this benefits him.
2. The opponent has to continue hitting aggressive shots, which have a higher percentage of generating an error than Nadal’s forehand shot.
3. The third is perhaps the most subtle, but what starts happening is Nadal starts “glueing” the opponent with his forehand, the image below shows it very well:
