Rafael Nadal: Will He Achieve The Non-Calendar Year Slam?

If you look at the Australian Open official site, you will find an article (by AAP) headlined "Nadal heads to Melbourne chasing history." It starts off with this paragraph: 

"Even if he never catches Roger Federer's record 16 career majors, Rafael Nadal will arrive at the 2011 Australian Open with the chance to achieve an amazing feat not even the Swiss master can boast of."

Nadal will go into the tournament not only as the World No. 1 and firm favorite, but he will also be in the limelight because of his possibility of becoming only the second man after Rod Laver, in the Open era, to hold 4 GS titles simultaneously.  

When he won the AO '09 , some commentators expected him to make the 'calendar' slam, but the rest of the year was disappointing for Nadal. However, those who had made the prediction were really sticking their necks out, given that to complete the 'calendar' slam, he would have had to win the French Open, the Wimbledon Open and the US Open consecutively. This was a low probability event, considering that no one had done it since 1969. 

But today, when he has accomplished this improbable event, we can with a great deal more confidence forecast that Nadal will complete the "Rafa" Slam. 

I predict that Nadal will do it in Jan 2011. Not only because winning the next slam after winning three in succession on 3 different surfaces does not appear so improbable, but also because:

1) He is the world No. 1 and in outstanding form. He has proved he can win on all surfaces.

2) He has already won once on the AO courts, and, as at Wimbledon, he would like to prove that that victory was not a one-off.

3) He has shown continuous improvement. He has recently added a new serve, which makes him more formidable on hard courts.

4) He has declared his intention to improve even more with the now famous statement "I go to practice every day not to practice; I go to practice every day to try to learn something and to keep improving my level."

5) He wants to "keep improving the volley, keep improving the position on court," making the prospect of facing him even more scary for his opponents

6) He is exuding confidence, and has declared his next target: the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. And when Nadal makes up his mind, none can doubt that he will turn his formidable will to making the last bastion fall. He will be working on improving his already awesome game, adding new weapons to his arsenal.

7) Federer, Djokovic and Murray are fine hard court players, but on their current showing, none of them could seriously challenge him at the AO. This is what Djokovic has to say about him: "He has the capabilities already now to become the best player ever. I think he is playing the best tennis I have ever seen him play on hard courts."

8) Del Potro, with his serve and formidable groundstrokes, and with his USO 2009 form, could have been a challenger, but he is returning from surgery and unlikely to be at his best at the AO 2011. 

True, Nadal has not declared that he wants to win the AO 2011. Maybe it is too early for him to think about it. Or, as he has already won it once, there is no need to declare anything.

But, as we know from what Nadal has said in his interviews, even when he takes part in games for fun, he tries to do his best. So we can be sure he will give his best at Melbourne Park and at present,his best is the world's best.

Nadal prefers to be the underdog. He was very comfortable when many doubted that he would win at Flushing Meadows. The more the skepticism, the more his resolve to hone his skills and conquer the unconquerable.

But when he enters AO 2011, he will not be the underdog. He will be the favorite. So will the heavy weight of expectations affect his chances?

I don't think so. Yes, he may feel the pressure, but once he is engaged in his battles, he will shut out everything else and focus on delivering the killer blow in every round against every opponent. At the end, he will be the only man still standing. We will see him hoist the trophy—and bite it!—and complete the "Rafa" Slam.