Rafael Nadal: 10 Reasons He Can Repeat His 2010 Title at Wimbledon
He was the champion in 2010 and had won two years before that, too, in one of the greatest finals ever played. At Wimbledon, it is fair to say that Rafael Nadal has staked his claim to being this generation’s closest emulator of Bjorn Borg.
For the Spaniard to really nail the comparison, he would have to win three more titles at the All England Club—Borg the Swede was, after all, a six-time French Open and five-time Wimbledon champion.
A title in 2011 seems almost mandatory.
At 25, Nadal isn’t going to have too many chances at another three titles, given the burden his hard-going style of play has had on his body. His challengers, too, aren’t going to relent anytime soon, with DJokovic and Murray eager to take advantage of any slipup.
He remains, nonetheless, Rafael Nadal—a man who has shown to us the power of will and determination over all apparent physical limitations.
These are 10 reasons he may win another Wimbledon title this year.
He Has Beaten the King of Grass at Wimbledon Before
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To be great on grass is one thing, but to have beaten the greatest player on grass is another thing altogether.
The 2008 final will probably remain etched in the collective memory of tennis fans for all time, but for good reason. It was a shock, an almost inconceivable result—the defeat of Roger Federer, the five-time defending champion, on grass, a surface on which he had been nearly unbeatable.
Nadal played a glorious match, exuding the sort of confidence and determination few had managed to conjure up against Federer before. And he beat him, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7.
It will certainly be a helpful statistic to have, that he has beaten him in the past on the surface, should the two meet again in the final.
Djokovic and Murray Have Never Beaten Him on Grass
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Another argument that seems to be going around as to the unlikelihood of Nadal winning Wimbledon again this year is the so-called emerging rivals theory.
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray chalked up great results against him on clay in 2011—who’s to say they won’t go one better on grass?
Yes, this is a valid point. The emerging rivals theory, however, is simply about emerging rivals. Djokovic and Murray are not proven equals. Neither Djokovic nor Murray have ever beaten him on grass—which may be due to the scarcity of grass tournaments in the calendar year, but is an undisputed fact.
Between them, moreover, they only have one Grand Slam victory over Nadal (Murray’s victory in the 2008 US Open semifinal). Djokovic, 2011’s most prolific player, hasn’t even made this important step.
They might well make that change this time, but one would count on Nadal making sure they won’t.
The Experience of Winning Two Wimbledon Titles
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Nothing could be harder than winning Wimbledon in tennis. The prestige, the history, the tradition—all these have conjured impenetrable fogs of illusion over the minds of challengers to that coveted title, a Wimbledon champion.
That Nadal has already won two titles, then, would considerably ease the pressure. He won’t have to agonise anymore if he ever comes to that championship point moment like he did, so notoriously, up 5-2 in the fourth-set tiebreak against Federer in the 2008 final.
Tightness has often been a source of danger to Nadal’s necessarily free-swinging game, but that should not be a problem this time around if he's to start seeing gold at Wimbledon.
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With Roger and Djokovic in the Limelight, the Pressure Is off Nadal
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Being in the limelight is great, but in tennis, it would be better after a tournament rather than before one.
For Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic—one the hot favourite for Wimbledon and the attempting to qualify his 41-match winning streak in 2011 with a major win off a hard court—the pressure is on with all the attendant expectation.
Nadal, on the other hand, doesn’t have much to lose, it seems.
Yes, the world No. 1 ranking and Wimbledon, but it isn’t as if he hadn’t already been open to that possibility before, even the French Open. Besides, who could be as carefree as Rafael Nadal on the ATP tour?
The fact is, Nadal quite as expected to perform brilliantly or win at SW19 as Federer and Djokovic this year.
Which might all turn out to be the best sort of expectation.
The Determination and Will to Win Anything
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The odds have been against Nadal in the past, and he has passed those tests with flying colours.
Why not again this time?
A third title would be a benchmark for Nadal’s career, possibly as epochal as his first. But he will always have certain weapons, the weapons of his mind, to draw upon in any hour of danger or uncertainty: determination and will.
It's that will to track down that extra ball, to make that extra thigh-crunching leap, to retrieve that last, unreachable ball that has been the appeal of Nadal for so many years—and, at 25, who is to say that he has lost it?
An Improved Serve from 2010
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A feature of Rafael Nadal’s game has been his unceasing march towards perfection—and more perfection.
For his serve, it has been a leap from looking contrived to being deceptively speedy.
And 2010 was the watershed year in the history of Rafael Nadal’s serve.
At the US Open, Nadal claimed that just a little change of grip had effected a mighty shift in the power balance of men’s tennis. His winning that tournament was in no small measure due to hitting 200-plus km/h bombs.
On the grass, the serve is above all the most crucial asset, and Nadal, fittingly, as defending champion at Wimbledon, will be bringing along a refurbished delivery. It is by far his most complete version of the serve yet—the slider, bomb, kicker, all in one.
His serve alone made headlines last year; who's to say it won’t make even bigger ones this year?
A Ferocious Power Game
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If ever there were a part of the makeup of Rafael Nadal that has singularly altered the shape of men’s tennis, it would have to be his brand of power tennis.
For a long time, people had thought hitting hard and with heavy topspin was always going to be tugging at the opposite ends of the same rope; Nadal, however, has blended them together in a vicious package.
An un-afore witnessed whip-like forehand and a backhand that is more or less a second forehand have made Nadal a formidable force on grass. It was by no small part played by these two weapons that he overpowered Roger Federer in 2008.
Surely his power game is something not to be underestimated at Wimbledon.
To Prove His Worth as a Defending Champion
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Nadal never got the chance to defend his title in 2009, having won one of Wimbledon’s most glorious finals ever in 2008. Injury had halted him.
In 2011, he returns exactly where he had left off, concerning Wimbledon, as the world No. 1 and defending champion. With two titles already, some may say that he doesn’t have much else to prove.
On the contrary, a successful defense of his title would only further concretise his reputation as a worthy member of the All England Club.
It may be the greatest motivator of all.
Third-Time Lucky?
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Sometimes, even the very best might need some luck. Nadal is no different, and this time, he seems to have the tennis God of dice on his side.
And 2011 is the first year for Nadal to go "third-time lucky." He has a chance to three-peat this season—to win three titles in four years.
It’s already happened for him at the French, with more even than three titles in a row, and for the greats at their favourite Grand Slams, the third has often come swiftly—Federer, Borg and Sampras, most notably, all won three titles at Wimbledon in a row.
John McEnroe, a fellow southpaw, also won three titles in the space of four years.
It all depends on whether Nadal has got the favour of the tennis Gods. He most certainly has had it in the past; who’s to say he mightn’t again this year?
A Prince on Grass
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For all that Rafael Nadal is, however—a great prizefighter, the victor of the GOAT, the most improved champion, the one with a whiplash forehand—there is something that two Wimbledon titles reveals about him that cannot quite be adequately described.
Obviously, he is a great grass-court player. To win just one Wimbledon would take many lifetimes for most journeymen; but to win two is saying something special about oneself. Nadal is, as the player with the greatest haul of titles at Wimbledon behind Roger Federer, a veritable Prince of Grass.
He has that overpowering topspin and that heavily improved serve, but he’s now also got some great reflexes and touch at the net that few had thought him capable of.
Rafael Nadal has become an all-rounded player, a whole world apart from the kingdom of clay from which he had originally hailed.
He’s already got two titles—why not a third?
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