5 Reasons Rafael Nadal Will Dominate Wimbledon the Next 5 Years

At first critics thought he could win only on clay.

Then, they thought he was done after his knee surgery.

Some warned that his rough and tumble playing will lead to too much wear and tear on his body.

Nadal has done something only seven other men have done in tennis: win the career grand slam (the players have won all four grand slams in their career, the French Open, US Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open).

Of the seven players, he is the third youngest to accomplish that feat. When he won 2010 US Open to complete the slam, he was 24 years old, 101 days. Roger Federer, the last person to win career slam before Nadal was 27 years old, 203 days.

With his dominance, not just on clay, but on every surface, Nadal is a major threat to win the most major grand slams.

He has won Wimbledon the last two years he has played, and he could win 3, if he beats Djokovic in the finals.

Since 2006-2011, Nadal has only not made it to the finals once. (In 2009, he didn’t compete at Wimbledon.)

With mind-blowing stats like that, here is a list of why Nadal will dominate Wimbledon for the next five years.

5. No player believes he is capable of beating Nadal

Even before he steps on the court, the match is over. He has what Roger Federer had four years ago, except Nadal was one of the few people who wasn’t scared of Federer. No one can claim to not be scared of Nadal. At grand slam finals, only one person has beaten him: Roger Federer. Unfortunately for Federer he has an 8-17 record against Nadal and is 2-6 against him in grand slams. It will take time to chip away at Nadal’s dominance; no one seems to be waiting in the wings to take over.

4. Young/Most in Shape

Tennis players don’t last that long. This is evident right now as we are watching one of the greatest tennis players collapse before our eyes. Nadal just turned 25 in June, so at 30, he will be on the downside of his career. The good news for Nadal is that there aren’t too many up and coming tennis players. The only young player that can give Nadal problems in the future is Bernard Tomic. The reason Tomic can give Nadal a run is he is tall, athletic and hits the ball with a lot of power. In order to beat Nadal, the most important thing is to be aggressive. Some might say, Federer is 29 years old and he is already starting to decline, so why will Nadal be different?  Nadal has two things working for him. One, is that Nadal won’t have the same amount of competition Federer had. Think about it, if Nadal didn’t exist, Federer would have four more French Opens, one more Wimbledon and one more Australian (6 more grand slams). The other thing working in Nadal’s favor is that he will be certain to take more care of himself as he ages. His mantra is to be in better shape than any of his opponents and he is certain to stick to that strategy. David Ferrer is really the only person who can compare to Nadal in terms of the fitness award. The difference between Ferrer and Nadal is Ferrer is 29 years old, 5’9, not half as athletic and can’t hold a candle to Nadal’s groundstrokes, or speed.

3. Can Match Up With Anyone

Nadal can beat anyone with ease because tennis has never seen anything like him. First of all, he plays tennis left-handed, which gives him an immediate edge over righties. Next, the spin he puts on the ball can’t be compared to any other player’s spin. No other player, right or left handed, has as much spin as Nadal. The only person that has a winning record against Nadal is Nikolay Davydenko at 6 wins and 4 losses. Davydenko can beat Nadal because he has one of the best backhands in tennis and is not afraid to let it loose when he needs to. Nadal should worry about three players: Bernard Tomic, Juan Martin Del Potro and Novak Djokovic. As alluded to earlier, the reason Nadal will have problems with Tomic and Del Potro is the power Tomic and Del Potro can generate with their groundstrokes. In addition, the spin won’t bother them too much because the high ball is their sweet spot. Nadal started using a short slice backhand to Del Potro at Wimbledon, which troubled Del Potro. It was hard for Del Potro to run and bend because of his height. Novak Djokovic can beat Nadal because he is the only person who has equal groundstrokes to Nadal and his serve is better. Djokovic isn’t afraid to jump on the weak second serve of Nadal, causing a lot of break opportunities for Djokovic. To beat Nadal, one must attack his second serve. If a player gets into a rally with Nadal, he will lose 99.9% of the time because Nadal just doesn’t miss. Some might ask: What about Andy Murray or Grigor Dimitrov?  Yes, Andy Murray has the talent to beat Nadal, but he is a head case. Murray outplayed Nadal the first set of the semifinals this year in Wimbledon because he did attack his second serve and went for big shots. After the first set, he started playing a lot more safe, which was a poor decision. Some liken Dimitrov to Roger Federer and this is why Dimitrov is not a good bet against Nadal. A one-handed backhand player has difficulty taking the ball off the rise, and these are exactly the shots Nadal has perfected with his wicked spin. Nadal has a winning record against all of these players (1-0 against Tomic, 17-10 against Djokovic, 7-3 against Del Potro and 12-4 against Murray). In his career at Wimbledon, Nadal has a 35-4 record, only losing to three different people. Paradorn Srichapan in 2003 (3^rd round) and to Gilles Muller in 2005 (2^nd round). Since 2006, he is 32-2 and the only person he lost to, was Federer twice. Once in 2006, next in 2007 (he didn’t participate at Wimbledon in 2009). So, Nadal hasn’t lost at Wimbledon since 2007. Look for that to continue.

2. Best Baseline Player

Right now, Nadal has the slight edge over Djokovic, but it is very close. Nadal has the advantage at Wimbledon because the surface is a little quicker. This makes Nadal’s quick forehand even more devastating.  Nadal makes no unforced errors at the baseline. Djokovic likes to go for more shots, which is good and bad. Nadal has some trouble playing Djokovic because Djokovic hits the ball harder on his backhand side, but he also misses more. Nadal has a great forehand that gives Djokovic a lot of trouble. In the semifinals at Wimbledon, Tsonga exposed some weak parts of Djokovic’s game. For example, Djokovic was late on a lot of his forehands.

1. Killer Instinct/Ups His Game in the Big Matches

Djokovic has taken over the number one overall ranking after beating Tsonga, but every tennis fan knows who really is the top dog.

In tennis, for your legacy to matter, it is how many grand slams you win. It isn’t the amount of tournaments you win, it’s raising the trophy in front of millions of fans—not thousands.

Since 2008, Nadal is 81-6, and since the French Open in 2010, Nadal is 38-1 at grand slams.

Something changes in Nadal’s head when he plays a major. He turns from a human to a superhero. Until someone can compete with Nadal, not much is going to change in tennis. We may be witnessing the single most dominant player in any sport for the next couple of years.