Why the 2015 Grass-Court Season Is Crucial for Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal's fall from grace has been precipitous and swift.

Once a regular participant on championship Sundays, he's won only a single title (Buenos Aires) in the last year. A litany of physical ailments pestered him at the end of 2014, but his recent on-court woes are even more concerning.

Bullied by his peers, he dropped a half-dozen matches on the red dirt this season. For perspective, that total equals his amount of clay losses from 2005-2009 and 2012-2014. As a result, he now wakes up with an odd-looking No. 10 ranking next to his name.

Stripped of his crown at Roland Garros, an increasingly fragile Nadal must now return to the grass as he tries to regain his mojo. How he performs on the lawns these next several weeks will either serve as a remedy for his ills or plunge him further into a spiral. 

To say he's struggled on the surface lately would be an understatement. Since his 2010 victory and 2011 runner-up finish at Wimbledon, Nadal is just 5-5 (entering the 2015 Mercedes Cup) on the turf. Peppered into that mark is a trio of bewildering losses at the All England Club. 

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In 2012, a quarterfinal loss to Philipp Kohlschreiber in Halle served as a bad omen before his trip to Wimbledon. There, a gangly and unheralded Lukas Rosol landed a titanic upset in the second round.

And that moment was only the beginning of his grass woes. The following year, he skipped the warm-up tournaments altogether, and the lack of preparation showed, as the lowly Steve Darcis brushed him aside in the first round.

Last June, he dropped his opening match to Dustin Brown in Halle—a third straight defeat on grass. Though he survived four-set battles in each of the first three rounds, his Wimbledon run came to an abrupt end against big-hitting teenager Nick Kyrgios. 

The most perplexing element of those results isn't necessarily that Nadal lost, but whom he's fallen to. None of those players—not even the talented Kyrgios—are in the same league as Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer or Andy Murray. Yet they've dealt Nadal plenty of punishment, even at the Grand Slam level.

For a player who began his career considered as nothing more than a clay-court specialist, watching Nadal scale the heights at Wimbledon and defeat Federer for the 2008 title was a magical moment. Between 2006 and 2011, Nadal made the final every time he entered the tournament. Now? He's struggling to even make it out of the first week there.

The transition from clay to grass is difficult for most players, but it's even more arduous for Nadal. Forced to trade in his violent running style for more delicate footwork, his topspin-heavy shots aren't accentuated as much on the low-bouncing turf. Taller players are able to take huge cuts at waist level on his groundstrokes. 

While the lawns are still fresh and green at the start of these events is when Nadal is most vulnerable. The courts are faster, and the ball skids more because of the slipperiness, making offensive-minded opponents even more dangerous.

If he could just reach the second week at Wimbledon, when the baseline grass is worn to dust and plays slower, he might have a chance to end his English funk. 

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And to his credit, he realizes the challenge he's facing. Tired of exiting London in disappointing fashion, Nadal will play two events (Stuttgart and Queen's Club) to iron out the kinks in his game. Already, that decision is proving wise.

At the Mercedes Cup this week, Nadal toughed out three-set wins in his first two matches against Marcos Baghdatis and Bernard Tomic. They weren't exactly smooth performances, but he stepped things up a notch and coasted past Gael Monfils in the semifinals.

Set to play his first grass-court final in four years, Nadal is salivating at the opportunity to build momentum on the surface. Picking up a title in Stuttgart and a few more wins at Queen's Club could do wonders to assuage his admitted confidence issues.

He'll need to be sharp out of the gate at Wimbledon. Because of his tumble in the rankings, Nadal could face one of his Big Four brethren in the quarterfinals—or sooner. 

Nadal is clearly at a crossroads. Nothing is coming easy for him like it once did, as the shanked forehands and routine losses pile up. But his issues may not be entirely physical or psychological. Perhaps he's finally succumbing to the inevitable aging process.

Father Time is a undefeated force not even Nadal will conquer. Yet write him off at your own peril.

Nadal is one of the most renowned competitors tennis has even seen. All these defeats and premature obituaries will only fuel him to work that much harder to prove everyone wrong. And a deep run at Wimbledon in a few weeks may be the turning point he needs to ignite the second half of his career.

All statistics are courtesy of ATPWorldTour.com unless otherwise noted. 

Joe Kennard is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. 

Follow @JoeKennard.