Behind successful Nadal is another Nadal!

No matter how much I want him to lose he wins more and more. Obvioulsy I am talking about Nadal. I am a die hard Federer fan and nothing gives me more pleasure than seeing Rafa lose however I have started to like him more and more. (but that does not mean I will cheer for him)

Last year I was amongst those who wrote him off saying that he has not beaten a top 10 player for more than 10 months and only loses when he is injured blah, blah, blah. But to be frank what a turnaround this has been! Since the Aussie open Nadal has taken everyone by storm, he looks invincible and is on the road to become greatest of all time.

The year 2010 has been a revelation for Rafa, he has nearly  won 60 matches and only losing 5. In addition he won 3 slams, completed the grand slam, won the French open without dropping even a set. It seems that no one can stop him at the moment, let's see if JMDP will be able to manage that.

There have been several factors in Rafa's phenomenal success in this year:

• His knees are holding up well owed to a new plasma platelet treatment he is undergoing at the moment.
• He has been more selective in choosing his tournaments and also saving his best for the slams. He lost to Lopez at Queens then to Baghdatis at Cincinatti but both wimby and US open saw a totally different Nadal.
• His service has become very potent, specially the one which goes to the side flanks.
• His forehand is more lethal then it was ever before.
• Like always he is probably the player with minimum unforced errors, very compact techinque
• The amount of handwork he has put in to improve on his weaknesses (such as hard court play)
• Behind his success is a very astute tactician and his name is Toni Nadal. 

Toni Nadal as we all know is Rafa's uncle, he has been coaching him since he was four. Uncle Toni has studied history and has coached junior players at Uni in playing tennis. It is really astonishing and admiring that him not being such a successful tennis player has coached someone to become such a strong champion. Rafa's success can be owed to Uncle Toni as he forced him to become a leftie so he can hit a double handed backhand.

A good coach helps player in overcoming the weaknesses and adding potent weapon and can turnaround a player into winning one, Soderling is another example who is coached by Magnus Norman. Well just coaching is not the answer and player also needs to put in the hardwork.  It is just not about the technique part of the game only but the emotional aspect as well. Rafa is the strongest player metnally and every point is played like match point. I think it is this belief only which brought him back from that slump to right on the top.

Finally congratulations to Rafa and Uncle Toni for achieving such a feat. hopefully many more to come.