RAFAEL NADAL: Well, because I always thought I always can keep improving. That’s why I am playing, to keep improving and to feel myself better player than before. 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. I already won on hard, so that’s not nothing new for me to win on this surface. But the conditions in every tournament are different, and I need to have more options to do to try to win against difficult players like today.
Like in the past, I had a lot of problems against Youzhny in the past, because I was playing before two meters behind the baseline or three meters behind the baseline, all the balls higher with topspin, and he had always the chance to come inside. Now I can change the rhythm. I can play a slice backhand. I can serve, win a little bit more free points with the serve, and I can play more close to the baseline.
So the position on court improved, the slice backhand improved, and it was important shot for me to stop the rhythm of that player. For sure the forehand always was good. The true, I think I am more close to the baseline now.
I really don’t think enough is properly said about Rafa’s work ethic, and his practice routines. We’ve heard the Rafa cliches before, he gives everything on each point, he plays the match point by point, he goes 110% during practice… what does that all mean?
I can honestly say I’ve never seen Rafa practice live (though I have watched videos) but that really doesn’t matter. The key to his success lies in this fantastic quote. Does Rafa go 110% in practice? Sure. The important part is that he’s self-evaluating and improving.
It would be simply moronic for someone to go out and practice, emulate a match situation (or play as hard as during a match) and not be your own worst critic. It would be exhausting and get you very little, other than a rough workout. The real point is that Rafa (and Toni) knows what he needs to win. This is why he has improved his serve over the year, and took the risk of changing his serve grip two days before the tournament started.
It’s not all about hitting the ball harder, though. In his quote about Youz, you can see that Rafa is always preparing, thinking, and adapting. Which is why I hate it when people say that he plays every point hard regardless, goes point by point, etc. Not really. His improvement, changes, and intensity in practice are what help him stay calm under pressure and allow him to adapt during matches and set him up for success during matches. That means adapting to the surface, the opponent, and even the time in the match. Rafa doesn’t play every single point the same, regardless of when it is. That’s the whole point.
This may seem strange, but as a musician, this reminds me of a great Steve Vai quote, that went something like this. “Some people are born with great ears and feel for music, but have trouble naturally picking up instruments. Some pick up instruments quickly, but don’t have an inner ear at all. Others are just freaks and have both. For the rest of us, we have to practice these things.” Vai, being one of my favourite musicians, admitted that he had neither, and had to get good at things by practicing, and practicing a lot. And that quote always sticks in my head when I hear about Rafa practicing. Fed is one of those freaks. His natural talent is unparalleled. For Rafa, it’s about putting in the work. Hell, from the get go, he learned to play with his non-dominant hand.
So this post goes out to all the people who say “Rafa will never be able to play late into his career because of how he plays, and the strain he puts on his body”. Sure. But that’s what Rafa is all about, and he’s not stupid. It’s that strain and work that has put him in a position to win his ninth slam, third of the year, and complete the career slam.
I saw Rafa practice on the first Monday of the USO & it was the first tennis I have even seen live. Other than sitting there in awe for the first 20 or so minutes I noticed that you could tell that each movement had a purpose. LIke he would hit a set of backhands to the exact same. Now that might be normal but to me it was really spectacular to watch. The post made sense to me, not to sure if this comment makes sense though.
This is a really thought provoking piece. I’ll have to read it a few times to extract all of the insight. Well done.
another addition to Rafa’s game which will serve him well going forward, is now letting a few winners go once in a while. Not to chase every single last ball.
Don’t you do any structure perform? I want a flickr subject.
[...] that so many people said he would never win on. I would recomend everyone, fan or not, to read this article on Rafa from Brodie over at Mind The Racket. He sums it up better than I ever [...]
Those who did watch Nadal practice live, blogged about the intensity and length of the sessions. But, more importantly, about the obvious learning process going on. With Toni into his ears all the time.
Most players do not actually practice, they merely warm up. They do not try out new things, they just perfect the things they already know.
Not Nadal. In addition to perfecting his staple shots, he always tries some bold attacking stuff, missing a lot, getting frustrated, discussing it sometimes angrily with Toni… Afterwards, in a match, he would often revert to his defensive style if the thing being practiced was not ready yet. But when it’s ready, it gets used in a match situation (e.g. flat angled BH, extra low slice, much faster serve).
That’s why some superficial journos who take a look at Nadal practice and see him spraying shots wide and long tend to report about his “poor form” prior to a match, while the guy is actually practicing new things during a practice session. I know, a strange and novel concept, that.
At one of the days I saw this exact thing at the Open. He practiced for about an hour working on all sorts the things practically everything then for at least 40 minutes maybe even an hour he sat on the bench & was discussing things with Uncle Toni. It was really awe inspiring. Also when he would miss he would do the exact same shot until he got it right where he wanted.
So are you saying that because Fed is talented he does not work hard or because Rafa is not talented he has to work hard? I do not get it. As far as I am concerned both men are talented and work really hard at what they do. It is for this reason why they have dominated this sport in the way they have. They are both perfectionists.
The narrative has always been that Fed is talented so he does not have to work very hard at his game while Rafa is this warrior fellow who is always trying to improve his game. Nonsense.
Many players who have practiced with Fed behind the scenes have said how hard he works. It is for this reason why he never just has one practice partner but 2 or 3 and practices for up to 6 hours per day. Clearly, he does not rely on talent alone.
I wish this nonsense narrative about one player working hard while the other is talented and does not have to work as hard would be put to rest already. It is getting boring.
Reread the article just to make sure, but you know, Fed isn’t mentioned once in this article, so i don’t see what you’re getting huffy about. What is mentioned is that Rafa is willing to learn new things during practice and then importing those new skills into match play.
Calm down. I never intended to bash Fed. I simply meant that he had more natural talent than Rafa. I meant that as a compliment. He does tons of fitness, hits balls, he puts the work in, don’t get me wrong. He just might not go balls to the wall on the court day in and day out like Rafa does… because he doesn’t need to. Compliment. Hell, Sampras barely practiced hard and only liked playing tiebreaks in order to keep himself interested. Same point.