Rafa and Pete

There was a period in the Mid 1990s in which Pete Sampras had figured out grass court tennis.  His serve was nearly unbreakable.  He had the mentality of a dominating pitcher in baseball.  He was going to give his opponents few looks, he was going to play tactically disciplined tennis, he was going to be hard to beat in a tiebreak if he did not get a service break, and he knew that over 3 out of 5 sets it would be hard for anyone to upend what he was putting in place on court.  He won 7 Wimbledon titles in 8 years.  Even with that Pete was beaten at his own game in 1996 by Richard Krajicek.  He was beaten by Goran Ivanisevic in 1992 before he had put this formula fully into practice.  Goran pushed Pete to five sets in 1995 and 1998.  Boris Becker and Patrick Rafter were able to take the first set in championship matches.  Pete’s serve on that style of grass court gave him a great edge.  His athleticism and strategic discipline did the rest.  Still, he was not untouchable on grass.

The most heterodox opponent possible in the 2011 1st round caused some concern

Rafael Nadal sits at 66-1 for his career at Roland Garros.  He has more or less been untouchable.  Robin Soderling’s 2009 win over Rafa is the exception that seems to prove the rule.  Novak Djokovic took Rafa deep into the 5th set in 2013.  John Isner won two tiebreaks and led 2 sets to 1 in 2011.  Djokovic, Federer, Ferrer, Hewitt, and several others have managed to push Rafa to 4 sets at Roland Garros, but in all honesty he has only been faced with a possible defeat 3 times.  Rafa won 2 of those 3 matches.  Rafa’s athleticism and movement, his mental fortitude and rapier forehand have solved clay court tennis.  There are times I see the table tennis like shots he hits, and think it is simply unstoppable on clay.

Respect

I would pull for Pete Sampras against Michael Chang, Andre Agassi and others, but he was not in my top tier of favored players.  I always looked at his Wimbledon triumphs and other victories with a lot of admiration.  He developed his ball striking skills and explosive athleticism to become a champion with tactical and strategic discipline.  I view Rafa’s victories in a similar manner.  Nadal’s game is not my favorite to watch.  His ball striking is almost alien from what many preached when I started playing and watching tennis.  I think most players have chronic injuries etc. and am not a big fan of hearing about every physical bump in the road from Rafa and/or his camp.  Still, Rafa has done something otherworldly in winning 9 French Open titles in 10 years.  He’s also won at least 1 Grand Slam title per year for 10 consecutive years.  Pete Sampras and Roger Federer managed to win at least 1 Slam per year for 8 consecutive years.

Uncle Toni as John Wooden

John Wooden coached the UCLA Bruins to 10 NCAA titles in 12 seasons.  That is the closest comparison in sports that I muster for Nadal’s Roland Garros dominance.  Uncle Toni crafted Rafa’s game.  He’s managed Nadal’s play since he was a boy.  There is something of a mad scientist quality to Uncle Toni’s tinkering with Rafa’s game and the insular system from which Rafa’s game has emerged.  Given Nadal’s mastery of topspin as well as his gifts of concentration on the tennis court, Toni deserves a lot of credit.

Rafa the Revolutionary?

What I wrote above regarding Rafa’s ball striking being a break with what tennis used to be, offers a glimpse of where tennis might be headed.  We have seen Rafa, Nole and Murray all put on punishing displays of tennis that involve improbable retrieving skills as well as ruthless backhands and forehands.  I watched a junior ranked in the USTA’s top 50 warming up several months ago.  The spin he generated with his forehand as well as the net clearance he produced are clearly inspired by a newer wave of hitting hard with a greater margin for error than was afforded the hard hitters in previous eras.*  I predict that tennis will feature players who bend the ball downward with extreme spin more and more as the future unfolds.  The old geometry of tennis is likely to keep fading, but this new style does have a geometry of its own. The old choice between being consistent or being aggressive on a tennis court may prove to be a false choice in the new geometry.  Rafael Nadal is the prophet who first tapped into what these racquets and strings can do and launched a new way of imaging the possibilities presented by a tennis court.

* – I asked a former top junior from the 1990s who was a serve and volley player who works at IMG Academy what he thought about this new style that was so different from what he played.  He said he felt, slice backhands, flat serves and slice serves could all help breakdown some of the extreme grips players use today.  It will be interesting to see the potential arms race surrounding this new method of playing tennis.