It cannot be said that Rafael Nadal’s season has not started uphill. First the vicissitudes of the Australian quarantine and the controversies for his weak active participation in the debate, then the injury which partly conditioned him during the first Grand Slam of the year and finally the uncertainties still related to the physical problem that risk to lengthen the preparation time for the clay court season.
However, the time for evaluations is very tight and the first nominations on the red are looming. It must be said that this is not the first time that Rafa has been on European clay after only competing in Melbourne, but it is also true that it is an abnormal season so it is difficult to make comparisons.
In addition, the age of the 20-time Grand Slam champion has become a more important and delicate factor than in other years. But what are the projects of the tennis player from Manacor? Let’s go in order: So far Nadal has not hinted at any downsizing or changes to his schedule, which in theory would lead him to play all tournaments, namely Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and, to top it off, Paris, nevertheless the difficulties of the last few weeks could perhaps delay his return, for example.
Another factor that could weigh on the Mallorcan are also the results obtained in 2019, which from this month, due to the thaw in the standings, come back to weigh on the ranking of the athletes.
US Open finalist Greg Rusedski recently spoke on sports website iNews about how the homogenization of surfaces in recent years has helped Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer maintain their advantage. on young players.
Rusedski talks about the era of the Big Three
Greg Rusedski claimed that each tournament taking place at roughly the same speed meant that Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer didn’t need to make too many adjustments to their game.
“It’s average, medium-slow everywhere,” Rusedski added. “And that has given the Big Three a huge advantage because with every tournament they participate in, there aren’t any big adjustments needed.”
The former No.4 went on to talk about Aslan Karatsev’s triumph on the Dubai Rapids courts last week, suggesting that a change in conditions would lead to more variety among top players.
“Look at Dubai last week, you had Aslan Karatsev winning,” Rusedski said. “There was a lot of upheaval throughout the toss because you did a quick lap and quick balls. So we need more variety.”
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