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Nadal Knows Only One Way: His Own
5/25/2010 7:00 PM ET By Greg Couch
PARIS -- I'm sitting in the fifth row at Court Suzanne Lenglen, right behind Gianni Mina, who is standing behind the baseline, trying to play Rafael Nadal. The view is so similar to being on court that it seems like I'm in Mina's head, looking through his eyes, feeling the buzz. Only not doing the running.
Nadal is pure energy. It's not only that he moves a lot, but also that he creates an energy in the stands with the crowd. A tension. Mina must feel it. I know.
Nadal is full speed all the time. The amount he throws into every shot, jumping on his forehands, and creating harder topspin than anyone before him, is a study in how to ball up all your energy into one explosion over and over.
It's scary enough just sitting here, imagining what it would be like out there on the court. But think about what was going through Mina's head? He's an 18-year old kid facing Nadal on the red clay.
"Well, I'm happy a little," Mina would say after losing to Nadal 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in the first-round of the French Open, "because I could fight back."
This French Open is seen as a return for Nadal, even though he hasn't missed one along the way. His knee problems started last year, and they led, in part, to his early loss here to Robin Soderling. Now, Nadal is Nadal again -- but how long will that work?
"My game is my game," he said recently. "And I am not going to change my game."
He's going to have to. It is that all-out style that got Nadal where he is as a player, but also where he is with his injuries. There is permanent uncertainty about him now.
Nadal fans breathe easy to see him be himself again. And if he wins here -- and he will -- then it won't be long before he passes Roger Federer on the computer and moves back to the world's No. 1 ranking. The truth is, Nadal is already is beginning to change. He took off the Barcelona tournament in preparation for the French, saying his body needed a break and could not go three weeks in a row anymore.
He has always over-scheduled. And if you didn't notice, he was angry about the break, as if he couldn't believe his body required it. But his style of play will have to change, too. And I wonder if he can live with that. Will it work for him?
I'm not talking about preventing injuries here, so much as whether Nadal can play with less tension and still be Nadal.
I mean, if you think of him as the wild bull in a bullfight, how would it be if you took out the wild?
He seems so much younger than Federer. But Nadal will turn 24 next week, and Federer is 28. In tennis years, that is a big difference, I guess.
They seem like a kid and a man.
Federer's greatness has been incredibly consistent and smooth, and Nadal's has been a wild ride.
Federer is seen as the greatest player of all time, but Nadal's best has been better. It just had a major injury interruption for most of a year.
Nadal is like the kid moving into adulthood, discovering that his body cannot just keep doing the same things it has always done. Think of a baseball pitcher who throws 100 mph and does nothing else. When he gets older, and that 100 drops down to 92, 93, he has to learn how to pitch. But to be what he's always been, Nadal feels he needs to be that 100 mph pitcher.
"My game is to play with intensity, play good rhythm all the time, and try to play long times without having mistakes," he said. "When I am ready to play long point without having mistakes, I'm going to have the chance to play shorter points because I can feel confident with my forehand and play winners from that."
Federer's career doesn't seem to be in stages, just one long run of greatness. But you wonder what the next stage will be for Nadal.
Maybe he finds a way to get even better. Andre Agassi tamed himself and became the smartest player on tour, even shaving the wild hair.
Before Tuesday's match, Mina, a Frenchman, asked other players on how to play Nadal. Gael Monfils told him about his first French Open. Apparently, he said "he was beaten, severely beaten," Mina said, re-telling the story. "But never mind, he said. He learned from this loss, and then he managed to continue."
I've heard better pre-match pep talks. But everyone knew this match would end with a "severe beating."
You could feel it in the air.
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