One of the reasons we must respect & admire athletes..love the mentality but this is just something we are not all meant for.

By BARRY FLATMAN

Rafael Nadal's coaching team reveal the secrets of his fitness

When Rafael Nadal first emerged on the ATP World Tour just before his 16th birthday, his new rivals in the locker room shared expressions of both amazement and fear that somebody so young could look so strong.

Within a couple of years esteemed champions such as John McEnroe and Boris Becker were using terms like 'freak' and 'monster' to describe the Majorcan. They were not being derogatory, but rather expressing wry praise together with a certain amount of envy. The boy with the bulging muscles was clearly destined to become a who was going to leave an indelible mark on the sport.

Now, of course, Mr. Nadal is world number one and the first player this year to officially qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which will again be contested at London's 02 Arena in November. He also remains the benchmark of strength and power in his sport that others seek to emulate.

Mr. Nadal has been troubled by fitness issues in the last couple of years with most of the concern focusing on his knees. In 2009, pain in his legs prevented him from defending the Wimbledon title he won two years ago and struck again in January when he was forced to retire after two sets of the Australian Open quarter-final against Andy Murray. It is therefore testament to his huge determination that he was already got his name down for the prestigious climax to the tennis year, one of the most arduous calendars in sport, which weaves its way around the world for ten testing months.

It is also testament to the work of his fitness and conditioning team. Angel Ruiz Cortorro, Joan Forcades and Rafael Maymo may not be names that are familiar to the legions of Rafa fans, but the trio has been hugely important throughout the Spaniard's career. They have always preferred anonymity, letting Mr. Nadal's exploits do the talking. And like so many support teams of leading sportsman, they fiercely guard the secrets of the training facilities and the weeks of preparation.

Accurate break-downs of actual training sessions and chronicled performance records are closely guarded secrets. Team Nadal sees no upside to revealing confidential information that could prove useful to his rivals.

Natural Strength

Those close to Mr. Nadal are prepared to divulge that he is an individual endowed with huge natural strength. Genetically speaking, this isn't so surprising. One of his uncles is the once-fearsome Migel Angel Nadal, or the 'Beast of Barcelona', who during his time at the Nou Camp won five La Liga titles and the European Cup along with 62 international caps for Spain. His career and reputation were founded on tremendous physical displays.

Like his uncle, Mr. Nadal appreciates the value of training and preparation. Dr. Cotorro is the Barcelona-based doctor who treats several tennis player and has long enjoyed the confidence of the Nadal family. He describes Mr. Nadal as a "very special athlete", with abnormal amounts of energy and explosiveness. "He mixes the explosive pace of a 200-meter runner with the resistance of a marathon runner," says Dr. Cotorro.

Like Dr. Cotorro, Joan Forcades is rarely seen in the players' entourage during tournaments. In fact he is a physical education teacher from the player's hometown of Manacor. Twelve years ago, Toni Nadal, Mr. Nadal's uncle and coach, asked Mr. Forcades to devise a training program to bulk up his nephew.

Mr. Forcades continues to supervise the serious training his young protégé conducts during the brief off-season that follows the ATP World Tour Finals and the Davis Cup final. Base camp is in the Nadal family residence in Manacor on the Torre del Palau, at Ruby Rector Square, near the Church of Virgen de los Dolores. Here Mr. Forcades has overseen the installation of a state-of-the-art gymnasium, complete with several high-tech machines.

"We work on different types of movements, with changes in speed and direction. That's how we improve his speed of movement, so Rafa can change direction quickly and easily," says Mr. Forcades. "We also use a 'bosu' [an inflatable training ball with one flat side] to work on coordination, footwork, movement and balance."

The physical work is at its most intense during late November and December. Unlike Andy Murray, Mr. Nadal does not pound the running track with multiple repetitions of 400-meter sprints to build up cardiovascular strength. The state of the Spaniard's knees dictate a lot of the training. Instead Mr. Nadal prefers high-impact aerobic work. In the weights room he does compensation work for his arms and back. And, unsurprisingly for a native of the Mediterranean, the swimming pool and the sea also figure prominently in his training regime.
Court Work

If Mr. Nadal is able to get home for a week or two between tournaments during the course of the season, the work is more focused on the tennis court with short sprinting routines as well as repetitive drills with the racket in hand.

Mr. Forcades says: "Mostly we train towards more aggressive tennis to improve his footwork, coordination and explosive strength. The aim is that he doesn't wear himself out in matches."

Resilience is paramount in the Nadal training regime. He will often work with a balance board to boost the responses of muscle and improve reaction time.

"You have to work on hip strength, particularly on clay when points on last longer," says Mr. Forcades. "Resistance is very important and we have to improve Rafa's recovery time."

Mr. Maymo is part of the regular support crew alongside Uncle Toni. He is the physiotherapist who prepares Mr. Nadal for matches and then supervises the hugely important warm-down or recovery period. Several hours of stretching is a very important part of the daily routine both as a warm up, an exercise in itself and then recovery.

Mr. Forcades says: "Rafa works on his joints in the morning when he gets up. Then he does lots of stretching. Afterwards there is also lots of hydrotherapy where he submerges his body first in a hot bath, then in an ice bath."

Finally, there is the all-important issue of diet. During weeks of competition, the majority of any athlete's intake revolves around carbohydrates, in the form of pasta, together with fresh vegetables. Mr. Nadal is also known to be a great fish eater, which is his main source of protein. He is allowed treats such as chocolate, salty Majorcan biscuits named Quely and his grandmother's special cake. He never drinks tea or coffee and is not allowed to eat meat on the day before a match.

According to his team, Mr. Nadal is a self-motivated individual when it comes to exerting himself on the tennis court. But occasionally he requires some cajoling when it is time for more mundane exercise in the gym. Tennis is perceived to be an individual sport. But without his support team, it is unlikely that the Spaniard would be the world number one.

Mr. Flatman is the tennis correspondent of The Sunday Times.