TMS Cincinnati
Tom Donelson
August 2, 2024

Then there is Rafaell Nadal.. This young 18-year-old looks older than his age suggest and he is starting to build out his 6-foot frame.

Tennis is a game of inches as Nadal recently found. Against Juan Ignacio Chela in the opening rounds of the Cincinnati Masters, Nadal was engaged in a tough match with the veteran Chela. The first two sets saw each men exchanged 6-4 set.

The third set was a tussle with each defending serve and result being the match going to a tiebreaker. Nadal took the first point on his serve and then grabbed the second point with a forehand past the outstretched arm of Chela. On Chela next serve, Nadal return it quickly but Chela counterstroke sent the shot wide to Nadal forehand. Nadal stretched as he stumbled to ground, hit what appeared to be a winner at the corner of the net. The ball missed by fractions and from this point, Chela took over the tiebreak as he took six of the next seven points and won the match. This shot could have allowed Nadal to take the momentum and the match. Instead, it gave Chela a reprieve and the veteran took it from there.

That is the difference between experience and youth. Experience players take advantage of their breaks and create their own momentum. The youth waits for the break that sometime never come.

Nadal is where Federer or Roddick was two years ago. The question that dogged both men before last year, when will you win your first major? The biggest burden carried by Nadal will be the big P - Potential. For the next three or fours until he matures, the Tennis world will wait for Nadal to fulfill that potential often impatiently..

When my daughter and I began our book on Andy Roddick last year, what amazed us was how many people felt disappointed that Andy finished the previous year ranked only in the top 8! Andy was just 20 and yet the whisper could be heard, "he can't win the big one." Federer also heard the whisper as well. Today, both men bask in the adulation of being the game best two Tennis player and maybe in a few years, Nadal will join their ranks. Till then, Nadal struggles to learn the nuances of the game and matures.