The Observer
By Jon Henderson
May 15, 2024
Americans have a way of putting people in their place. The latest issue of the United States' most popular tennis magazine has an arresting picture of Rafael Nadal on its cover and proclaims, in large type, that the Spaniard is The Next Great Dirtballer. If you detect just the hint of a pejorative tone, it is almost certainly intended.
You might think that after the 18-year-old's blazing start to the year - five titles in four-and-a-bit months with the talented Albert Montanes saying after losing to him in the Acapulco final: 'Nadal played at an unbelievable level. He gave me a tennis lesson like no one had done for a very long time' - he might just be touted as The Next Great Tennis Player.
The point is, though, that Nadal's six titles - he broke through with a win in Poland last year - have all been on clay. It is a surface that Americans regard with suspicion, too Old Europe for their liking, terracotta-coloured and with a somnolent bounce. Dirtballers play on clay, modern tennis players such as Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick are more at home on the brashly finished hard courts that are the surface for the US Open series later in the year.
As all the world's leading players gather in Paris for the French Open, which starts in eight days' time, there is little talk of an American carrying off the world's premier claycourt title. Agassi won it in 1999 but he was one of only four Americans to do so in the second half of the twentieth century. There seems no immediate prospect of one doing so in this century.
All the talk is of whether Nadal, having grown into a man's body with unseemly haste - his sleeveless tops expose scarily pumped-up biceps - can emulate the Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten, who in 1997 won the French Open on his first visit to Roland Garros. The evidence certainly suggests he can, particularly after two notable victories recently over the clay-court game's numero uno , Guillermo Coria, who was beaten by Nadal in the Monte Carlo and Rome finals.
Like the vast majority of his generation, the left- hander with the clubbing, two-fisted backhand plays almost exclusively from the back of the court. What sets him apart is his phenomenal speed that enables him to chase down balls that most would regard as hopelessly lost causes and the strength when having improbably arrived on time to lever the ball back with destructive force.
Then there's the commitment, which particularly pleases some of the older players. Thomas Muster, who won at Roland Garros 10 years ago and was the fiercest of competitors, has practised with Nadal in recent weeks while preparing for his own matches on the Delta Tour of Champions. 'The main thing is that he is not waiting for it to come to him,' says Muster. 'He's coming out with the attitude that he's going to go for it and that's already a very big step.'
The aggression has nothing to do with his being a hungry fighter. Nadal's family is prosperous, with three generations of them living in a five-storey apartment building in Majorca, where they have considerable property interests. His father also runs a window company.
John McEnroe reckons: 'He's going to be one of the greatest players. He's going to end the year as one of the top guys already. It just remains to be seen how quickly he will learn to play on grass and the faster surfaces.'
Which brings us back to the proposition that Nadal may be no more than just an exceptional dirtballer. Consider this, though: two years ago Nadal became the youngest player since Boris Becker in 1984 to reach the third round of Wimbledon and just over a month ago was a dodgy line call away from beating world number one Roger Federer in the Masters hard-court final in Miami.
Don't expect the young Spaniard to disappear after Roland Garros in a puff of clay-court dust.
**Please do not reproduce without giving credit to the original source and VamosRafael.com.**
Return to VamosRafael.com.
Return to VamosRafael.com Articles
.
