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Rafa Nadal Arrives in New York in Top Physical Form
Translation by Alsace
J. SOLANS, as.com
August 26th, 2005
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The pain in his shoulder, forgotten. Going for it. Rafa Nadal landed yesterday on Yankee soil fully recovered from the problems that had been bothering his left shoulder since his first and only match in Cincinnati. "The shoulder is OK now and we have been training at top level, including the serve. At the physical level everything is perfect," said Toni Nadal, Rafa's uncle and coach. After five days of training in his home town, the Manacorian flew out to New York with the objective of dethroning Federer.
Although his level of play is not the most brilliant of the year, the world number two "is looking forward with great desire and excitement to doing well and will take it step by step without conceding anything," Toni explained. "In Montreal, he was phenomenal and knew he had every possibility of victory. Now we are not as sure, but if he manages to be at a good level, he can take the tournament," said the Mallorcan's coach.
At the start of Flushing Meadows, Nadal will face a rival of little weight, the American Bobby Reynolds, who should serve the king of clay to find his best game on the New York cement. "Rafa has been training well, normally,.but we will have to see if he can display his best tennis there. The most important thing at the U.S. Open is the technical aspect," Toni said.
Montreal, a good omen
In four of the last seven years, the winner of the Canadian Masters Series has succeeded a few weeks later in Flushing Meadows. New York's fast court saw the triumph of Federer (2004), Roddick (2003), Safin (2000) and Rafter (1998), who managed to take the double. With the two most recent years, the precedents of the man from Basil and the Nebraskan invite optimism for Nadal.
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