|
Nadal makes powerful statement
By Charles Bricker
August 28th, 2005
NEW YORK � "Vamos, chico!"
Another winning forehand crashed off the racket of Rafael Nadal, and he was screaming to himself over the applause. Then, as he often does, he clenched his fist as if it was wrapped around a 50-pound dumbbell, his bicep expanding to the size of a softball.
"His biceps are bigger than my head," cracked fellow pro Andy Roddick a few days ago as he contemplated the rapid rise of the most photographed man in tennis.
The game has known some oversized teenagers, but none who combined such a supreme gift for the game and an imposing physical presence as the 19-year-old prodigy from Mallorca, who has risen in one astonishing season to No. 2 in the world.
He's not going to make up the 2,655 points required to overtake No. 1 Roger Federer at the U.S. Open, which begins Monday, but there are a substantial number of wise tennis people who believe he can make the final, and not a few who believe that the strength of his body and game will be enough to win the championship when he gets there.
"You can't ignore power in this game," says Gil Reyes, who has been Andre Agassi's personal trainer for years. "You just can't, and what Nadal does embodies that. You'd better take heed that this is no longer a game of rallying. It's power ball. You've got to have that and Nadal does."
Rodney Harmon, the director of men's tennis for the USTA's High Performance program, first saw Nadal on court three years ago. "He looked like that when he was 16," Harmon said. "He was already a man."
In winning nine tournaments this year, including the French Open, Nadal's scorching forehand, pronounced topspin backhand and tireless running have been analyzed a million times.
But it is his physical strength that is the foundation of his talent and, incredibly, he says he has spent comparatively little time in the weight room.
"One time in the last three weeks," he said Saturday. His uncle and coach, Toni Nadal, says the kid's powerful stature is purely genetic.
"The family is all strong people. My brother was a soccer player for Barcelona and on the national team," Nadal said. "He looks like a bull."
"And Rafa ... he was always strong. At 16, his body just exploded. But he has been very little in the gym. Just some resistance work with rubber bands for injury prevention."
Nadal doesn't run the hills of Mallorca. There isn't a workout center where you'll find him between tournaments. Toni, who has nurtured his nephew's tennis for 13 years, says the best place to train is on court.
Tennis isn't unlike other sports. People copy success, if they can. And it's not difficult to imagine thousands of juniors around the world making a bigger commitment to emulate Nadal.
If they can't, genetically, look like Nadal, then they can bench press and curl their way to a higher level of strength.
There could be dangers in that. Torry Hawkins, the linebacker-sized Atlantan who coaches young American prospect Scoville Jenkins, says it's important for coaches and parents to confer extensively with doctors before stepping up a teenager's weight program.
Nadal's physical strength shows up most importantly in his running. The triceps and biceps are obvious in the sleeveless muscle shirts he wears, but it's the tree trunk legs that are more significantly connected to his performances.
Lleyton Hewitt and Guillermo Coria can move as quickly around the court or cover the wide shots, but when Nadal has to dig into the corners, his next shot isn't defensive.
Two weeks ago, in the Canadian Open final against Agassi, Nadal sped into his right corner to track down a ball and blazed a cross-court winner that left Agassi gaping. Put that shot and dozens of other Nadal shots like it down to his personal strength.
"You've got guys that are tremendously fast, but they only use their speed defensively," Agassi said. "Nadal has the ability to run as fast as the best of them, but on the stretch actually hurt you. He can transition those points into offense."
Nothing in Nadal's meteoric rise to near the top of world tennis has had any effect on his amiable nature. He arrived at the Open, where he has twice gone out in the second round, ready for a succession of publicity stops, and it's uncle Toni who is most responsible for keeping him humble in the face of all the popularity.
"Never has he broken a racket," Toni Nadal said. "Never has he thrown a racket."
"When he was young, I would drive him a half-hour each way to his training and it was his responsibility to give back for what he has."
Benito Perez-Barbadillo, who is Spanish and one of the ATP communication directors, recalls walking down the Champs Elysees with Toni and Rafael during the French Open fortnight.
"Rafa was in the middle and suddenly Toni said, `You can't be in the middle. You're not the star here.'"
He hasn't let his nephew and pupil become full of himself and, judging from Rafael's simpatico nature, that's not likely to happen.
But there are no leashes on his intensity, his fist pumping and his celebratory screams on court.
"He can be intimidating," said Roddick's coach, Dean Goldfine of Aventura. "Not the biceps but his running. He's going left, right, center, up and back and after he gets the point he's jumping around, fresh as a daisy, while his opponent is taking his last gasp of air."
That's the starting point from which Nadal's game flows. The strength to run all day and the strength to do just about anything he wants with the ball when he gets there.
**Please do not reproduce without giving credit to the original source and VamosRafael.com.**
Return to VamosRafael.com.
Return to VamosRafael.com Articles.