Rafa’s future resting on Clay’16

The once ‘Clay King’ and winner of nine Grand Slams at Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal has stumbled upon the path of tumult and dereliction, evident from his plummeting performance since his injury in 2014.

The year 2015 was a slamless year for the first time in 10 years for Rafa. A lot has happened in this course. Since winning the French Open title in 2014, he hasn’t gone past the quarterfinals in any of the Grand Slams. During this course, he has been beaten by four players outside the top 100. Most importantly, Novak Djokovic now leads the head to head tally against Rafa for the first time, taking it to 25-23.

Rafa started 2016 with a win at Mubadala, but the early sparks failed to persist from then on.  He suffered a first round shocker against Fernando  Verdasco at the Australian Open, making this only the second first round defeat in his career since losing to Steve Darcis at Wimbledon in 2013.

”It’s one of the biggest disappointments we’ve had,” Toni Nadal, his coach and uncle said.

”All losses hurt, or nearly all, but to go out in the first round of a tournament that is so important like the Australian Open and to have come in here playing well for three or four months, that is what is very disappointing.”

In this time of struggle, Toni Nadal has also been at the receiving end of a lot of flak. Also, the focus has now shifted to doubts regarding Rafa’s tactics, mental game and athleticism. The last three Grand Slams have proved to be the worst of all in his career in succession.

The question is whether Rafa can revive his career and put himself back on the track, just as he is at the spike of turning 30. The perfect way to make a start is at the clay season which has already begun. If he has the best chance to bounce back it is at the dirt, his safe heaven. He has already played at the Argentina Open and Rio Open where he eventually lost in both the semi-finals to Dominic Thiem and Pablo Cuevas. Though success did not follow in at the Indian Wells either, where he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, it is hopeful that he will make a comeback with the other tournaments lined up. His most recent win has come at the QF of Monte Carlo Masters against Stan Wawrinka in straight sets, 6-1 6-4, on Friday. He will now face Andy Murray in the Semi-Finals.

For this year’s clay season, the Spaniard has opted for Belgian natural gut string as a replacement for the synthetic fibres, which yielded  all the 14 majors, including a record nine French Open crowns. The outfit for the season of dirt is ready too. The only thing required is for Rafa to return back to his original form and rule all the clay tournaments.

The records that he can break this season are huge.  He currently has 47 titles and requires only two wins more wins on clay to tie Argentina’s Guillermo Vilas in most titles on clay-court. At Monte Carlo and Barcelona, Nadal could also improve his winning record, where the 29-year-old has won eight titles at each event. With these wins he can become the only player who has nine titles in as many tournaments, having done it at the French Open in the past. Also, Nadal could equal career rival Roger Federer’s record of most outdoor titles where the Swiss has recorded 66 outdoor titles, while Nadal has 65.