Rafael Nadal Will Be Back in Force

As Robin Soderling completed his now famous victory over the undisputed king of clay Rafael Nadal, stories of the spaniard’s crumbling aura began to surface. However, with Nadal’s lengthy injury break the stories turned into odes signaling the end of Nadal era at slams. These stories largely belly a common notion that Nadal cannot keep up the frenetic pace of tennis and his body will likely capitulate. While a crippling injury might happen, the odds that Nadal would go through one are no more than a Djokovich or a Murray. Here one must remember that Rafa has a natural tendency to gain muscle mass and that’s been the secret to his power at a young age. Therefore he does have a strong body and one that can take a ton of punishment. As he grows older Nadal as many other greats before him will take precautions in terms of the tournaments he competes in yearly.

Ok so Nadal’s body can hold but can he get back the aura of invincibility that he enjoyed over his peers and in particular Federer? The answer for this is yes he can get back “an aura” but perhaps not “the aura” he’s used to. One must remember that Nadal has had the best run of any clay court player in history at slams including Borg and such an achievement reflects a superlative peak that is rarely surpassed. Federer has struggled to repeat his 81-4 record of 2005 and almost as surely Nadal will struggle to win 3-4 titles consecutively at the French. But make no mistake about it given the man’s determination and talent he will be better at the US open in years to come and needless to add reclaim the crown of King of Clay.