Nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal has dismissed suggestions that he should either change or adapt his game to remain more competitive on the tour.
The world No.5 has endured a turbulent year on the tour with a series of disappointing performances in the major events. In the four Grand Slam tournaments he failed to reach the semifinals in all of them for the first time since 2004 and slid down to 10th in the world back in June. Despite the setbacks, the 29-year-old has remained focused and ended the year on a high by reaching the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals.
At the age of 29, Nadal has been asked if he will follow in the footsteps of Roger Federer and adjust his playing style to maintain his longevity at the top of the tour. The Swiss player has noticeably added some new techniques to his game. One the techniques is the newly-named SABR, when he quickly moves deep inside the baseline to aggressively return a player’s serve. Despite the adjustments made by the 17-time Grand Slam champion, Nadal has insisted that he will not be following in his footsteps.
“I’m not Federer, I’m Rafael Nadal. He has his style and I have my own style,” Nadal told AFP.
“I for sure try to improve many things during all my career and for sure I’m working hard to be a better player. And if I am a better player for sure I will have the chance to play a bit longer.”
The Spaniard is currently in the Philippines for the IPTL. Yesterday he helped the Indian Aces to a comprehensive 30-18 win over the UAE Royals. Despite being ranked fifth in the world, Nadal is currently 11,355 points behind world No.1 Novak Djokovic. The last time Nadal was world No.1 was at the start of July in 2014. Speaking about potentially returning back to the top of the rankings, an unsure Nadal remained coy about his prospects.
“I don’t know if I’m going to win it back, I’m working hard to create opportunities to compete for the best tournaments and I’m working so hard to try to make that happen.” The world No.5 said.
Despite his uncertainty regarding reclaiming the world No.1 position, Nadal has recently stated that he is still motivated to succeed in the sport. He will start his 2016 season in the Middle East at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Nadal won the event in 2014 and will be the second seed in the 2016 edition behind Novak Djokovic.
