Everyone seemed to be saying Rafa Nadal was washed up. I even was leaning that way a few months ago. Everyone appears to have underestimated the resiliency of the soon-to-be 30-year-old. Nadal may actually be playing better tennis than ever. Whether that’s good enough to stop Novak Djokovic’s domination of the men’s game is another matter.
SO MANY BUMPS IN THE ROAD FOR RAFA
It’s difficult to remember when I felt really good about the player my little black dachshund is named for. There have been so many bumps in the road to Rafa becoming the player he was three years ago when he won Roland Garros and the U.S. Open.
Of course, he won the French Open in 2014, but then ran into wild man Nick Kyrglos at Wimbledon in the round of 16. Just nothing to really hang your hat on for a player as great as Nadal has been for most of the last decade.
Sunday in Barcelona, vintage Rafa returned. He had every chance to collapse. But in critical times when he would have fallen apart the last two years, Nadal was the old Rafa. He fought.
NADEL REDISCOVERED HIS FIGHT
Nadal wouldn’t give up, even in the face of a string of double break points, or even triple break points.
He had rediscovered that trait a week earlier at Monte Carlo against a string of worthy opponents — young Dominic Thiem, Stan Wawrinka, Andy Murray and Gael Monfils. He improved on that this week by winning his second straight European clay-court title.
Kei Nishikori was a stern test for Nadal on Sunday in Barcelona’s final. Nadal appeared to have a chance to run away with it in the second set, but a couple of old hiccups worked their way into his game.
RAFA FOUGHT FOR HIS LEGACY
In posting a 6-4, 7-5 win over Nishikori, Nadal fought for his legacy of making his opponent play every point. He hasn’t looked so confident in a long time.
He didn’t just play clay-court tennis. You might even say he overpowered his smaller Japanese opponent.
Nishikori is a pretty good mover, but on big points Nadal repeatedly stepped up and unleashed huge top-spin forehands inside-out to the deepest corners of the court as he played with the lines, and won. Only a few times when he was overzealous and went for too much on short forehands that nicked the top of the high part of the net and fell backwards did Rafa seem to be on the verge of allowing bad things to take the match away from him.
Sure enough, Nadal went right back to work on the next point. Nishikori played a little game as usual to powder his forehands in all angles. Too often, he went for too much as he seemed to sense that was the only way for him to beat Nadal. Of course, Nishikori bailed out and went for a few too many drop shots, too.
NADAL MORE DETERMINED THAN EVER
Rafa appeared to be more determined than ever, maybe because of what he’s gone through the last couple of years. Always a fighter, Rafa was an extremist battler against Nishikori. He never gave up, especially on his serve. He went bigger and bigger, hit ground strokes more ferociously.
Nadal wouldn’t budge in his determination to win on his terms on his surface. With this kind of confidence and fight, Nadal should be favored to win another French title, even if he has to go through Djokovic.
IT APPEARED TO BE OVER EARLY
The Spaniard appeared to have things under control when he served at 3-1 in the second set. But he made a mental error with a tentative forehand that caught the top of the net to give Nishikori a break point. Nadal came right back with a big serve and forehand inside-out winner.
Three deuces later, Rafa had another mental lapse with a wild overhead on a miracle-get lob by Nishikori.
Rafa then hit a loose forehand to give Nishikori another break point, but Rafa came right back with another winner and then an error by Nishikori. One deuce later, Rafa swung a serve out wide, hit a big forehand and took a 4-1 lead.
It appeared to be over. It wasn’t.
A RELENTLESS RAFA WOULDN’T QUIT
At 4-4, Rafa survived another long service game with some solid serving to take it to 5-4 and force his opponent to hold service to stay in the match.
Nishikori hit a backhand wide to give Rafa match point, but with Rafa appearing to play soft and waiting for Nishikori to make another error to end the match, Rafa left a ball short and Nishikori made him pay with a drop shot to get back to deuce.
Nadal took the ad with a forehand and won the game with another forehand down the line.
Nishikori then broke Rafa, but Rafa rebounded for 6-5, again forcing Nishikori to serve to stay in the match.
Again, Rafa was relentless. He wouldn’t quit. He stayed after Nishikori, getting two loose errors and a heads-up play by Rafa for double match point. Nishikori cooperated this time, gunning a forehand into the net to end the match.
James Beck is the long-time tennis columnist for the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier newspaper. He can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com
