On Saturday a new milestone was achieved in the career of Rafael Nadal, but it was one the Spaniard never wanted.
Heading into the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open, the former world No.1 had a flawless record at that stage of the tournament. Dropping one set in 22 matches played when he reached the semi-finals or beyond. However, his winning streak was ended by a relentless Dominic Thiem as the Austrian surged to a shock 6-4, 6-4, triumph. Illustrating why some believe Thiem will become the next player to dominate the clay after Nadal.
Losses on the clay are rare for Nadal. During 2018 he won 26 out of 27 matches played on the surface (including the Davis Cup). However, this season he has already suffered two defeats at the hands of Fabio Fognini and Thiem. It is only the third time the Spaniard has failed to win either the Monte Carlo or Barcelona title and the first since 2015. Even more extraordinary is that he heads into May without a clay-court title to his name so far this year. Something that hasn’t happened to Nadal since 2004.
“It does me the same harm to lose here, than in Monte Carlo, than anywhere else. Honestly, it did not hurt me too much, last week in Monte Carlo it did me bad, they are completely different dynamics.” Nadal said following his loss to Thiem.
“There are defeats that hurt more and others that can help, this is one of them. It’s been a long time since I felt so good playing on the clay, it’s been the best match I’ve had since the clay tour began.”
Nadal’s recent trophy drought has been partly due to his string of injury setbacks. Over the past year he has been marred by problems with his abdominal and knees. On top of that, he also underwent a minor procedure on his ankle last November. Last year, Nadal withdrew or retired from 11 out of 12 tournaments that were played on a hard court.
Despite being one of the most successful players in the history of the sport, Nadal is only human. It is evident that his start and stop progression on the tour has affected his game. As it would with other top players. One area of his game he admits need work on is his serve. Against Thiem in Barcelona, he hit five double faults and won only 43% of the points behind his second serve.
“The serve [was] an important part of the match (Saturday) afternoon,” The world No.2 said. “I didn’t serve well at all, especially the second serve. So when I started to miss the second serve, I really lost a little bit of the confidence on trying to go for a good first serve, because I was without confidence on the second, so that affects the first.”
Despite his recent misfortunes both on and off the court, Nadal is confident that he is on the right path. This time of the year is statistically the most important for him. He is defending a total of 4680 points on the tour during the clay season. He has already dropped 500 points in Monte Carlo and 320 in Barcelona. However, his world No.2 position remains intact for the time being.
“I think I’ve done the hardest thing, lay a positive foundation to get ahead, a few days ago the situation was much more complicated.” Nadal stated. “I have once again enjoyed playing tennis and lost to a top-level opponent. I’ve been competitive until the end, but I’ve had to play more games like that to have a clearer option for victory.”
The next test for Nadal will be at the Caja Magica, venue of the Madrid Masters. He is a five-time champion of the tournament, which has unique conditions because of its altitude of around 2000 feet.
“Now comes a complicated week like Madrid, with conditions totally different from here.” He said.
“Right now I am in a position where I am happy, I can aspire to things that a week ago I saw complicated. Last week I did not advance, but this one I did.”
It is true that Nadal is yet to find the form that has earned him the nickname of ‘the king of clay.’ Raising the chances of another player potentially triumphing at Roland Garros later this year. However, the 17-time grand slam champion has still maintained his consistency on the tour. Since winning the French Open last year, he has reached the semi-finals or better in seven out of the right tournaments he has been able to play in.
Nadal may be experiencing difficulty on the court, but don’t write him off yet.