Novak Djokovic’s strategy coach Craig O’Shannessy has revealed the secret behind World No. 1 Rafael Nadal’s clay court dominance.
Nadal made his return to action on Friday, representing Spain in the Davis Cup quarter-final against Germany, beating Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets after spending more than two months on the sidelines due to a hip injury. The Spaniard was forced to retire from his Australian Open contest against Marin Cilic of Croatia in January and subsequently had to pull out of his scheduled events in Acapulco, Indian Wells and Miami.
After Davis Cup duty for his country, Nadal is expected to intensify his preparations for the defense of his French Open title by competing at the Monte Carlo Masters, followed by participation in the Barcelona Open, Madrid Open and Rome Masters.
As Nadal is defending more than 4500 points, he will have to win all those titles once again in 2018 to remain at the summit of the men’s rankings.
There are hardly any secrets about the Majorcan’s unparalleled success on clay.
But O’Shannessy insists the impeccable efficiency of Nadal’s returns, which has helped him win more points than any other player on the red dirt, has been the prime reason behind his stunning record on the surface.
“Overall, there is not one serve or return metric that Nadal has a superior career ranking on hard courts over clay courts,” O’Shannessy told ATP World Tour.
“Step one for the Spaniard is to keep the serving side of the equation on clay as close as possible to his serving on hard. He has certainly achieved that.
“Step two is to put up unprecedented numbers when he returns serve.
“When returning on clay, Nadal typically stands way back to let the speed of the serve slow down for greater return consistency and also to allow more time to deliver a full-blooded swing at the ball.
“He then looks to improve his court position up closer to the baseline as the point unfolds, looking to crush his forehand from locations all over the court.
“Serving against Nadal on hard court is always challenging. Serving against him on clay is downright formidable.”
