The Emperor of Clay - Nadal

 

The King of Clay now
The Emperor of Clay

Nadal is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in tennis. He wins on all three court surfaces on which the world’s four most important tennis tournaments are played: the grass of Wimbledon, the hard acrylic composition used at the Australian Open and the U.S. Open and, especially, the soft red clay of the French Open. In fact, he has acquired the nickname “The King of Clay.”

What is it about Nadal that makes him dominant on all surfaces but nearly unbeatable on clay? The answers include legs as thick as telephone poles and a forehand that produces, on average, 3,300 revolutions per minute of dizzying spin.

Leg strength is more important on clay than any other surface, the basis of all movement. Gil Reyes, a fitness trainer who worked with Andre Agassi, among others, noted that while clay might look fun at home, might appear cushiony, moving on it is like “playing tennis on a hardwood floor in socks.”

Legs, Reyes said, stabilize players’ skeletons on clay and relieve the inevitable tension the instability places on the back. “On clay, Nadal’s inner thighs are particularly important,” Reyes said. “They allow him to unload his holsters with his feet so far apart, in those rare instances he’s off-balance. And not just the strength to hit, but over and over again.”

Patrick McEnroe, general manager for development at the United States Tennis Association, said Nadal’s positioning helped create spin. “That’s what separates him: how heavy his forehand is, just the r.p.m.’s it generates.” 

When they say heavy, they mean it literally. The average professional men’s tennis player hits a forehand that spins at 2,700 revolutions per minute. Nadal’s spins at 600 r.p.m.’s greater on average and clears the net at a far greater height. Because of his racket speed, because of the revolutions produced, because new string technology generates more spin, his forehand kicks higher in the air and with a less predictable bounce, chunks of clay flying this way and that.

A Relentless, Muscular Playing Style

Nadal’s never-say-die playing style, one that involves covering every inch of the court and often several feet beyond the baseline and doubles alleys, has battered opponents into submission in his rise to the top. It has also battered his knees through cumulative wear and tear.

The effect of this tenacious physicality is compounded by the number of matches Nadal plays; he enters nearly every tournament, and usually reaches the finals.

Because Nadal is so muscled-up and explosive, his best tennis looks not like a gift from heaven but instead like the product of ferocious will. His victories and his taped-up knees and his years as a very good No. 2 in the world all resonate together, as though the rewards and the wages of individual effort had been animated in a single human being: if you hurl yourself at a particular goal furiously enough and long enough you may tear your body up in the process, but you may get there after all.

 

Background

Rafael Nadal was born in 1986 in Majorca, an island in the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain. He still lives there, in a nontouristy little city called Manacor, about 15 miles from the beach. A four-story building has served for many years as an informal family compound, housing Rafael’s parents, his younger sister, his grandparents and various other relations.

Rafael began playing tennis at age 3, coached by his uncle, Toni Nadal. There was a lot more soccer than tennis during Rafael’s early childhood; the family apartment hallways and local streets served for ballhandling practice and, before long, he was the leading scorer even on teams of boys older than he was.

By the time he was 11, Rafael was playing competitive tennis regularly, but he was still grasping the racket two-handed, for forehand and backhand alike. He recalled that while he did most things with his right hand, his physical strength seemed concentrated on the left, which is how he became a left-handed player.

When he won the 2005 French Open at 19, he became the first teenager to win a Grand Slam since Pete Sampras in 1990