No, No, No Stopping Nadal—Nathan’s Notice

Written by: Staff on 26th January 2012

No, No, No Stopping Nadal—Nathan’s Notice |

By: Nathan M. Cuny

We all know Nadal can possibly take home the title, there’s no doubt there. We all know Nadal is injured—take a look at his right knee. But do we know how he took out the great Federer and overcame the pain in his right knee? Determination. Nadal is determined to win and take back his place as No. 1. After beating Federer 6-7⁵, 6-2, 7-6⁵, 6-4 in the semifinals, Nadal is now going into his 15^th major final at the age of 25.

Following his win Nadal was ecstatic; he now has the chance to win his 11^th Grand Slam Championship. During Nadal’s match with Federer, Nadal hit 54 of his 75 service points to Federer’s backhand. When interviewed after the match Nadal commented, “[To] start the season with the final here is a fantastic start and that gives me a lot of confidence. At the same time, [it] gives me confidence about how I [am] working. I played not bad [in] the second half of the season in 2011. Not bad, but not very well. So I really need to win points to stay in the top positions of the [South African Airways ATP] Rankings.”

Nadal is well on his way to earning a massive amount of points. With a finals win at the Australian Open Nadal could add 2000 points to his South African Airways ATP ranking. Novak Djokovic currently has a points ranking of 13,630. If Nadal wins the Australian Open the 2000 extra points will bring him a long way closer to dethroning the heavy hitting Serb.

The slight changes Nadal made in his playing style as well as his slightly heavier racket may be a huge part of his recent success. His swing is much stronger. Following Nadal’s semifinals match against Federer, Nadal’s average first serve speed was clocked in at 106.88 mph, his average second serve speed flew at about 85.13 mph, and his fastest serve speed during the game was a lightning fast 122.55 mph.

Nadal was asked about his playing style and how he thinks he’ll do against either Andy or Novak, to which he replied, “I [am] happy about how I am doing. When I am able to play inside [the baseline], to play aggressively, I think [my game is] working fantastic. I don’t know if it’s going to be enough against Novak or against Andy. I’m going to try my best to play a fantastic final, and hopefully I will have my chances.” Nadal’s aggression has taken him a long way so far defeating everyone who stood in his path to the finals. Rafa is sure to either dethrone Djokovic or tear down Andy’s dreams in the final. So, keep posted for the finals mayhem at 7:30 PM Melbourne time on Sunday the 29^th.

Topics: Australian Open, Rafael Nadal