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Rafael Nadal: At 24 Is Rafa Starting To Show Signs of Age?
Published: April 18, 2011
Rafa has just won his seventh straight title at Monte Carlo— a gigantic accomplishment. Rafantastic! (to quote commentator Robbie Koenig). Only four other players in history have won more than eight Masters 1000 tournaments overall— Federer, Agassi, Sampras, and Muster. Rafa has won more times in Monte Carlo than 99% of players have in their career in Masters 1000 tournaments. [Rafa said it was waaay more difficult to win consecutively at the same tournament than to win a single grand slam tournament]
But it wasn't pretty. It wasn't elegant like last year, when he lost just 14 games the entire tournament.
Or was it?
Rafa pooped out for the 3rd time in as many tournaments (at Indian Wells and Miami, Rafa lost to Novak Djokovic in the final while showing signs of fatigue), and Rafa - well he did 'say something.' He admitted to being more tired than usual. And in his epic semi-final with Andy Murray at Monte Carlo, Rafa admitted to being dead at the end of the second set.
Rafa says that everybody is fit these days and it's usually not a matter of him being more fit and able to outlast his opponents at the end of a match. (But that's only true for the top guys – clearly Rafa can outlast lower ranked guys in the early rounds).
It may be that Murray and Djokovic—two guys who have really worked on their fitness, have gotten on a par with Rafa and he can no longer count on them failing at the end. These two guys are going to be his top rivals in the near-term, not Roger any more. And that's as it should be.
In Monte Carlo, Rafa said something surprising—which is that he started thinking about the third set as the second set wound down. I've never heard R...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis
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