Spain's Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Serbian player Novak Djokovic during the men's single final at Wimbledon in London on July 3, 2011
If there's any year it would seem reasonable to bet against a defending U.S. Open tennis champion, this might be the one. Rafael Nadal, the world's second-ranked player, is entering this year's U.S. Open, which begins on Monday, with a 2011 record that's a dream for most pros. Nadal is 53-10 for the season, which is good for a .841 winning percentage.
But as impressive as that sounds, it's actually a bit underwhelming for a 10-time Grand Slam champion. In fact, Nadal's current 84% match-victory rate is his lowest since 2004, the year before he won his first Grand Slam title and began to threaten Roger Federer's mid-decade dominance. He has won only three tournaments this year — including the French Open, his sixth, which ties him with Bjorn Borg for the most French Open championships. That's his lowest number of tournament titles in, again, seven years.
Nadal took an extended break after his four-set loss to Novak Djokovic in this year's Wimbledon final, a match that Djokovic controlled. Since returning earlier this month, Nadal has underperformed at the two major U.S. Open tune-up tournaments. In Montreal, Nadal lost in the second round to Ivan Dodig of Croatia, then ranked 41st in the world. In Cincinnati last week, he fell to Mardy Fish in the quarterfinal.
"I believe right now, the last few losses might be getting to him a bit," says Nick Bollettieri, who runs the famous Florida tennis academy that produced stars such as Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and the Williams sisters. "That loss at Wimbledon, now the last couple of losses — when you're one of the greatest warriors in the history of the sport, and you start getting beat, what you have to watch for is self-doubt. I believe that right now, that could be an issue. I don't think it's his game, I really don't. The players are getting to him. That's a new experience for him."
When I asked Nadal this week if Bollettieri's words rang true, he didn't snarl, like he does on the court. But he didn't smile, either. "I didn't lose because of doubt," Nadal says in English (the Spaniard's English can be stilted at times but continues to improve). He had just spoken at a New York City promotional event for Bacardi (Nadal is the new spokesperson for the company's "Champions Drink Responsibly" campaign. "Not every serve has to be hard," goes one tagline).
"I lost because I didn't play well," he says. Nadal points out that an achy left foot slowed him at Wimbledon and hindered his preparation for the North American tournaments. "That injury lasted more than a month," says Nadal. "I didn't practice enough in the summer. I only practiced three or four days before Montreal. So it's tough. I need more competition, I need more matches."
He called the loss to Dodig "unlucky," and he mentioned two things about the Cincinnati tournament: he burned his fingers on a hot plate at a Japanese steak house, requiring him to wear a bandage. And Nadal, who is strongest on clay, the slowest surface, never plays well in Cincinnati, home to one of the fastest courts on the tour. (Indeed, Nadal has never made it to a Cincinnati final and has even lost in the first round twice).