By John Barrett at Wimbledon
FT.com site; Jun 25, 2024
He may be the youngest player in the men's draw and appearing for the
first time in a grand slam championship but Rafael Nadal, who
celebrated his 17th birthday just 23 days ago, is already playing
tennis like a grass court veteran.
Having surprised another promising young European, Croatia's Mario
Ancic on Monday, the young Spaniard gave Britain's Lee Childs a
lesson in court craft at Wimbledon on Wednesday to enter the third
round where he will play Paradorn Srichaphan who came back from two
sets down to beat Olivier Mutis of France 4-6 1-6 7-6 7-5 7-5.
Considering that Nadal had not competed since the middle of May - an
elbow injury kept him out of the French Open - the youngster played
with extraordinary poise.
I don't remember a more promising Wimbledon debut since Bjorn Borg,
also just 17, progressed to the quarter-finals here in 1973. As a
match it was surprisingly one-sided. You would have thought that
Childs would at least have been able to impose himself in his own
service games. But from the moment the 21-year-old Briton served the
second of his five double faults to lose his serve for the first time
in the fourth game, he was always playing catch-up. Despite two aces,
he was broken again to lose the first set.
Nadal was fortunate that a short rain-break allowed him to re-group
when Childs was 3-2 ahead with a break in the third set. Refreshed,
Nadal returned and proceeded to reel off the four games he needed for
the match. It had all taken a little over two hours.
After serving his apprenticeship on the Challenger circuit, Nadal
burst on the scene at Monte Carlo last April when he stunned fellow
countryman Albert Costa, the reigning French Open champion at the
time, in straight sets.
One month later in Hamburg, even more spectacularly, he had beaten
his mentor and fellow Mallorcan, Carlos Moya, another former French
Open champion, also in straight sets.
Born in Manacor, Mallorca's second city, Nadal has been coached from
the age of four by his uncle, Toni Nadal. Another uncle is the former
Barcelona midfielder Miguel Angel who now plays for Mallorca.
Rafael seems to have inherited the family sporting genes. Already six
feet tall, his slim athletic frame will surely fill out as he grows
older to provide extra pace on an already penetrating serve.
Impressively fast about the court, there are no technical weaknesses
in his game. The forehand, a wristy flick hit with exquisite natural
timing, reminds me of the young Rod Laver.
Like the great Australian, Nadal can explode unexpectedly on the
ball, flattening it out to produce those sudden changes of pace and
direction that are so destructive. The backhand, hit with two hands
and taken on the rise, is Agassi-like in its counter attacking
destructiveness.
As many opponents have already discovered, an apparently innocuous
return of their best shot comes rocketing back into the corners and
out of reach. It is all deceptively simple and absolutely deadly.
With beautifully soft hands, Nadal volleys neatly too and hits drop
shots or lobs with equal precision. Best of all though is his
attitude to match play which has elements of Lleyton Hewitt about it.
There is the same 101 per cent effort in every rally, the same
willingness to chase down every ball - even the seemingly impossible
ones - so that every now and then a totally unexpected winner flies
from the racket.
He also has the instinctive tactical awareness that made Ken Rosewall
such a wonderful young match player in his day. Two exquisite lobs
that Nadal hit to beat Moya in Hamburg after bringing him to the net
with short angles were right out of the Rosewall mould.
*Thanks for the article, Rebecca. Please do not copy or use on other sites with credit to the original source and VamosRafael.com. Thanks**
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