Wally Masur identifies real reason for Rafael Nadal’s struggles at start of 2023
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Former Australian Davis Cup team captain Wally Masur thinks Rafael Nadal is “in a state of flux” ahead of his Australian Open title defence. Nadal, 36, kicked off his 2023 season with back-to-back United Cup losses against Cameron Norrie and Alex de Minaur.
When watching Nadal’s first two matches of the season, Masur felt that Nadal was trying to be really aggressive and shorten points. But being too aggressive and playing short points has never been Nadal’s style as throughout his career the Spaniard has been known as someone who constructs points and plays tactical tennis.
In those two United Cup matches, Masur thought that Nadal went against his natural instincts and that’s why it didn’t go well for him.
Masur: Nadal is in a bit of a state of flux
“It was pretty apparent, you could see what he’d been working on.
He was trying to abbreviate points, he was trying to be more aggressive, he was serve-volleying. Rafael Nadal was serve-volleying – he won Wimbledon without serve-volley. He couldn’t just be the guy that just won the arm-wrestle and just won by attrition – he’s trying to [be the aggressor to] win more points.
It wasn’t completely natural, it’s not Rafa Nadal – he’s operated a certain way for a lot of years. For example there were times when he was on the back foot but he was trying to flatten the ball out. It’s like well, no, you’ve got to get on the front foot, take it on the rise, that was a dropping ball and you’re deeper in the court, that was not the right moment.
He was fighting against instincts to play a bigger game and he was making more errors than he would normally make,” Masur said on Stan Sport’s Grand Slam Daily, as quoted on Nine’s Wide World of Sports. Even though Nadal is 0-2 at the start of the new season, Masur says the Spaniard cannot be counted out ahead of the Australian Open.
“But I just think Rafa’s in a bit of a state of flux. He may be better for the run but half a yard slow, half a step, particularly to that forehand wing it was quite noticeable when he played Cam Norrie. So I’m not sure Rafa’s quite where he needs to be. Can he find it in time? Never doubt a champion,” Masur noted.
Read More: Wally Masur identifies real reason for Rafael Nadal’s struggles at start of 2023 2023-01-13 04:50:20