Rafael Nadal overtakes Federer for top ranking

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Rafael Nadal overtakes Federer for top ranking
« on: June 11, 2010, 12:58:03 AM »
A man on the move, Rafael Nadal keeps improving

By HOWARD FENDRICH

PARIS (AP)—Rafael Nadal is a man on the move.

That’s the way he plays tennis, scampering all over the court with endless energy, and the way he approaches his career.

As of Monday, he once again has risen to No. 1 in the rankings, overtaking Roger Federer. Nadal is the first man to win five French Open championships in six years. He owns seven Grand Slam titles overall.

And, don’t forget, he is less than a week past his 24th birthday.

So how did Nadal plan to mark the occasion? A champagne-fueled party? An afternoon spent touring the City of Light? A few well-deserved days off?

Not quite. No, here was what Nadal’s schedule called for Monday: the obligatory photo op with his latest trophy from Roland Garros, followed by a Eurostar train trip through the Channel Tunnel to London, followed by an evening practice session on a grass court.

He already is moving on and moving ahead—thinking about Wimbledon, which begins June 21, and thinking about how he can get better.

“There are still a lot of things missing. I must continue to improve. To really be satisfied, I have to become the best tennis player of all time. That’d be really great,” Nadal said Sunday evening, a few hours after completely dominating Robin Soderling to win the French Open final 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

“That’s why I try to progress every day. I try to improve my serve, my forehand, my backhand, even my volley,” the Spaniard said. “That makes me happy.”

Put simply, Nadal and his uncle, Toni, his coach since Rafael was 4, are never satisfied, no matter how good the guy’s game appears to be.

To that end, Uncle Toni scours YouTube, looking for videos of top players in action, and then he makes his nephew watch and try to copy certain skills. One recent project involved studying the serve of Andy Murray, a two-time Grand Slam runner-up currently ranked No. 4.

“Murray,” Toni Nadal explained, “has a very easy, good serve.”

The older Nadal likes Murray’s wrist action and wanted the lefty-playing Rafael to mimic it. But away from a tennis court, Rafael is right-handed—watch him sign autographs after a match, for example—and when he attempted to snap his left wrist, racket in hand, the new, Murray-like movement did not come naturally.

They’ve examined pieces of other players, too, including the footwork of 16-time Grand Slam champion Federer.

“We can look and watch his legs,” Toni Nadal said.

All the work the Nadals put in, on and off the court, is part of the evolution of an elite player.

There are obvious changes, such as standing closer to the baseline than Nadal used to, and more subtle ones, such as to his serve, which is much more of an asset now than it once was. On Sunday, Nadal saved all eight break points he faced and delivered the same number of aces, seven, as the taller, harder-hitting Soderling.

“His offensive capabilities have improved tenfold, and his serve has improved exponentially, and his court position. So he’s gotten way better than he was five years ago, in my mind,” Brad Gilbert, who used to coach Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, said after Sunday’s final.

“His game is more economical. His movement is still amazing, but he’s playing a much (better) brand of offense, so that’s why I think that he’s better now than ever,” Gilbert said.

It’s the constant striving that helped Nadal snap an 11-month title drought that began in May 2009: He has won 22 consecutive matches and four tournaments in a row.

“He never takes anything for granted, and he’ll tell you that he’ll be nervous, probably, about his first-round match. And that’s why he’s so great,” Gilbert said. “Nothing is a foregone conclusion, but to me, as long as he’s healthy, he’s going to have another six to eight good cracks at” winning the French Open, a title only Bjorn Borg, with six, captured more times than Nadal already has.

Gilbert’s reference to Nadal’s health is significant. His all-out style takes its toll, and could be one reason Nadal never has been past the semifinals at the U.S. Open, the final major tournament each season.

He was hampered by an abdominal muscle injury at Flushing Meadows in September, then quit during his quarterfinal against Murray at the Australian Open in January because of a bad right knee.

Tendinitis in both knees slowed Nadal last season, limiting him during his fourth-round loss to Soderling at the French Open—the only blemish in a 38-1 career record at Roland Garros—and forcing him to withdraw from Wimbledon instead of defending his 2008 title there.

In 2009, which Nadal called “a difficult year,” he also was dealing with his parents’ separation.

Both he and his uncle acknowledged Sunday they harbored doubts about whether Nadal would be able to regain his previous form. The recent run of success— including winning all 21 sets he played at the French Open, capped by the masterful performance against Soderling—showed that Nadal is, indeed, back.

Now he heads to England and its grass courts.

Nadal is entered in the Queen’s Club tournament this week, and then will return to Wimbledon. He reached the final each of the last three times he competed at the All England Club, finishing runner-up to Federer in 2006 and 2007, then edging him 9-7 in the fifth set two years ago.

Looking forward, never behind, Nadal vowed Sunday: “I’m going to try my best every day to adapt to the grass as fast as possible.”

Always on the move.