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Nadal goes backwards with his service and faces a tough 2007.
DUBAI.- It was the hit which he worked the most in all the pre-season in Mallorca, but in the moment of truth the spaniard Rafael Nadal decided to recover his old service, to face the one that looks like the most hard year so far in his short carrer.
"I have decided to lower the speed of my service during the matches and to go back to play more to placing, to percentage. I have come doing it whole my life, and I haven't done it so bad either", Nadal said to dpa agency before to abandon Dubai, where he defended the tilt but fell in quarters of final.
Nadal still has 20 years old, but he's facing his seventh complete season as profesional. So far everything was a climb without pause, everything were praises for the player that, of not existing Roger Federe, would be the unquestionable number one of the world.
But a lot of information points that 2007 will be his harder year till now, a full year of pressure: the one that is autoimposed, which there put his compatriots and, especially, the one that threatens from below, with names as the Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who in spite of his 24 years can be placed together with the Britisher Andy Murray (20), the Czech Tomas Berdych (21) and the Serbian Novak Djokovic, "teenager" still at his 19 years.
The rivals know the game of Nadal, already they are not surprised before his powerful hits and his non-negotiable will to fight every point, every ball. Nadal is a notable player, but he has also weak points - technical and physical-, and some of his colleagues believe that there approaches the moment to take advantage of them.
" In the today tennis you need a solid service. The only one, or probably one of the few ones that wins tournaments without a good service is Nadal", said Djokovic after having at the edge of the "nocaut" the almost unbeatable Federer.
The day will arrive in which it loses something of physique
The Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who fell down in three sets before Nadal in the first round of Dubai, sees difficulties for the Spanish.
" Nadal is a great player, but he is very good due to the clay. Last year won everything in clay and lost some matches in hard courts and indoor. The way of his tennis is not like Federer, his is more mental. As soon as he begins to lose with some, he is going to go down a bit. It's going to come a day in which he loses something of physique, who become slightly older ", the finalist of Australia said to dpa 2006. -Dnt get what hes saying here
The number two of the world has big titles on hard courts - Dubai beating Federer in the final, and the Canada Open- and indoor tournaments, as that of Madrid 2005. He disputed even Wimbledon's final.
But the great base of his career, the principal argument to maintain himself as number two is in the weeks that go from the beginning of April until June, when he disputes the big tilts on clay, tourneys as Montecarlo, Rome or Roland Garros, where he is the current champion.
"What would happen if he starts failing, if he was returning to lose in clay, something that does not experiment from April, 2005?
This question circulated, without doubts, also in his environment, which decided to relieve the pressure on Nadal providing him with a service that was allowing him to win points without so much effort and to define with more frequency in the net.
This new strategy worked for him only partly in Dubai, and the best test was that the Spaniard was returning to his former service - less powerful, more placed-, while he expects to take the sufficient confidence in order that during the matches works "the cannon" that do flow in the trainings.
" I remain messed up sometimes, neither I obtain the winning points serving a hundred per cent hard ", Nadal admitted to dpa. " In the trainings I continue trying to hit it more strong. I try to do what I could in the matches, and according to my sensations I serve of a way or of other one ".
Confidence for Indian Wells and Miami
Nadal has in March two big challenges ahead, Indian Wells's Masters Series and Miami.
" It was the moment to pass the barrier of the quarters and to come with a bit more of confidence to The United States. But the good thing is that I am playing again well ", analyzed Nadal.
Then there will come the Davis Cup in The United States and, later, the longed season of clay, in which he counts on putting final point to the question that repeats itself: " When will he return to play a final? ".
It is the first question lately... I am pretty calm, am doing everything what I can in every match, always ", assured Nadal, which does not play a final from July, 2006 in Wimbledon, something that the own Federer defined in Dubai as "surprisingly".
A Federer that continues trusting in Nadal. When he was asked this week for whom he would bet as successor in the number one, he answered without doubting: "Nadal, certainly ".
But though Nadal scarcely is leaving the adolescence, the tennis goes very fast. The Spaniard is an established player, a star with veteran's aura. Different, young as Murray, Berdych and Djokovic, want already to rise to the highest. To support the number two will be increasingly meritorious, but also increasingly difficultly for Nadal.
DUBAI.- It was the hit which he worked the most in all the pre-season in Mallorca, but in the moment of truth the spaniard Rafael Nadal decided to recover his old service, to face the one that looks like the most hard year so far in his short carrer.
"I have decided to lower the speed of my service during the matches and to go back to play more to placing, to percentage. I have come doing it whole my life, and I haven't done it so bad either", Nadal said to dpa agency before to abandon Dubai, where he defended the tilt but fell in quarters of final.
Nadal still has 20 years old, but he's facing his seventh complete season as profesional. So far everything was a climb without pause, everything were praises for the player that, of not existing Roger Federe, would be the unquestionable number one of the world.
But a lot of information points that 2007 will be his harder year till now, a full year of pressure: the one that is autoimposed, which there put his compatriots and, especially, the one that threatens from below, with names as the Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who in spite of his 24 years can be placed together with the Britisher Andy Murray (20), the Czech Tomas Berdych (21) and the Serbian Novak Djokovic, "teenager" still at his 19 years.
The rivals know the game of Nadal, already they are not surprised before his powerful hits and his non-negotiable will to fight every point, every ball. Nadal is a notable player, but he has also weak points - technical and physical-, and some of his colleagues believe that there approaches the moment to take advantage of them.
" In the today tennis you need a solid service. The only one, or probably one of the few ones that wins tournaments without a good service is Nadal", said Djokovic after having at the edge of the "nocaut" the almost unbeatable Federer.
The day will arrive in which it loses something of physique
The Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who fell down in three sets before Nadal in the first round of Dubai, sees difficulties for the Spanish.
" Nadal is a great player, but he is very good due to the clay. Last year won everything in clay and lost some matches in hard courts and indoor. The way of his tennis is not like Federer, his is more mental. As soon as he begins to lose with some, he is going to go down a bit. It's going to come a day in which he loses something of physique, who become slightly older ", the finalist of Australia said to dpa 2006. -Dnt get what hes saying here
The number two of the world has big titles on hard courts - Dubai beating Federer in the final, and the Canada Open- and indoor tournaments, as that of Madrid 2005. He disputed even Wimbledon's final.
But the great base of his career, the principal argument to maintain himself as number two is in the weeks that go from the beginning of April until June, when he disputes the big tilts on clay, tourneys as Montecarlo, Rome or Roland Garros, where he is the current champion.
"What would happen if he starts failing, if he was returning to lose in clay, something that does not experiment from April, 2005?
This question circulated, without doubts, also in his environment, which decided to relieve the pressure on Nadal providing him with a service that was allowing him to win points without so much effort and to define with more frequency in the net.
This new strategy worked for him only partly in Dubai, and the best test was that the Spaniard was returning to his former service - less powerful, more placed-, while he expects to take the sufficient confidence in order that during the matches works "the cannon" that do flow in the trainings.
" I remain messed up sometimes, neither I obtain the winning points serving a hundred per cent hard ", Nadal admitted to dpa. " In the trainings I continue trying to hit it more strong. I try to do what I could in the matches, and according to my sensations I serve of a way or of other one ".
Confidence for Indian Wells and Miami
Nadal has in March two big challenges ahead, Indian Wells's Masters Series and Miami.
" It was the moment to pass the barrier of the quarters and to come with a bit more of confidence to The United States. But the good thing is that I am playing again well ", analyzed Nadal.
Then there will come the Davis Cup in The United States and, later, the longed season of clay, in which he counts on putting final point to the question that repeats itself: " When will he return to play a final? ".
It is the first question lately... I am pretty calm, am doing everything what I can in every match, always ", assured Nadal, which does not play a final from July, 2006 in Wimbledon, something that the own Federer defined in Dubai as "surprisingly".
A Federer that continues trusting in Nadal. When he was asked this week for whom he would bet as successor in the number one, he answered without doubting: "Nadal, certainly ".
But though Nadal scarcely is leaving the adolescence, the tennis goes very fast. The Spaniard is an established player, a star with veteran's aura. Different, young as Murray, Berdych and Djokovic, want already to rise to the highest. To support the number two will be increasingly meritorious, but also increasingly difficultly for Nadal.
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