Testing times for Rafael Nadal's nerves of steel

Rafael Nadal has been having a good year filled with ample wins. But then he has been missing the mark compared to his benchmarking performances in previous years. He has been losing to lower ranked players too and will be hoping to steer his way towards perfection yet again.

Known for his determined attitude of shifting to top gear of aggression under immense pressure and coming out on the winning side, Rafael Nadal has been snatching key wins on major stages for almost a decade now, but this year has been a little different. After his much expected and most awaited French Open title win this year, Nadal has been stretched and made to work hard for victories.

Soon after the French Open, the world number two shifted focus to the Queen’s Club event in London where he handed over a win to big Frenchman, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in the quarterfinals. Later at Wimbledon the only man between him and the title was Novak Djokovic who beat him for the fifth time this year in the finals, that too in four sets.

Fresh from the Wimbledon loss, the Majorcan bowed out of the ATP1000 event of Canada from the second round. He lost to world number 32, Ivan Dodig in three tough sets. Then later he went on to reach the quarterfinals only to face a surprising defeat against Mardy Fish in straight sets. Nadal’s run of surprising losses did not end there. As the year faded, Djokovic again earned a win over Nadal in the final of the US Open.

As Nadal made his way towards Asia to be part of the event in Tokyo, Andy Murray managed to get his top level and dismantled him in three tough sets. Yet another final defeat to a lower ranked player, never mind Murray’s standard of play. Then Nadal went over to Shanghai where everyone expected him to avenge his Tokyo final loss predicting the other finalist to be Murray. But the Spaniard had a tough time fishing out even one set against twentieth ranked German, Florian Mayer. Mayer outclassed him in straight sets as Nadal put on weary look on his face at the end of his second round loss.

All these matches saw raging bull missing the rage and aggression in his strokes. With his bread and butter forehand missing the mark and his stinging double handed backhands pitching short, opponents found it easier to pounce on the odd short ball and approach towards the net for a sharp volley winner. Nadal has undoubtedly improved his serve but then seems to have missed his edge and sustenance when it comes to pulling the crucial points to his credit.

Nadal will next play at Paris before venturing into the season ending ATP World tour finals which will be the battlefield of top eight players from the ATP ranking race. With a probable title in Paris, the second ranked Spaniard can enter the World tour finals with the much needed confidence and urge to blaze towards excellence. He will be hoping to get his confidence by then and arm himself with power packed punches to outclass even the best in the game like he always does.

On being asked during the French Open about eventually losing his number one spot to surging Serb Djokovic, he said, “For me it's not an obligation to play well every day. I will be number one, for one more week. The number one cannot always play at the number one level; sometimes he can play the level of number 30 or number 10. You are number one because most of the days during the season your level is regular, and even if you are not playing that well you keep winning”

All things said and done, one fact can be deduced that the King of Clay will be hitting Paris and the following World Tour Finals with all his might to once again start cracking a string of glorious victories in his favour.