Will Rafael Nadal continue to rule clay courts?

It’s been a strange season for tennis as an aura of uncertainty dominates the predictions. There is no one clear dominant force on the circuit anymore. For the past three years, every time a tournament draw was released, the aficionados could, with a certain sense of surety, place their bets on a player. This season has changed this feeling.

Rafael Nadal is the world number one and his return to tennis following an injury last year was seen as one of the greatest comebacks ever. Not only did he annihilate the competition, but in doing so he reclaimed the world number one ranking. However, he’s in the headlines for different reasons this year.

Nadal has suffered an array of uncharacteristic defeats this season. His losses at Monte Carlo and Barcelona are raising questions about his dominance on clay. The first big blow was a straightset defeat to compatriot David Ferrer. He was guilty of a sloppy shots and making poor decisions. This pattern continued in Barcelona when Nadal lost to another Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro.

He now faces a huge challenge to stay on top. The tenacious Spaniard, over the past decade, has ruled on clay. Points gained from clay tournaments form a major proportion of his overall points. This year, however, Nadal will enter the Madrid Open after back-to-back defeats. In addition, the landscape of tennis has changed with a number of players posing a stiff challenge on clay. To add to that, the Madrid Open, when compared with other clay tournaments, has not been his most preferred. The altitude at which the tournament is held causes the ball to travel faster.

Nadal can, however, find solace in Djokovic withdrawing from the tournament with an injury. This ensures that he will hold the number one ranking at the end of the Madrid Open. But, early exits in either Rome or the French Open could end with him losing his ranking. Unfortunately Rafael Nadal has made a career of the impossible—from improbable shots to comebacks. If the reason for his poor performances is purely psychological, then a good training week coupled with strong performances in the initial rounds at Madrid can do Rafael Nadal a world of good.