Rafael Nadal Mini Biography

Rafael Nadal, “The King of Clay,” was born June 3, 1986 in Manacor, Mallorca. He plays for Spain and is ranked number 2 in the world as of July 25, 2007, but placed in fourth after losing to David Ferrer whom is from Spain as well. Nadal won his first ATP match against Ramon Delgado at just 15, making him the ninth player in the open era to win an ATP match before his 16th birthday. He received his nickname “King of Clay” in 2006 where he went the entire year without losing a single match on a clay court. He even defeated Roger Federer, the number one player in the world, at the 2006 Grand Slam final, making him the first person to defeat Federer in a Grand Slam final. Nadal is ambidextrous, he plays tennis lefty but writes right handed and has a two handed backhand. He began tennis as playing right handed but was then taught to play lefty because his coach/uncle thought using his right arm for a two handed back hand would benefit him more. From the match that I watched, I would definitely consider Nadal to be a grinder over other types. He has been through several injuries over the past year but he seemed to be extraordinarily explosive and quick on the courts despite is taped up ankle. He has great support from his family, bringing 22 family members to the match; I would consider him to be very family oriented. He owes his fame to his uncle Toni, his Uncle has taught him tennis his entire life, since about three years old. I have never really gotten into watching tennis on TV, but I found watching Nadal play was very interesting. His backhands seemed to be just as smooth and strong as his forehand. His very heavy topspin gave Ferrer a lot of work, but he played very well also, he was able to counter Nadal's shots despite the wide angles, heavy spins, and high bounces.
Ferrer and Nadal have played a total of 6 times now, and Nadal is 4-2 against him. Even though Nadal did not pull off the win in the US Open, It seemed that Rafael is a stronger player than David. It was amazing to watch Nadal able to hit such wide shots. Nadal gets the ball to turn over so much and gets so much spin that he can create obscene angles on the court and the ball always jumped off the ground fast and high which makes it more difficult to hit a good ball back to him. Rafa, another nickname for Nadal, could move so fluently and was quick to anticipate where the next ball was going, almost like he knew what David was thinking. His serves had more power behind them, but he also had many more double faults, and he could counter the hit so well. I think Rafael’s strong point was how sharp of an angle he could hit. The ball could travel from one side of the court to the other side, and David couldn’t do anything about it. I think that was the most fun aspect to watch, his large angles would make his opponent just give up on the ball. Nadal seemed to go after the ball even if Ferrer seemed to hit a winning ball, I thought this made Rafael stand out more.
The reason Ferrer pulled off the win was because he was moving better, hit more penetrating shots, and grinded better than Rafa. However, I blame Nadal’s injuries to his legs as the reason he was beat out. Ferrer was able to be a little more aggressive and get away with it, I saw Ferrer at the net a few more times than I saw Nadal there. The ending score of the Match was 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-2 in Ferrer’s favor. Nadal won the first set, but unfortunately lost in the next three sets.