 |
|
 |
|
|
||||||
|
 Nadal beats Berdych to reach Miami finalRips tour schedule: 'We can't have the calendar thinking about the college basketball.We are 100 percent disappointed about this decision of the ATP'
"I think it's impossible to compare it," Nadal said about how his hard-court game has changed over the past three years. "2005, I won in Montreal, I won in Madrid, I played final here. The numbers are saying I'm not much better than 2005, so … I think I have more years, more experience. I'm better player than 2005. I don't have any doubt about this. But it's impossible to compare it." Actually, it's not so hard to compare. There has been one big change to Nadal's game in those three years and that is how he has beefed up his serve when he has the courage to go for it. He is hitting it with more pace now, though it'll never become a true weapon. Tactically, Rafa has moved a little closer to the baseline during the past month, and he is slowly becoming a more aggressive player. He changed something else, and that is turning the tables on his hard-court nemesis. Before Indian Wells, Tomas Berdych, along with James Blake, had been impossible hurdles to take for Nadal on hard courts. He was 0 out of 3 against both, but over the past two events, Nadal has taken all three meetings against the two of them. Nadal got off to a great aggressive start against Berdych, but after little more than a game, he started relying on his defensive skills. What followed were some shaky games from the Spaniard, but Berdych hit a backhand wide on his lone break point, at 3-all. In the Czech's next service game, he couldn't find his first delivery, and produced two bad misses to fall behind a break. Nadal held a set point serving at 5-3, but two powerful forehands from Berdych put him back in the set. In the tiebreak, Berdych showed he is still a mentally vulnerable player. He choked big time in his fourth round match against Federer at the Australian Open, where he should have won at least a set, and he crumbled again on the crucial points against Nadal. At 6-7 in the breaker, Berdych hit his first double fault of the match to lose the set. The tenth seed immediately dropped serve and completely went away after that. Nadal cruised through the last couple of games and won the match on a forehand winner. "He was playing really solid and he took the first set, and then I have to say that I get little bit tired," Berdych said. "And then, I mean, if you are not 100 percent with him, then it's really tough to play." Berdych said he doesn't like the month-long stretch of Indian Wells and Miami. "It's really long because you came from Europe and you have to get used for the other conditions, so you have to come a little bit earlier to the States. So you spend like one week before the tournament. Then if you lose first round or a little bit earlier in the draw, you have like 14 days to next match. So you just move [to Miami]. Every day practicing and on the same place. It's like all the things together." Yeah, practicing in Miami for two weeks is of course a big downer when you have the chance to work on your game indoors in Europe, where it's practically freezing outside. Man up Tomas.
"I'm very comfortable in United States, but not for this time," Rafa said. "It's not fair to have one month, two tournaments, and after go back to Europe and we have to play three Masters Series on clay. We have only three Masters Series on clay during all the season, and we have [them all] in four weeks. So for us it's terrible." Nadal said he is unhappy that the ATP planned the tournaments of Indian Wells and Miami one week later in the calendar this season, giving the players less time to prepare for the grueling clay-court events. "Everybody can say about the Olympics, is not for the Olympics," Nadal said. "It's because [Indian Wells and Miami] are one week later, because you have college basketball. But, well, we can't have the calendar thinking about the college basketball, no? So we are 100 percent disappointed about this decision of the ATP." This weekend is the Final Four, the semis and final from American college basketball. Also, CBS, the network that telecasts these games, also telecasts the Sony Ericsson Open finals. "Finally the European players are, well, very angry about this decision, no? For me it's terrible," Rafa said. "I'm a clay player, but I can play very well on all surfaces. But play four weeks it's impossible if you are playing well, no?" Nadal makes some good points here, as the clay-court schedule is indeed cramped up and the decision to move Indian Wells and Miami to give the players less time to prepare didn't help either. The problem lies with the ITF though, as Roland Garros and Wimbledon are locked into their dates, and these are the events that should move ahead a week or two to really make an impact on the calendar and give the players more time to rest. Ideally, Wimbledon would move up an extra week, or longer, to give the players some proper time to rest up from the French Open and get some decent preparation in on the grass. But it seems that may never happen. © TennisReporters.net 2008
|
|
Home | Commentary | The
Scoop | Newsletters | Q&A | Forum | Archives | Links | About
TR | Contact TR TennisReporters.net
encourages e-mail comments on our stories.
Any e-mail sent to feedback@tennisreporters.net
|
