Rafael Nadal has achieved more than the average 25-year-old – even Mark Zuckerberg is two years older. The Spaniard has amassed 10 Grand Slam titles and starts his hunt for an 11th this week in Melbourne. (It’s already Sunday here, of course.)
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- Rafael Nadal shows off his left-handed forehand in a match against Roger Federer in November.
But his career may never have escalated had he not developed his left-handed game which has confounded the tour’s best for just under a decade.
From the time he picked up a racket age 4, Nadal played with a two-handed forehand and backhand, but led with his left foot when playing soccer.
“I am not so intelligent, I thought he was left-handed, now I know he is right-handed,” coach and uncle Toni Nadal told more than 300 delegates at the Australian Grand Slam Coaches’ Conference on Saturday, adding that his nephew moved to a single-handed forehand age 10.
“The only thing Rafael does now with his left hand is play tennis,” Toni Nadal said. The Australian Open’s second seed signs autographs, brushes his teeth and plays golf with his right hand. He even uses his right hand to pick at his underwear between most points, a habit developed as a junior to abate nerves, according to Toni.
The coach again brought up golf when dishing out advice about efficient training. He pushed the idea that if players put in enough intensity during on-court practice, they shouldn’t need to do as much physical work in the gym.
“It’s like a golfer who takes a cart around the course but goes home to walk on a treadmill,” he analogized.
To an audience hanging on every translated word, Toni also reflected on his experience at the 2009 Australian Open.
Nadal had squeezed past countryman Fernando Verdasco in the semifinal to win a close five-setter that included three tiebreak sets.
Ahead of the final against Roger Federer that Sunday, the then 22-year old complained of sore calves, a sore shoulder, blisters on his hands and a headache. He wanted to call the training session off.
“I told him in two hours when you play the final, you won’t be better, you’ll probably be worse but I know that you’ll never be as close to winning the Australian Open as you are today,” Toni said.
“One thing I’m sure of is if you had a person in a firing range with a pistol pointing at you, you wouldn’t stop running, so it all depends on you, that you look for the motivation to win and don’t think of the problems you have in this moment.”
Nadal went on to defeat his rival 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-2 and doing so, claimed his first Grand Slam title on a hardcourt.
The Spaniard leads off the Open against American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov in the first round in a career-first meeting.
Article reproduced from http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2012/01/14/australian-open-rafael-nadal-part-time-southpaw/
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