A last victory in earned Robin Soderling, an unheralded Swede who had never previously checked into the second week of a Grand Slam, a place in the sport's history books. There is no other way of beating him on clay. You have to take the initiative.
Analysis and opinion from the BBC's tennis correspondent. How to get into tennis - it's fun, will keep you fit and caters for all levels and abilities. Find your nearest court and learn the basics with our guide. Get the latest tennis headlines sent straight to your phone, sign-up to our newsletter and learn where to find us on online. Tap into a heart-to-heart between Kevin and Stacey about persistence in the face of difficulties.
Eight players battle on The Tournament in nail-biting tug-of-war quiz matches, hosted by Alex Scott. Rafael Nadal won his first French Open aged 19 in , claiming his 13th title in This is an updated version of an article published after Nadal won his 11th French Open title in June Top Stories. Australia stun Pakistan to reach final. Wales secure play-off place at least.
Arthur resigns as Yorkshire chief exec. Also in Sport. What is COP26 and how does it affect sport? Watch thrilling finale as New Zealand stun England to reach final. Everything you need to know about Villa appointing Gerrard - in one place. With Rafael Nadal having two defensive weapons on clay, this designates him to be the best clay courters of all times. For instance, in his recent match at the Italian Open , where he dismantled the Serbian in the finals, the best returners in the history of tennis, Novak Djokovic came across his first break point on the match in the second set.
However, Rafa promptly effaced that point by converting a backhand stroke to a jaw-dropping forehand. The conversion rate of that groundstroke was minimal, Rafa accelerated on his toes. He made sure that Rafael Nadal trained on his agility part involving drills to ameliorate his footwork, which credits for his agile movement on clay.
He is blessed with natural strength which allows him to pummel the tennis balls powerfully. And his resistance training helps him to soar that inbuilt strength. The Spaniard, Rafael Nadal is one of the quickest men on ATP tour, he does it swiftly and create some angled shots with his deadly forehand. It eventually makes it strenuous for his opponents to play his returns. They just focus on giving their best to stay in the point, defend his balls rather than acing it.
The clay surface promotes spin-play. He denies to give free points to his opponents and rather drives his opponents to commit mistakes. All these aspects make Rafael Nadal undaunted on clay in spades. One of the things that has always made Rafael Nadal stand out from the rest of the field is his athletic ability. On clay, the ball is a little slower so that gives Nadal even more time to exploit his athleticism and return shots that otherwise might have passed him by.
Nadal is so fast that it forces his opponents to aim right for the corners of the court, otherwise they know their shot is coming back to them.
He has the heart of a champion and will fight with every breath to win, especially on clay. The surface is slightly harder to run on, which makes his endless tank of energy feel all the more draining for his opponents. Left-handers have always given trouble to right-handed people in many sports. Because the ball tends to sit up nicely on clay, Nadal gets that extra split second or two to generate even more topspin on his forehand returns.
Baseball has always been the most romantic of sports, one obsessed with lore and tradition and the belief that anything is possible. And there are few underdog stories in baseball right now more unbelievable than Chicago Cubs third baseman Patrick Wisdom. Wisdom is a year-old rookie who had toiled in the Minor Leagues for nearly a decade before this season. When he finally broke into the big leagues for a short, nine game stint with the Rangers in , he batted.
And what Wisdom is it that Patrick has learned that led him to finally get his chance in the Big Leagues? The physical skills have always been there, but he says that he has finally mastered the mental aspects of baseball. He used to obsess over his mistakes. Now, he lets them go. Just trying to play my game. She was 15 years-old when she made her LPGA debut, but as Alan Shipnuck found in , it took Michelle Wie a decade to find happiness—and win some golf tournaments in the process.
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