Mid-Season Roundup: Grass is just for cows…and a guy named Roger

“Grass is just for cows” that old quote that someone said once and people like me haven’t stopped using in articles since. Who was it again? Certainly wasn’t 8 time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer: that’s for sure! Okay, so I know it was Manuel Santana but one would be forgiven for mistaking the origin on someone like….Rafael Nadal?

Now, I’m not saying that Nadal is bad on grass! Partially because I fear the backlash from the millions of Rafans worldwide but mainly because it would be unfair and simply untrue….however…..

I think at this stage of his career even Rafa himself would be happy to admit that it is the surface he feels the least comfortable on. I mean, as uncomfortable as someone who has won it twice (one of which required him to beat the great Federer) could ever feel! But we must acknowledge that since that fateful 2012 Nadal on grass has been more woe than whoa.

It all started with a Czech player by the name of Lukas Rosol who came from nowhere to upset Nadal in the 2^nd round of Wimbledon. At world number 100 the result shook the tennis world. But really it shouldn’t have been anything to worry about – Nadal may not have played his supreme best but Rosol was on fire hitting 90 mph forehands with pinpoint accuracy and at 5 sets it wasn’t exactly a demolition job. Unfortunately, self-confidence can be a fragile concept and it has since seemed like Rafa has been sent into something of a grass court tailspin with well documented losses having come to the likes of Steve Darcis in 2013, Nick Kyrgios in 2014, Dustin Brown in 2015 (and 2014 in Halle). In 2016 injury forced his withdrawal from Wimbledon meaning that for 5 consecutive years the name Nadal was absent from the list of quarter-finalists.

To be fair, Rafael Nadal’s career has at times been hampered by various injury troubles and he has spoken out about the effect the grass court surface in particular has on his knees. He is the undisputed king of clay but, having been brought up on Spanish clay courts with a topspin heavy aggressive baseliner playing style, Wimbledon was always likely to pose a bigger challenge. Furthermore, he has been unlucky in the respect that the players he has lost to all seem to be genuinely inspired and play out of their skin tennis on the day of their match. But I can’t help but feel that if it hadn’t been for the Rosol loss then he would have found a way through a couple more of the aforementioned defeats. His confidence might have been higher, theirs might have been lower and the result might have been different…especially over 5 sets!

So what better than his 2017 ‘La Decima’ triumph to restore the Rafaith? I honestly thought that heading into Wimbledon 2017 his chances were looking far more favourable. Although, I did fear a lack of warm up tournament could be a risk! Still in the back of my mind I wondered if prospective opponents like Millman, Young and Khachanov could cause some trouble. But Rafa swept past all 3 in straight sets style! He seemed only enhanced by his decision to rest and picked up where he had left off on the clay. So when he faced Gilles Muller in the fourth round I didn’t think much of it…..and the rest is history as they say. 15-13 in the fifth as Muller pulled off the win of his career and for the 6^th year in a row no quarterfinal for Nadal.

So where does this leave us? We can argue he was tired from the French Open, he didn’t have enough grass practice, his confidence has been damaged or he is just unlucky that opponents often bring their very best against him. Maybe the truth involves a mixture of all of this? But really, it all comes down to the reality that Rafael Nadal just doesn’t feel at home on grass. He may never win another Wimbledon but, you know what Rafans? It doesn’t matter! Because he is a legend with 15 grand slams and, after all, “grass is just for cows”.