Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

Why is Nadal so successful and how can he be beaten? Until last year Nadal was the king of clay, winning the 2010 Monte Carlo Open with the loss of only 13 games during the entire tournament.  Clearly Nadal is doing something very right when he plays on clay. Let’s look and see what Nadal is doing so well on clay and how he can be beaten.  firstly, we must consider the way players have been trying to beat Nadal over the last few years The most comon tactic is for players to try and pressure Nadal.  During the 2008 French Open final Roger Federer tried to shorten the points and attack Nadal by changing out of the crosscourt exchange and hitting down the line as quickly as possible.  He also came to net to volley whenever the opportunity presented itself.  The theory was that Nadal is too strong from the baseline and trying to out rally him is pointless.  Unfortunately for Federer the result was one of the most one sided finals in years, and he eventually lost 1-6 3-6 0-6.  Fede