Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Sports
Home / Sports / Tennis

Nadal begins post-Toni era with new set of challenges

China Daily | Updated: 2018-01-12 13:54
Share
Share - WeChat
Rafael Nadal competes at the ATP World Tour Finals at O2 Arena in London in November. [Photo/Agencies]

By winning the French and US Open titles last year, Rafael Nadal showed that talk of his demise had been exaggerated.

Still, he faces a battle to repeat those feats without his uncle and lifelong coach Toni, while also fighting familiar injury troubles.

Nadal returns to the Australian Open, where he lost a thrilling five-set final to perennial rival Roger Federer in 2017, after overcoming chronic knee problems just in time.

He's hoping to continue last year's progress under new coach Carlos Moya.

Former world No 1 Moya will lead Nadal's team, after spending last season with Rafa and Toni preparing for the latter's retirement, having helped Nadal roar back to life after a barren three-year spell without a Grand Slam trophy.

Moya can take some credit for the vast improvement in Nadal's second serve, which helped the Spaniard win a 10th French Open title without dropping a set and saw him blow away Kevin Anderson to lift the final major of the year in New York.

"I increased my serve by several kilometers per hour and I think I did better overall with my second than first, and I can say I won some points almost for free as a result," Nadal said in a recent interview with Spanish daily AS.

"We'll have to keep working on that because in my career there are two vital things-the serve and the return-where I start the point and where I have to attack so I don't have to run more than I need to.

"It's a new era and will be like adapting to a different routine. Moya has come with new ideas and new methods of working that have worked well, and we are excited."

Nadal, 31, became the oldest player to end the year as world No 1, although the stresses and strain on his body finally took their toll when he had to pull out of the ATP World Tour Finals in November after losing his opening-round match.

That was his last competitive action as he missed warm-up events in Abu Dhabi and Brisbane and only returned for the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament on Jan 9, in which he lost in straight sets to Richard Gasquet.

Nadal was naturally rusty after his extended break but looked free from his notorious knee problems and is not alone heading to the Australian Open after injury troubles.

Andy Murray has had to extend his six-month absence by having hip surgery, while Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka have not played competitively since Wimbledon in July although the pair, unlike the Briton, will be at Melbourne Park.

Nadal's biggest challenge, and that of compatriot Moya, will be to beat tournament favorite and world No 2 Federer after losing all his four matches against the Swiss last season.

Federer took his Grand Slam tally to 19 after extended rest breaks and Nadal, who enters his 18th season on the ATP tour, has also benefitted from carefully picking tournaments to preserve his fitness.

"My schedule in 2017 was the correct one, only playing the tournaments that were practically obligatory and the occasional warm-up event," he told AS. "My plan for 2018 is similar and my aim is to miss out a few more events, but it will depend on results."

Most Popular

Highlights

What's Hot
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: av在线亚洲男人的天堂| 五十路亲子中出中文字幕| 色猫咪av在线网址| 国产精品青青青高清在线观看| 丹麦**一级毛片www| 欧美亚洲人成网站在线观看刚交| 免费无毒片在线观看| 韩国中文字幕电影| 国产精品欧美一区二区三区| www日本xxx| 日本中文字幕有码在线视频| 亚洲午夜国产精品无码 | 思思99re66在线精品免费观看| 久久综合精品视频| 欧美第一页浮力影院| 免费一级毛片免费播放| 色88久久久久高潮综合影院 | 久久久不卡国产精品一区二区| 欧美午夜性视频| 亚洲视屏在线观看| 精品欧美一区二区三区四区| 国产又粗又猛又黄又爽无遮挡| xxxxx亚洲| 国产麻豆剧果冻传媒星空在线看| 一个人免费视频观看在线www | 亚洲精品15p| 精品一区精品二区制服| 国产三级片在线观看| 国产你懂的在线观看| 国产精品精品自在线拍| av区无码字幕中文色| 强行扒开双腿猛烈进入免费视频| 久久久精品免费| 最新版天堂中文在线官网| 亚洲国产精品第一区二区| 激情freesexhd糟蹋videos| 免费被黄网站在观看| 美女被免费视频网站| 国产乱码精品一区二区三区中文| 国产成人精品亚洲2020| 国产精品久久久精品三级|