Nadal is struggling against the top ten players. Forget about Roger, Nadal needs to figure out how to beat them first.
What are you talking about?
How many of those matches were on clay?
People over here are acting as if not winning titles for a few months and getting hardcourt beatdowns is something NEW for Nadal.
It is NOT.
After winning Roland Garros in 2006, Nadal didn't win a single title for the rest of the year. He was getting "pounded" by top 10'ers as well. Berdych and Youzhny to name some. Even worse, he lost to 642-ranked freakin' Joachim Johanson! Lost to Blake in Shanghai and then Federer.
What happened after that? The following clay court season in 2007 - He won almost everything.
Next year, After 2007 Wimbledon, Nadal won in Stuttgart and
doesn't win a title for the next 9 months and people go crazy over the drought. What happened after that once the clay court seasons started? He won everything.
And then last year (in 2009) , he wasn't playing nearly as well as he was in 2008 during the clay season, yet he still dominated until the French Open.
People act like the fact that Nadal being beaten by "inferior" players means he's going to lose his confidence for good. I'm sorry, but Nadal has always had his fair share of losses on hard courts to players ranked below him. That's hardly anything new.
Was Nadal in the 2008 form last years when he won MC, Rome, Barca? From past experience, Nadal's B game on clay is still enough to beat most players in the world on clay.
Now will it be enough against Fed, Djokovic or Del Potro? (the only men with realistic chances to beat him on clay). That remains to be seen,. but if history taught us anything, it's that Nadal is always able to pick up his game on clay, similar to the way Fed is able to do it at Wimbledon or the US Open. He just feels at home on that surface and can play himself into form with relative ease.
If it's Federer vs Nadal at the F.O, then the big edge goes to Nadal based on their 4 previous RG meetings. Federer couldn't even beat him at RG in 2005, when Nadal had just turned 19, a few weeks after Fed beat him at Miami. They had no history then, and Rafa still handled him.
If you're talking about Madrid '09 being a turning point, the same thing happened at Hamburg '07, and we know what happened next. Federer has as much hold over Nadal on clay as Davydenko does over Federer in general. Davy beat Federer two times before A.O. But what happened after that? Federer still took care of him in the slam.
Now I do realize that mentally, it's a bit tougher for Nadal this year, as the tour is deeper. Rafa is also coming off injuries and there's more pressure on him. But again, the last thing I would question with Nadal is his mental fortitude. I think he'll bounce back fine, provided he stays healthy.
