How much of Nadal's problems are mental?

[jamesblakefan#1]

I ask this because of this article.

Costa: Nadal ‘worried’ about constant injuries

MADRID, Spain (AP)—Spain’s Davis Cup captain Albert Costa says Rafael Nadal “is worried” about his constant injuries.

“He is worried about his physical state, but he’s working every day to get better,” Costa said Wednesday.

http://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/news?slug=ap-nadal&prov=ap&type=lgns

My question is how much do you think the mental aspect of the constant injuries will be harder to overcome than the physical aspect of it? You hear guys all the time who have had knee or other injuries (granted more serious than Nadal at this point) say that the hardest thing is mentally having faith in your body that you won't get reinjured. Do you think that this mental aspect will have an affect on the way Nadal plays and the confidence he has out on the court?

 

[SLD76]

Well, I think they do go hand in hand. Add to the fact that Nadal is a guy who likes to play alot to get the rythym of his game, so it may have an impact on how he trains and prepares etc.

The best answer is that it will have an effect to a degree. Only time will tell to what degree tho.

 

[origmarm]

You have to wonder for sure. I think the real question is will it have any effect on his scheduling, particularly in the tightly packed clay season

 

[bruce38]

I think very little of it is mental. He's clearly shown how mentally tough he is in the past.

 

[edmondsm]

The fact that he is worried is a good sign. You would have to be a complete idiot to not be worried with the injury problems he has had over the last year+.

 

[Vyse]

I think very little of it is mental. He's clearly shown how mentally tough he is in the past.

He didn't have as many problems in the past though. He has talked alot about confidence and such in his interviews or things like it. I think it is a big thing but as long as he is practicing well and having some success against lesser players, he will be good to go against the top dogs again.

 

[Jchurch]

I think it plays a huge part. 2008-09 AO Nadal was playing at 110% capacity and he had amazing results. He was the only one that was able to take Federer to the limit. Sadly that play at 110% seems to have damaged his body and now those injuries have him wondering what he can go without getting injured.

 

[swordtennis]

My mom and I are worried about him. We hope he did not do things to get to the top that will have long term consequences. Something about Uncle Toni we just dont like either. I would of rather him be pre 2008 clay court beast than have to take that "extra level" to get to Fed on other surfaces.
Time will tell...

 

[Ledigs]

Who wouldn't be worried? It's really annoying being injured, especially if all you want to do is compete and you are 23 year old male who has the ability and the mental strength to be number 1, and your body keeps letting you down. I don't think that he is playing badly, up until the new knee injury and I think it will be fine

 

[rafan]

I think very little of it is mental. He's clearly shown how mentally tough he is in the past.

I think it all started off by being purely physical and then for the first time he realized that what he wanted from his body was just not there and this must have shocked him. I now think he has to get right physically and win some matches and stop focusing on the losses of the past.

 

[JennyS]

I think it's very possible Nadal is mentally and physically burned out especially after his insane claycourt run since 2005 when he was still a teenager.

 

[feetofclay]

I would of rather him be pre 2008 clay court beast than have to take that "extra level" to get to Fed on other surfaces.
...

Nice to know you are concerned. Just for the record, Nadal beat Federer in Miami 2004. It was there first meeting .A match which is well worth watching if you havn't already seen it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmQttntQVoA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmQttntQVoA

 

[decades]

I would say zero. I think his problem may be a result of hanging out with the Hollywood set and forgetting his roots. He needs to double his court time and quit spending late nights with Video Stars....

 

[davey25]

We hope he did not do things to get to the top that will have long term consequences.

The whole thing is he clearly did, and many of us have predicted that from a few years earlier, so this isnt even really a surprise to many of us.

 

[BlakeGOAT]

It's probably only natural if it effects him mentally to be injured like that, but I think he's strong enough to deal with it.

 

[CMM]

I would say zero. I think his problem may be a result of hanging out with the Hollywood set and forgetting his roots. He needs to double his court time and quit spending late nights with Video Stars....

Bad Rafa. Very bad.

 

[swordtennis]

Nice to know you are concerned. Just for the record, Nadal beat Federer in Miami 2004. It was there first meeting .A match which is well worth watching if you havn't already seen it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmQttntQVoA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmQttntQVoA

Yes aware of that. He always did well on the slow HC's. Lets be frank he has changed physically. I was a powerlifter at a big university. I understand burn out and the culture within elite sports.
Hope he can come back.
As said, time will tell....
I agree he needs to double his court time and get out there and play! or retire.

 

[Outbeyond]

I think yes, it will affect his play. Even when he practices, he's got to wonder if moving too much this way or that might throw out "that" or "this." His lack of confidence in his own body is what he cited as a reason for not playing Davydenko in an aggressive manner in his comeback last fall.

But he's made it clear he sees each match he wins as a confidence-builder for the next match in any given tournament, and this, at least, is a great perspective for him and helps to give us fans some hope with every match won, too. Because by now most of us who follow this guy are worried ourselves about his body carrying onward. I know I worry a little more now than I ever used to.

So let's look at little more closely at his draw for Indian Wells and cross our fingers!

 

[CMM]

I agree he needs to double his court time and get out there and play! or retire.

Would you like to coach him?

 

[swordtennis]

Would you like to coach him?

Just kidding on that doubling court time. LOL. Actually I would only have him play clay and grass tournies....Maybe a few masters hard court events...

 

[feetofclay]

]Lets be frank he has changed physically

I agree he needs to double his court time and get out there and play! or retire.

1.Don't agree that he has changed physically, to any major degree. What are you trying to imply?

2.As for the last statement. I thik CMM was just being a little facetious,

 

[prjacobs]

I don't think that a quote from Costa about Nadal necessarily reveals what's going on in Rafa's mind. After all, he might be exaggerating his worries to Costa, because he doesn't want Costa to think he's dropping out of the Davis Cup for frivolous reasons. I would think that Nadal is still in a state of shock about his body breaking down. Imagine what a rush it was to be him, knowing that he was the strongest player on the planet. And imagine how lousy it felt to break down and suddenly lose your invincibility. Ever since he lost the French, it was never the same mentally for him. Doubt has to be there, when you're no longer superman. I think that he'll take his incredible heart and try to find some new ways to play with his new body. So.... I don't think he's slowing down the healing process by worrying. I think he's taking a positive approach to recovery. But he'll never be a teenager again. Life is much more busy for an adult and imagine how his life changed.

 

[Cyan]

My mom and I are worried about him. We hope he did not do things to get to the top that will have long term consequences. Something about Uncle Toni we just dont like either. I would of rather him be pre 2008 clay court beast than have to take that "extra level" to get to Fed on other surfaces.
Time will tell...

Exactly. Rafa should have stayed a claycourt specialist forever. Like Guga. And never win slams outside of clay. In that case he would have won 5 slams(all FOs) by now and no Wimbledon and no AO.:shock: And we know 5 FOs is way better than 4FOs/1 Wimbledon/1AO

 

[jackson vile]

I ask this because of this article.

Costa: Nadal ‘worried’ about constant injuries

MADRID, Spain (AP)—Spain’s Davis Cup captain Albert Costa says Rafael Nadal “is worried” about his constant injuries.

“He is worried about his physical state, but he’s working every day to get better,” Costa said Wednesday.

http://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/news?slug=ap-nadal&prov=ap&type=lgns

My question is how much do you think the mental aspect of the constant injuries will be harder to overcome than the physical aspect of it? You hear guys all the time who have had knee or other injuries (granted more serious than Nadal at this point) say that the hardest thing is mentally having faith in your body that you won't get reinjured. Do you think that this mental aspect will have an affect on the way Nadal plays and the confidence he has out on the court?

It is 50/50

 

[TheMusicLover]

It's only natural to be worried about reoccuring injuries at such a young age... and of course it affects one mentally in the course of time.

 

[swordtennis]

Exactly. Rafa should have stayed a claycourt specialist forever. Like Guga. And never win slams outside of clay. In that case he would have won 5 slams(all FOs) by now and no Wimbledon and no AO.:shock: And we know 5 FOs is way better than 4FOs/1 Wimbledon/1AO

Well I am being selfish.
If being a claycourt beast means that I/we can enjoy him playing for many more years than yes it is better!

U guys dont get it. I dig Nadal big time.
And if that means 8 Fench opens and 1 or 2 Wimbledons then so be it!

 

[jamesblakefan#1]

Mallorca-born Nadal returned from a six week injury layoff to reach the Indian Wells semi-finals last week but said he was unsure if he was back to his best level following his knee problems.

“I don’t know, I need to keep improving,” the six-times grand slam winner said.

“I need to play consecutive matches and play knowing that nothing will happen to me if I push myself to the limit.

“Subconsciously I have more fear now and I don’t know if the limit I am setting is the real one, the one from before.”

After suffering from physical problems throughout his career, Nadal said he would give anything to be injury free.

“If you think about it, you are not only fighting against your opponent but also against yourself,” he said. “And that kills you and affects your mind.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/news...slug=reu-mennadalwoods&prov=reuters&type=lgns

So it appears I was right, in some ways.

 

[cork_screw]

0% mental. 100% physical. Are you joking, nadal is probably the strongest mentally on tour.

 

[jamesblakefan#1]

0% mental. 100% physical. Are you joking, nadal is probably the strongest mentally on tour.

Nadal admits he's worried about reinjuring himself. Did you even bother to read my previous post?

 

[Mustard]

If you are not at your best physically, it's going to affect you mentally. That's what Nadal is experiencing.

 

[MichaelNadal]

I think Nadal really does rely heavily on confidence. I think its at least 70% mental. He was one confident S.O.B in 08-mid 09.

 

[Mustard]

I think Nadal really does rely heavily on confidence. I think its at least 70% mental. He was one confident S.O.B in 08-mid 09.

What we didn't know this time last year was that Nadal's knees were a ticking timebomb waiting to go off. In Madrid last year, the lack of mobility compared to his usual standards was somewhat obvious, and that was before that Djokovic match.

 

[OKUSA]

it's mental, physically he looked fine at Indian Wells, maybe not super lightning Nadal fast but I'm sure he's not going all out anymore because of his injuries which is mental

 

[Lsmkenpo]

He has lost nearly every time he has played a top ten player in match play since Soderling crushed him at Roland Garros.

I don't see the same player mentally since he took that blow to his psyche. It is not all due to injury I see a lot of doubt in his play once he falls behind against strong players.

He does not play the big points as relaxed as he once did, at one time he was the most consistent player on tour now there are UE creeping into his game on big points which we did not see much of when his confidence was sky high.

 

[Justdoit10]

Its pretty much all mental.

 

[Lsmkenpo]

Mallorca-born Nadal returned from a six week injury layoff to reach the Indian Wells semi-finals last week but said he was unsure if he was back to his best level following his knee problems.

“I don’t know, I need to keep improving,” the six-times grand slam winner said.

“I need to play consecutive matches and play knowing that nothing will happen to me if I push myself to the limit.

“Subconsciously I have more fear now and I don’t know if the limit I am setting is the real one, the one from before.”

After suffering from physical problems throughout his career, Nadal said he would give anything to be injury free.

“If you think about it, you are not only fighting against your opponent but also against yourself,” he said. “And that kills you and affects your mind.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/news...slug=reu-mennadalwoods&prov=reuters&type=lgns

So it appears I was right, in some ways.

No offense James, but there is no way the article contains direct quotes from Nadal, as it is representing itself with the quotation marks, Nadal does not talk like that or use words such as "exemplary" in English or Spanish.

I think this is largely an interpretation from a journalist, not sure how close this is to what he actually said during the interview.

 

[OddJack]

10% mental. 90% body

 

[Big Dave]

I think most of his problems are defintiely mental at this point....
Sure his body has changed physically, but he's still as fast as ever, and probably stronger physically.
The top players are so good these days that the main thing that seperates the elite from the good are the big points. the rafa from 2008 was soooooo solid on he big points. thats what impressed me about him, he was sooo tough mentally at such a young age. Ice in the veins. I remember watching the 08 wimby final and being so nervous, i was shaking for him!! i could imagine playing! haha

But it seems like lately he's not playing the big points like he used to. look at the lubicic match....i know ivan came up with good shots to save all those break points, but you could always count on rafa to come up with the big stuff when he needed it...something great. he doesnt have that going right now.... i wonder how much of it is due to confidence...or just match toughness. clay court season will be very telling i think.

 

[swordtennis]

He never was going to always be there on the hardcourt GS's. He was always going to be more consistent on the clay and grass. Thats just the way it is. Things are balancing out.
So I dont think there is much problems. He has had mucho rest and is playing hard. I also think winning Wimbledon and AO09 made people think that he was greater then he really is. It also showed that he will burn out if he tries to dominate a whole year. Way too much expectations. Slow clay is coming for him and its where he dominates.