Former top-20 player Alexandr Dolgopolov has claimed that the current World No. 1 Rafael Nadal has only one tactic which he uses to defeat his opponents on the ATP World Tour.
The Ukrainian believes that it is far easier to compete against Rafa when the matches are played on the quick surfaces, grass and hard courts. The 16-time Grand Slam champion has had a phenomenal year, winning two Majors – in Paris and New York and four other titles, including Masters 1000 events in Monte Carlo and Madrid.
His knee troubles resurfaced at the end of the season though, and he could only play one match at ATP’s year-end Championships in London. And Dolgopolov thinks Nadal wins a majority of his matches because his rivals have no answer to his heavy spin, but insists that the southpaw is not too effective on grass because the ball stays low on the surface and doesn’t offer that much spin to his left-handed ground-strokes as on clay.
Dolgopolov said: “Rafael Nadal’s strengths are a frenzied spin and the fact that he is left-handed. Due to this rotation, he does not need to do anything else in half of the matches. He rotates to the left of the opponent and most players simply cannot cope, who do not have a very good left. Nadal won many matches due to one tactic – to play left with one hand.”
Alexandr added: “On the grass with it [is] easier to play, its rotation does not have such an effect as on the ground or on the hard [court]. On hard, when I celebrated the victory, I was just very confident, I was in shape, before that I had a great two tournaments and that’s how it was.”
