Nadal, Fellow Spaniards Conquer Hard Courts at U.S. Open Tennis
Rafael Nadal of Spain
Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Rafael Nadal of Spain returns a shot against Gilles Simon of France during the men's singles match on day seven of the 2010 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 5, 2010 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.
Rafael Nadal of Spain returns a shot against Gilles Simon of France during the men's singles match on day seven of the 2010 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 5, 2010 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Photographer: Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Top-ranked Rafael Nadal will lead a group of five Spanish men at the U.S. Open today bidding for quarterfinal spots at the tennis season’s final Grand Slam.
Six Spaniards reached the last 16, the country’s best performance at a major since the 1998 French Open. While Albert Montanes, the No. 21 seed, was eliminated yesterday, Spain is guaranteed at least one semifinalist because Nadal and the other three players who won the 2009 Davis Cup make up the first quarter of the round of 16 in the men’s draw.
The run on the hard courts of New York comes to a nation accustomed to success on clay, where three of its four Davis Cup victories came. No Spanish man has won the U.S. Open since Manuel Orantes beat Jimmy Connors in 1975, when the event was played on clay courts at the West Side Tennis Club.
“Because of the ball and the court it’s probably the most difficult tournament for us,” Nadal, who faces No. 23 seed Feliciano Lopez in the night session, said in a news conference after his third-round victory. “So that is very important news for Spanish tennis.”
The U.S. Open has been held on hard courts since moving from Forest Hills in 1978.
The host nation has only one player left in the men’s singles draw after the 19th seeded Mardy Fish lost to No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia yesterday. No. 20 Sam Querrey today plays Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka for a place in the quarterfinals. Andy Roddick, the last American man to have a won a major at the 2003 U.S. Open, was ousted in the second round, while No. 18 John Isner lost in the third round.
Clay Tutelage
Spanish players are “more complete” than many of their counterparts because they developed their game on clay, Spain’s former Davis Cup captain Emilio Sanchez Vicario said in a phone interview from Barcelona yesterday.
Learning on the slower-paced courts taught Spanish players to make fewer mistakes and become more athletic, said Sanchez Vicario, whose sister Arantxa became the first Spanish woman to win the U.S. Open in 1994.
“If you grow up on hard courts, on a fast surface, missing becomes a lot more normal because the courts are faster and you don’t have much chance to get set up,” Jose Higueras, a Spaniard who is director of coaching for the U.S. Tennis Association, said in a news conference in New York yesterday. “On clay, the misses are normally not as acceptable.”
The USTA now has clay courts at its three main training centers in New York, Los Angeles and Boca Raton, Florida.
Career Slammers
The U.S. Open is the only major to have eluded Nadal. The 24-year-old lefthander reached the semifinals the past two years and hasn’t gotten to the final. Only six men have won all four majors at least once: Andre Agassi, Fred Perry, Roger Federer, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Don Budge.
“The 2010 Reign of Spain Continues,” headlined the Washington Post yesterday, referring to Spain’s successful sports year, which included winning soccer’s World Cup and the Tour de France. Spanish newspaper El Pais wrote: “New York Speaks Spanish.”
Should Nadal win, he’ll face 10th-seeded David Ferrer or No. 8 Fernando Verdasco in the quarterfinals. Unseeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo plays 12th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny for a place in the last eight.
Verdasco, who lost to Nadal in a five-set semifinal at the 2009 Australian Open, said playing against his countrymen has its benefits.
“It’s always nice to see all the Spanish winning and being in the last rounds,” Verdasco said after ousting David Nalbandian of Argentina in the third round. “If you need to lose, it’s better to lose against a Spanish player.”
Having to compete with so many other good players from the same country has given the Spaniards an edge, according to Sanchez Vicario. Thirteen of the top 100 on the ATP World Tour are from Spain. The U.S. has seven players inside the top 100.
“The Spanish player today is a bit of a warrior,” Sanchez Vicario said. “A five-set match favors them. They are strong mentally and physically.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Danielle Rossingh at the London sports desk at drossingh@bloomberg.net; Alex Duff in Madrid at aduff4@bloomberg.net.
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