There was some consternation when Rafa Nadal announced his busy clay-court schedule leading up to the French Open — four tournaments in five weeks before a week off and then Roland Garros.
I don’t know how many friends and associates of mine wondered out loud if those knees, which have given him so much trouble in his relatively short pro career, would hold up.
But, in fact, he’s been fine because, what people often forget, is that it’s not so much about how many matches you play as how much time you spend on court.
When Nadal goes on court against Spanish amigo David Ferrer today to play the Barcelona final, he will have averaged just one hour and 18 minutes per match this past week, and that’s very little time for clay court tennis.
A week earlier, at Monte Carlo, he logged significantly more court time — an average of one hour and 52 minutes. But, remember, that was his first week of the clay season. His legs were fresh and he was in a good position, physically, to play longer matches. One of those, of course, was the three-set win over Andy Murray in the Monte Carlo semis that went over three hours.
And so he came to Barcelona, the closest thing he has to a home event (just a short flight from his island home on Majorca to the east coast city of Barcelona) and, thinking long-range, he needed to get on and off the court quickly. He has.
Who knows how long he’s going to have to labor with Ferrer, who is a great retriever. But, at this point, it almost doesn’t matter because Nadal is taking next week off before the 1000 tournaments at Madrid and Rome.
Despite the relative quick matches, could he still be worn down before the French, where he will be an enormous favorite? Sure, if he has arduous matches at Madrid and Rome. But on the basis of the form he’s shown this spring, I’d reckon he’s going to have some quickies in the early rounds before being extended.
Certainly four lead-ups before the French is not unusual. In fact, it’s easier today than it was in 1995, when the ATP was playing best-of-5 set finals at Monte Carlo and Rome. That was the year Thomas Muster won 23 straight on clay at Estoril, Barcelona, Monte Carlo and Rome, including a three-hour-plus five-setter with Boris Becker at the Monte Carlo final.
Everything is best-of-three sets now leading up to the French, but you still have a bit of a feeling that Nadal is rolling dice with his physical conditioning. He has learned to cut back on his schedule and reduce the intensity of his training sessions since his succession of leg problems.
And right now he looks fine. Very fine. And he’ll remain just fine as long as he keeps his matches short, regardless of how many lead-up tournaments he plays.