Rafael Nadal doesn’t deserve to be number two in the world

   Its crystal clear to any tennis fan or anyone with an ounce of intelligence that Swiss tennis god Roger Federer is the supreme number one. Roger Federer is consistent on every single surface. However, Rafael Nadal has proven time and time again that his weakest surface is hardcourts.  I think its finally going to happen Nadal is going to slip in the rankings within the next few months. 

    Every year Rafael Nadal  has a strong first half of the season at the French Open and Wimbledon but in the second half of the year he vanishes. Nadal had a horrendous North American hardcourt season. He also had a shocking loss  at the US OPEN to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the fourth round. Nadal has yet to make it past the quarterfinals at the two hardcourt grand slams the Australian Open or US Open tennis championships. Nadal fans say that he has “knee problems” but today David Nalbandian was just the superior player and he demonstrated he’s still got the game to challenge the very best in men’s tennis. Nalbandian is the best male tennis player that has never won a major.

      Today Nadal was blasted off the court by Argentine player David Nalbandian 6-16-2 in about an hour.  Nalbandian simply destroyed Nadal in every aspect of the game. Nadal is a grinder but it appears to me Nadal could end up like Lleyton Hewitt. Hewitt also was a grinder and counterpuncher. And look where Hewitt is now? Hewitt is old news. Sure, Hewitt is in the top 20 but so what? Hewitt is on the same boat as Marat Safin. The new generation is coming up and I feel Nadal will eventually fall into place at number three or number four very shortly. Nadal only has a high ranking due to his dominance on clay and a few lucky draws at Wimbledon he managed to reach the finals twice.

          Nadal did look a bit tired after his tough match against British star Andy Murray in the third round. However, Nalbandian played superb tennis using all sections of the court to move Nadal and keep him off balance.  Nadal is at his best when he can run a lot of balls down.  On a hardcourt surface you have to be more aggressive and take chances that’s against Nadal’s natural  style of play. Until Rafael Nadal decides he wants to improve his serve and work on being more aggressive he’s not going to have good results on a faster surface.  Rafael is a big strong guy there is no reason why he has such a pathetic serve. I don’t  like Nadal’s service motion he doesn’t get enough wrist snap and speed on the servel.

     Nalbandian also was smart he continued to use his powerful two handed backhand hitting it hard crosscourt right into Nadal’s forehand pushing Nadal off the court.  Nalbandian forced Nadal into numerous forehand errors. Nadal looked confused he didn’t know what to do he doesn’t have a plan B like Roger Federer. Nadal doesn’t like it when you pull him wide he prefers to hit his forehand crosscourt. The Spanish crowd was shocked as Nadal  for a second year in a row failed to win the Madrid Masters.

        Novak Djokovic the young Serbian star is only  a thousand points behind Nadal it is possible he can pass Nadal in the rankings. Its obvious that Nadal can challenge Roger Federer on clay and perhaps on grass but not on hardcourt. Since most ATP Tour events are on hardcourts unless Nadal improves on this faster surface he could lose his number two ranking.  I think it would be good for the sport if Nadal dropped in the rankings.