Rafael Nadal has realized that sometimes going back to the old ways of doing things can be smart, especially if the new way isn’t working out so well. At least that’s what he’s doing with his tennis racquet, and rather trying to break in a new one, he’s going back to his old faithful one for the rest of the season. Or at least up through the 2015 French Open.
Natually, that may depend on how well he does in the 2015 Madrid Open, but with Novak Djokovic out of this Open, it may give the Spanish tennis star a little more breathing room to grab that title. He naturally wants to retain his Madrid Open Crown, but right now he’s focusing more on his ratings slide and just getting himself back on track. Most tennis players go through this slump which can be mostly mental, and once they realize and pinpoint the issue, it’s all about overcoming and getting back to your old self on the court.
Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam champion, changed racquets just before the start of the European clay court season a month ago, normally his most successful part of the year.
However, after losing to world No 1 Novak Djokovic in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters and suffering a shock early exit at the hands of Fabio Fognini at the Barcelona Open a week later, the Spaniard believes it is better to make a change at the end of the season.
“I’m changing because I’ve been playing for many years with this racquet. I had very little time to play with the other one.
“I know that the other racquet is the right one, and I’ll play well with it in the future, but I had just a few days to prepare with that racquet before Monte Carlo. Even though I played pretty well in Monte Carlo, I know that here we play at altitude and I have less control with the new one.
“I am going to play with the old one until the end of the season when I have enough time to train with the new prototype and time to adapt to it.”
Despite his struggles this season, Nadal remains the favourite for a fifth title at the Madrid Masters this week with Djokovic missing out to rest up ahead of next week’s Rome Masters and the French Open later this month.