Is There Danger Ahead For Nadal?

So Rafa Nadal finally lost at Roland Garros after 4 years.

Just when he was in sight and everybody thought he would beat the record set by Bjorn Borg who also won the French Open 4 years in a row he lost to Swede Robin Soderling in 4 unbelievable sets.

I just wonder whether Soderling had been primed and sent by Borg with the mission of taking out Nadal like some kind of terminator.

Having said that you have to say he played a great match.

Although people have to see that Nadal has not been at his best, I still think he would have beaten most players and it was really down to the fact that Soderling was so good that the upset was caused.

He basically did to Nadal what several other players (Andy Murray, Djokovic), have threatened to do in the past few months with the one big exception - He Won!

Not since Tsonga took the game big time to Nadal a couple of years ago at the Australian Open and won, has anyone threatened him with play like we saw today and been victorious (even Federer)?

Well maybe not, but I think that the "how to play and beat Rafa" code is becoming clearer by the day and I now think that more people will start to employ it.

It is now available for all to see and use, if you have the game to be able to execute it (if you don't - you better get it).

Angels and Demons?

Watching the match today with interest, I found it very very difficult to decide who was the crowd favourite.

The angels and demons analogy stuck in my mind throughout the match as I was deciding who the very knowledgeable French Open public had singled out as the good guy (angel) and who was the bad guy (demon).

In fact (in my mind at least), the public's support swayed from Soderling at the very beginning of the match - when they thought he was obviously going to lose, to Nadal, when they began to realise the trouble their great champion was in!

It's strange how the crowd was almost happy for Nadal to have some stiff resistance as long as he came through and won in the end.

This obviously didn't happen as a strangely ineffective Nadal was bullied and out-muscled by the tall Swede Soderling in the same way that Nadal normally bullies and out muscles his opponents.

So, where does that leave the balance of play in the Men's game?

Has this result changed anything?

Is Federer now seen to be right when he said he is waiting to see how Nadal reacts to being the hunted instead of the hunter?

Or was it just fatigue and injury that caused Rafa to be under par?

We know now that Nadal has pulled out of the Queen club event where he is the reigning champion in a bid to be fit for Wimbledon with more knee trouble and this is obviously a worrying sign for him.

He constantly struggles with his knees especially on the hard courts and the clay and grass court seasons normally give him a bit of a break.

But if he is struggling to get through those now it really could be a massive problem.

Unlike Federer, Nadal's style of play does put a tremendous amount of stress on his body (especially his legs and knees) and it would be difficult to see how he could change that.

I did comment a year or so ago that he should consider making changes to his game to stop this sort of thing happening.

And in fact I think he has developed, but extreme ball retrieval is a massive part of his game and I fear that there will always be problems "around the corner" for him.

Mind you, champions are made from strong stuff and the ability to overcome hurdles.

So if we are to look back at Rafa in twenty years time as a significant player in the history of the game he will need to find a way past these problems that is lurking ahead of him.

I hope he can do it, I really do!!