Winds of change in tennis: Is age taking its toll?

That will depend on a lot of factors though, like the draw handed to him and the positions of the other top ranked players and perhaps a few lucky upsets. Federer remains, despite his current form, a great champion, and tennis will indeed become very poor indeed when that the Maestro decides to hang up his racquet.

End of the road for Rafael Nadal?

Rafael Nadal had made one of the great comebacks of all time, when he returned to competitive tennis in February after almost 8 months and then won 7 of the 9 tournaments he played in. The cherry on top was an unprecedented 8^th title at Roland Garros, his 12^th grand slam title overall.

He arrived in London without any practice whatsoever on grass, in order to rest those tired knees. Even then, he was considered amongst the favourites to lift a 3^rd title at the Championships. The first day of the tournament brought in front of us a reality that was hitherto almost unimaginable.

Nadal fell to a player ranked 130 places behind him in straight sets. What was more disturbing than the loss itself was the manner in which it happened. Rafa’s knees were subjected to torture on a hard surface, and with his backhand all but working; he had to run around most of the balls to play them off the forehand. Lack of practice clearly showed, and what also became blatantly clear was that the knees could no longer take the pressure of carrying that muscular body on a hard court.

The soft clay of Paris has had a major impact on Rafa’s dominance on those courts. The clay is softer on his knees, and he has to bend little to play the ball that comes up at a good playable height. Grass however, isn’t as good natured as you have to bend a lot more to play the ball at the perfect height.

This is not taking away anything out of his victories at Roland Garros, he has been utterly magnificent in every match he has played in Paris. His game, which consists of a lot of power delivery and lengthy rallies and long runs, is what puts his knees under tremendous pressure and doesn’t allow him to maintain the same tempo on the hard courts that clay allows.

His season has traditionally been off-colour post Wimbledon in the recent years, and many suspect him to take another short leave to get his body to optimum fitness. There are doubts though, in every tennis fan’s minds, if Rafa can ever win any major outside of Paris again.

Both the Australian Open and US Open are played on hard synthetic courts, and Wimbledon’s grassy surface is just as hard, if not more. It will take a lot of exertion, both physical and mental, if Rafa is win a Slam on these courts. He is 28 now, and time is running out for him quickly.

The great Boris Becker had mentioned a few years back that he didn’t expect Rafa to keep going after 28-29 because of the physically taxing nature of his game, and Rafa’s fans will be hoping with crossed fingers that Becker’s prophecy doesn’t come true.

This however, has shifted the limelight on Murray and Djokovic, two players who were almost like secondary warriors when the great gladiators were fighting historic battles in the four great cities of the world. Djokovic and Murray have contested three of the last four Grand Slam finals, a period that has definitely marked a change of guard at the top of the pecking order.

Djokovic is expected to win any match he plays these days, much like Federer was, and Murray remains his biggest threat for now. With age on their side, and both players in the form of their careers, we will certainly have no end to the exciting battles that the two aging gladiators gave us all these years.