In an interview with Spanish outlet El Pais, Rafael Nadal criticised the playing style of today’s tennis players. He claimed the current generation focuses only on hitting the ball hard and does not strategise to win points. However, fans on social media disagreed with his views.
As Nadal slowed down and struggled with injuries, many young prodigies have come up to fill his void. Fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz is hailed widely as the next Nadal and has already won two Grand Slams. Others like Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune established themselves as serious contenders. The likes of Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas, albeit slightly older, have also stepped up as stars of the current generation.
Speaking to El Pais, Nadal condemned this batch of players, saying they only look to hit hard without thinking much. He rued that they do not follow set tactics to win a point. He disapproved of this gameplay, saying he prefers a more tactical approach.
“It has evolved into a tennis of hitting harder, of hitting without thinking. It does not require point preparation to find the winning shot. Most of them play similarly…I don’t like it. I like the tactics.”
Despite Nadal’s experience and pedigree, fans on the internet disagreed with his words. Many pointed out that the former World No.1 himself was the biggest ‘proponent’ of hitting the ball hard and one of the first players to use this gameplan.
Strange comment coming from Nadal. He is one of the proponents of defensive tennis and hitting stronger.
— Double Helix (@Harihar59664247) December 30, 2023
Nadal played the same way
But I guess that was okay since it gave him extraordinary results
— Logicalperson (@loganvegeta316) December 30, 2023
Nadal prefers his tactic of just throwing massive top spin to opponents backhand and then waiting for them to miss or hit one back really short.
Isn’t he complaining then about himself and his tactic of hitting stronger topspin all the time without thinking.
— Milos Popadic (@TennisFan_1985) December 30, 2023
Nadal is pathetic.
He was the first who started to hit stronger. He was the first who started to destroy his body to catch every return…
He needs to retire.That’s gonna happen next year.
Nadal is the best on the clay, and that’s it. I congrat him on his achievement.
— Bozza (@bobtheirish) December 30, 2023
This coming from a guy who destroyed his body by hitting every ball as hard as he could and running on every point like his life depended on it. https://t.co/S83OuFiNsW
— I don’t support the current thing (@goatkovic2021) December 30, 2023
Other fans cited examples of certain players from the current field to prove Nadal wrong.
Not sure I agree. The top 3 players on the world all play with variety.
— Tennis Connected (@TennisConnected) December 30, 2023
Carlos, Rune, and Sinner have each hit more winning drop shots and volleys than Nadal did in his first ten years on tour.
— Mr. Handsome (@MrHands03072018) December 30, 2023
Yes, there are many players who are good at hitting hard, such as Rublev, Zverev, and Fritz.
But there are also players who play smart tennis, like Medvedev, Alcaraz, and Rune.
And above all, Novak is still the champion, which negates power tennis.— 空想樹海紀行ヤマっくす・シバルバー (@Yama0817YAMA) December 30, 2023
When Rafael Nadal said players from this generation will not match the Big 3’s Grand Slam tally
2024 will likely be the final season on tour for Rafael Nadal. With Roger Federer already retired and Novak Djokovic 36, there is not a lot of time left for the Big 3 in the sport. The new generation has already started to take over.
At just 20, Alcaraz already has two Grand Slams in the bag. However, in January 2023, Nadal claimed the junior Spaniard, and his contemporaries, will never win 20 Majors or more.
Speaking ahead of his ill-fated 2023 Australian Open campaign (via Fox Sports), Nadal said acknowledged that the new group of players has some good names. He mentioned Alcaraz, who had recently won the 2022 US Open. However, he said they will most likely never win 20+ Grand Slams like he, Federer and Djokovic did. The 22-time Majors champion said before the legendary triumvirate, no player achieved such numbers. Hence, it is improbable that athletes from successive generations will. He said many players from Alcaraz’s peers will win Slams but none of them would cross 20.
Nadal claimed seeing three players bag over 20 Grand Slams each in the same era diluted people’s perception of how difficult it is to achieve such numbers. He said to get to these heights, one needs to have a long career, play at an elite level throughout, and battle injuries. These things put immense pressure and make it incredibly hard to win so many Grand Slam titles.
