Rafael Nadal is about to start his Wimbledon campaign and he shares some thoughts about the transition from clay to grass and why he finds it difficult to adapt.
Nadal: Now it is better…
First Rafa hailed at the new scheduling of the grass court season (they added 1 week in between the Roland Garros and the Championships) “There are definitely fewer chances for injury now. In years prior you had to make the transition from Roland Garros to Queen’s in one day, and there’s a chance for injury since a lot of the things in the game are different. The way you move, the way you hit the ball. There’s less danger on the body when you can make the transition a little bit slower.”
… grass is more difficult than clay
Then Rafa commented about the struggles he has to endure to adapt to the grass “When I am playing my best on clay, I have the feeling that I have time for every shot, and that I can play any tactic I want, whether aggressive or more defensive. It makes me feel under control at all times.
On grass, it’s a different story. You have to be focused on every point. If you make two or three mistakes in a row on your serve, you’ve almost lost the set. That’s the big difference. But you can also have good chances to go to net and do different things. We don’t get to play that way often on the tour so I try to have fun with that.”
Rafa had a rather difficult draw in Wimbledon to be on a collision path with Murray in the quarters. Nadal will face Bellucci in the opener.