Moya: Nadal's recovery after the Australian Open exceeded expectations

Nadal

Nadal's coach, former world number one Moya, was recently interviewed by Spanish media about his disciple's australian Open journey and the story behind his 21st Grand Slam title.

Moya revealed that Donadahl's recovery after the lengthy Australian Open final was better than expected: "After the Australian Open final, he was very tired and even needed me to help him get dressed. But he's recovering better than I thought he would, and we thought he needed to spend more time getting his body back. The whole month of January was a very high intensity month, and he had to face a lot of physical and psychological pressure, plus jet lag, but he coped very well. ”

Speaking about the key to winning in the Australian Open final, Moya said: "He was very nervous in the opening stages, but when he was able to calm down and hit the ball more deeply, the situation changed. Even if he lost the second set, I think he played better than Medvedev at that time, he got a set in the seventh, he rarely lost a set like this. Winning the third set was crucial, and if Medvedev had broken in the third set, perhaps the result would have been completely different. ”

"Technically, Rafa hits the opponent's forehand more, tries more cutting, and makes the opponent's batting quality decline. I was very pleasantly surprised by his physical performance, the opponent was a full ten years younger than him, but he could keep up with the rhythm of the opponent. Before the game, our strategy has always been to avoid fighting, because then the probability of winning will be less. But as the game progressed, Rafa realized that although his body was tired, his opponents were even more tired. Rafa's ability to see everything that happens on the pitch is one of the reasons for his success, and his ability to read the situation of the game is unmatched. ”

Moya revealed that putting small balls is also a strategy formulated before the game: "We know that Medvedev is very mobile, but if you put small balls at certain moments, even his speed is difficult to catch up. And putting a small ball forced the opponent out of his comfort zone, for Medvedev that is a few meters behind the bottom line, putting the ball not only forced him to move back and forth, but also required him to bend down. We discussed this before the game, but putting the ball is a good time to play a tactic, you can't use it at will, and Rafa just seized the right opportunity. ”

Moya admitted that the quarter-final against Shapovalov was also the key to winning the title, and the five-set battle also made Nadal more confident in his physical fitness.

"In the match against Shapovalov, Rafa was in full control of the first two sets, and in the second set we noticed that he was starting to feel tired, the weather was too hot and sometimes the humidity was very uncomfortable. Like I said at the beginning, after that game he lost 4 kg of weight, was in a state of dehydration, and in that situation you had a hard time thinking during the race. But in the end, the game became the key to his eventual victory, because he recovered from that situation smoothly, which also made him realize that he had the energy to win. ”

Enhancing aggression is also a magic weapon for Nadal to remain at the top after his physical function has declined, and Moya said that improving Nadal's aggression is not achieved overnight: "It is a long process, which requires him to take risks during the game, even when he is in the lead, and these times are often a matter of probability. If I remember correctly, he was the fastest men's player in the Australian Open on average batting time in two shots, which also showed his willingness to take risks when he needed to, which was a major change in mentality, because he knew it was advantageous to do so in the long run. ”

"When it comes to his age, the most important thing is to shorten the round. The time spent training is also reduced, and he needs to spend less time on the field to achieve the same effect as before, so that the body is not too tired, less running, so this requires him to increase his aggression. This is a big challenge for our team, and we are slowly moving closer to that goal. But like the Australian Open final, if he needs to spend 5 hours to win the next match, then he can still do it. However, in normal cases, our goal is to shorten the time of all competitions and training. ”

(Compilation/Faye Wong, Photo/Visual China)