{"id":19281,"date":"2016-02-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/uncategorized\/is-rafael-nadal-finished\/"},"modified":"2016-02-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T00:00:00","slug":"is-rafael-nadal-finished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/sport\/is-rafael-nadal-finished\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Rafael Nadal finished?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Questions are being asked over Rafael Nadal\u2019s future as a force in tennis after the star lost his seventh match on clay in the past 10 months, sparking suggestions he might be \u201cfinished\u201d.<\/h3>\n

Writing for Fox Sports, Chris Chase said the biggest surprise about Nadal\u2019s loss at the weekend to the \u201cstrictly mediocre\u201d Pablo Cuevas was that it wasn\u2019t a surprise at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no shock. There was no awe. As recently as two years ago this would have brought the equivalent of \u201cMan on Moon\u201d headlines in the tennis world. Now it was like the fourth-most interesting thing to happen this weekend,\u201d Chase wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the new normal for Rafael Nadal \u2013 getting ousted in third-tier tournaments by players who shouldn\u2019t be his equal, but all of a sudden are. It\u2019s a stunning, rapid decline for the greatest clay-court player in history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pablo<\/p>\n

Pablo Cuevas defeats Rafael Nadal at the Rio Open<\/h6>\n

Chase said there was no sign of the \u201cold Rafa\u201d.<\/h3>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a player lacking mobility, confidence, a strong backhand and the intimidation factor that often won his matches before the coin flip.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, given Nadal\u2019s struggles, the confidence thing may have switched. When the greatest clay-courter in history lines up against Dominic Thiem (who Nadal lost to last week), it\u2019s Nadal who\u2019s perhaps most nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chase said that unlike Roger Federer and Serena Williams who have both been written off many times, there would be no comeback for Nadal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Nadal thing is different,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time there\u2019s definitive evidence that Nadal might be finished and not just in being \u201cNadal,\u201d but even in being the prohibitive favourite in a clay-court tournament or a threat to do damage in a Grand Slam.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chase cited Nadal\u2019s results at the Australian\/French\/U.S. Opens since Wimbledon in 2012 (A stands for absent):<\/p>\n

2R, A, A, 1R, W, F, 4R , QF, 2R, 3R, 1R.<\/p>\n

\u201cRafael Nadal isn\u2019t gone yet, but with every successive clay-court loss he\u2019s threatening to fade away into irrelevancy and to get bitten by the hard-charging style that made him one of the greatest players ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: FINANCIAL GURU PREDICTS MASSIVE CRASH IN AUSTRALIA NEXT YEAR<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: ROBBO ATTACKS RIVALS IN WAKE OF GARRY LYON DRAMA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Questions are being asked over Rafael Nadal\u2019s future as a force in tennis after the star lost his seventh match on clay in the past 10 months, sparking suggestions he might be \u201cfinished\u201d. Writing for Fox Sports, Chris Chase said the biggest surprise about Nadal\u2019s loss at the weekend to the \u201cstrictly mediocre\u201d Pablo Cuevas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[143],"tags":[],"geo_market":[],"class_list":["post-19281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs Rafael Nadal finished? - FIVEAA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/sport\/is-rafael-nadal-finished\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Rafael Nadal finished?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Questions are being asked over Rafael Nadal\u2019s future as a force in tennis after the star lost his seventh match on clay in the past 10 months, sparking suggestions he might be \u201cfinished\u201d. 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