Playing style:Nadal generally plays an aggressive behind-the-baseline game founded on heavy topspin groundstrokes, consistency, speedy footwork, and tenacious court coverage. Known for his athleticism and speed around the court, Nadal is a capable defender who hits well on the run, constructing winning plays from seemingly defensive positions. He also plays very fine dropshots, which work especially well because his heavy topspin often forces opponents to the back of the court. Nadal is primarily a baseliner and seldom volleys but when he does come to the net he is a capable volleyer.
Nadal employs a full western grip forehand, often with a "lasso-whip" follow through, where his left arm hits through the ball and finishes above his left shoulder—as opposed to a more traditional finish across the body or around his opposite shoulder. Nadal's forehand groundstroke form allows him to hit shots with heavy topspin—more so than many of his contemporaries. San Francisco tennis researcher John Yandell used a high-speed video camera and special software to count the average number of revolutions of a tennis ball hit full force by Nadal. “The first guys we did were Sampras and Agassi. They were hitting forehands that in general were spinning about 1,800 to 1,900 revolutions per minute. Federer is hitting with an amazing amount of spin, too, right? Twenty-seven hundred revolutions per minute. Well, we measured one forehand Nadal hit at 4,900. His average was 3,200." While Nadal's shots tend to land short of the baseline, the characteristically high bounces his forehands achieve tend to mitigate the advantage an opponent would normally gain from capitalizing on a short ball. Although his forehand is based on heavy topspin he can hit the ball deep and flat with a more orthodox follow through for clean winners.
Nadal has developed his serve into a solid weapon since his earlier years as a pro. Nadal is able to deliver a high percentage of first serves, struck with moderate pace and placed strategically. Nadal's second serve usually employs a hard left-handed slice towards right-handed opponents' backhands. Nadal relies on the consistency of his serve to gain a strategic advantage in points, rather than going for service winners.Nadal's mental resiliency and strategic approach to the game are other noted strengths. Nadal is able to avoid discouragement regardless of match score, allowing him to singularly focus on winning the current point and gaining an advantage. As a strategic player, Nadal can assess outside variables such as court surface, weather conditions, and his opponent's tactics in order to adjust his own play to best adapt to present conditions.
While Nadal's game is best-suited to clay courts, Nadal is no longer considered a "clay court specialist" due to continued success at tournaments played on other surfaces, including holding Grand Slams simultaneously on grass, hard courts and clay. Despite praise for Nadal's talent and skill, some have questioned his longevity in the sport, citing his build and playing style as conducive to injury. Nadal himself has admitted to the physical toll hard courts place on ATP Tour players, calling for a reevaluated tour schedule featuring fewer hard court tournaments.
Rivalry with Roger Federer:Nadal and Federer have been playing against each other since 2004, and this rivalry is a significant part of both men's careers:
They are the only men in the open era who have played each other in 7 Grand Slam finals, with Nadal winning 5 of the 7 finals. Three of these 5 wins were on Nadal's best surface (clay), and he has beaten Federer twice in non-clay major finals: Wimbledon 2008 and the Australian Open 2009.
Their 2008 Wimbledon final has been lauded as the greatest match of all time by many long-time tennis critics.
Many critics consider their rivalry to be the greatest in tennis history.
Nine of Nadal's 13 wins over Federer have come on clay courts, Nadal's best surface. Nadal leads their overall head-to-head series 13-7 (Nadal leads 9-2 on clay, Federer leads 2-1 on grass, they are tied (3-3) on hard courts).
Equipment and endorsements:Nadal uses an AeroPro Drive racquet with a 4 1/4" L2 grip. Nadal's racquets are painted to resemble the Aero Pro Drive with Cortex racquet in order to market a current model which Babolat sells. Nadal uses no replacement grip, and instead wraps 2 overgrips around the handle. Nadal uses Duralast 15L strings—strung between 55 and 66 pounds—while promoting Babolat's Pro Hurricane Tour strings for marketing purposes.
Nike serves as Nadal's clothing and shoe sponsor. Nadal's signature on-court attire entailed a variety of sleeveless shirts paired with 3/4 length capri pants. For the 2009 season, Nadal has adopted more traditional on-court apparel. Nike encouraged Nadal to update his look in order to reflect his new status as the sport's top player at that time and associate Nadal with a style that—while less distinctive than his "pirate" look—would be more widely emulated by consumers.
At warmup tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Doha, Nadal played matches in a polo shirt specifically designed for him by Nike, paired with shorts cut above the knee. Nadal's new, more conventional style carried over to the 2009 Australian Open, where Nadal was outfitted with Nike's Bold Crew Men's Tee and Nadal Long Check Shorts.
Nadal wears Nike's Air CourtBallistec 1.2 tennis shoes, bearing various customizations throughout the season, including his nickname—"Rafa"—on the right shoe and a stylized bull logo on the left. Nadal has appeared in advertising campaigns for Kia Motors as a global ambassador for the company. In May 2008, Kia released a claymation viral ad featuring Nadal in a tennis match with an alien. Nadal also has an endorsement agreement with Universal DVDs.
