And in January at the Australian Open, Tomas Berdych stunned Nadal in the quarterfinals after he had fallen to the 14-time grand slam victor on 17 straight occasions.
Advertisement
Fourth seed Kei Nishikori, victor in Washington at the weekend, also made it safely through, beating Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-3 6-3.
Nadal has slumped to 10th in world rankings after he lost his French Open Title. “He played well in some tournaments, but wasn’t able to keep the level up [and] I wouldn’t point out a single reason”, Roig said.
It was in Montreal a decade ago that Nadal claimed the first hardcourt title of his career when he beat Andre Agassi in the final. The coach understands that the dip is natural since Nadal has been “at the top of his game” for a long time. “He should probably stay around”.
Stefanki even suggested a name, Andre Agassi.
“In some of the matches this year he ” s actually played good tennis.
Agassi declined an interview request.
“It’s always about adapting your tennis, there’s a different way of hitting the ball, but at the end of the day it’s tennis”, he toldthesportreview.com.
“Maybe bring in somebody that hears all the gossip on the street, that knows what’s going on”.
Stefanki, a longtime California resident, coached four players who achieved the No. 1 ranking at some stage or another, including Roddick and McEnroe.
Advertisement
Nadal believes he still has it in him to improve, and this is a player who was sidelined for approximately eight months, due to injury and a stomach virus in 2012 and early 2013, and came back better than ever. Where Rafa has really, really struggled is when he ” s played the very, very best. It’s not known, and CNN’s request to speak with the elder Nadal wasn’t successful.
