What can drive a player to win a tournament he’s already won 10 times? That’s not a question we’ve ever had to answer before in tennis, but we’ll find out on three occasions this spring, when Rafael Nadal goes for No. 11 in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and at the French Open.
Here’s a look at how Rafa’s first crack at La Undécima may go this week, in Monaco. Click here for the draw.
You don’t dominate a surface for 13 years without being a master self-motivator, and Nadal seems to given himself a new, simple goal for this week: finish the tournament. That may not sound like much, especially for the No. 1 player in the world. But in Rafa’s case, it would be a breakthrough. He has either withdrawn, retired or defaulted from every ATP event he’s played since the Shanghai Masters in October.
As far as psychological strategies go, Nadal’s has merit. Instead of living with the pressure of having to win the tournament again, he can take each match as it comes, and be pleased to emerge from it unscathed. In Monte Carlo, surviving for Rafa generally means winning. It also won’t hurt that Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka are absent, and that Novak Djokovic has been a shell of his former self so far this year.
HIGHLIGHTS—Rafael Nadal defeats Alexander Zverev in his first clay-court event of 2018, Davis Cup: