On Thursday night I flipped over to the Tennis Channel and happened to catch a few games of last year's match-up in Shanghai between Rafael Nadal and Nikolay Davydenko. This was just before the bottom dropped out for Nadal in Paris and London, but you could see that he was not at his best even here. Davydenko, with his ability to take topspin on the rise and create sharp angles with either of his ground strokes, will always be a difficult opponent for Nadal, at least on hard courts. At the same time, though, it was easy to see that the shots that Nadal has been hitting with confidence this season—basically, all of his shots—were a struggle last fall. He popped his backhand up a lot, and even when he got a good look at a mid-court forehand, he didn't automatically send it into the corner for a winner—his timing was just off, everything was work, an effort. He was also hitting his forehand slightly differently than he has been this year, starting it with his racquet more parallel to the court and using a slightly shorter swing. Whether it's intentional or not, Nadal is always changing.
What was most striking, even if it was hard to detect, was the difference in Nadal's serve. It looked, like it has for most of his career, like a two-part delivery in 2009. There was a slight hitch in the middle, and he reached up for the ball with a more open racquet face. I'd have to watch his serve more now, but it seems to be a smoother and more uniform motion. For him, that is. Nadal, like Andre Agassi and Jimmy Connors, will never have the natural upward flow of Pete Sampras or Roger Federer.
These changes make me think of Nadal's uncle Toni, whom I don't think is in Tokyo. When the camera pans to him during Rafa's matches, he can often be seen demonstrating a shadow stroke to the man next to him, Carlos Costa. He's always looking at technique, always tinkering, always trying out for new ideas, wherever he finds them. He nephew has been better for it in 2010.
—Steve Tignor