Despite a strong first half of the season that included a Grand Slam final in Australia and a record ninth French Open crown, Rafael Nadal's season rapidly went downhill when the tour left the clay behind. After quickly losing his first grass court warmup match, Nadal struggled through three matches at Wimbledon before eventually losing to the dynamic, young Nick Kyrgios. After Wimbledon, Nadal was forced to sit out the entire American hard court swing with a sore wrist and ended up calling it a year a few months later when a bout of appendicitis derailed his late-season comeback.
Though his 2014 had a rough ending that included a pedestrian 4-3 post-Wimbledon record, Rafael Nadal came into 2015 with better health, high hopes, and an updated Play version of his Babolat AeroPro Drive racquet. But he also came in with plenty of rust and it showed in his early results as he lost to 127th ranked Michael Berrer in Doha. His Australian Open results were slightly better, though he looked out of shape and ill in a five set win over 112th ranked Tim Smyczek, then eventually lost to Tomas Berdych for the first time since 2006. Unfortunately for Nadal and his fans, post-Australian Open 2015 has continued to be a little rocky.
In Brazil, Rafa lost on clay (for the first time ever on any surface) to Fabio Fognini, though he did bounce back and win a small clay tournament in Argentina the next week. On American hard courts, Nadal lost in the Indian Wells quarterfinals to Milos Raonic, then had a head scratching loss in Miami to long-time friend and punching bag Fernando Verdasco. And, adding insult to injury, Nadal dropped out of the top four at the beginning of April.
The good news is that, Rafa's performance last week at Monte Carlo was, in his own words, "the most positive week of the season without any doubt," and it helped him reclaim the 4th spot in the rankings. Although that finally gave Nadal fans something to cheer about, Nadal's racquet was perhaps even more news-worthy.
Rafa took to the courts in Monte Carlo with a new blacked-out prototype frame and confirmed after his first match that he has, indeed, switched to a new frame for the European clay court season. Nadal asserted that the change had been planned before the season, but that the racquet wasn't ready in time. He told reporters that the new racquet has a more open string pattern and will offer him more power and topspin, but less control.
While the move does seem a little risky as we head into the part of the schedule that has traditionally been Nadal's bread-and-butter, Roger Federer has shown that an equipment change can make a big difference in a player's performance. I am curious to see how the new frame impacts Rafa's play, but I'm also very interested to learn a bit more about the frame and its specs. We've already heard that the new frame has a slightly more open string pattern and judging by the look of the frame, it'll be another entry into AeroPro family. But will it be a whole new frame? An updated, special "Nadal" AeroPro Drive? Or something else altogether?
Right now there are plenty of questions surrounding Nadal and his new frame, but we'll see how things shape up for one of tennis' top players over the next few weeks!
Nadal's New Racquet
