Features

Turbulent year for Nadal

Author: Lynda Collins
Date: 11/12/2009
Tennis betting

After Spain romped to a 5-0 whitewash of the Czech Republic in the Davis Cup Final, it brought the curtain down on another tennis season - and a turbulent one for Rafael Nadal.

The ruthless Spaniards pummelled the plucky Czech's from start to finish with chief tormentor Nadal cruising to victory in the opening rubber against Tomas Berdych to set the wheels in motion.

David Ferrer came through a five-set epic to finally dismantle Radek Stepanek to give the hosts breathing space going into their doubles match.

Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco sealed another world crown after overcoming Berdych and Stepanek in Barcelona, much to the delight of the home faithful.

Nadal, who is the online betting second favourite to win Wimbledon in 2010, beat Jan Hajek and Ferrer trounced Lukas Dlouhy to add gloss to the victory.

National hero Nadal finished behind Roger Federer at the top of the world rankings with Serbian Novak Djokovic in third and, after a disappointing second half to the season, the Mallorcan finished his year on a high.

He will have been bitterly upset that he could not defend his Wimbledon crown he won last year after suffering from a string of knee injuries.

Will Rafael Nadal regain his Wimbledon crown this year? - Latest Tennis Betting

The season started in emphatic fashion when Nadal defeated Federer in the opening Grand Slam of the year, beating his nemesis in a five-set marathon at the Australian Open in Melbourne to grab his first title at the event.

He then claimed the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells after overwhelming British number one Andy Murray 6-1, 6-2 in the final in March.

The left-hander then waltzed to three quick championship wins, the first coming at Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in mid-March where he beat off the challenge of Djokovic in three-sets.

Fellow countryman Ferrer was put to the sword in a re-run of the 2008 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell final before he claimed the Internazionali BNL d'Italia crown in Rome, again defeating Djokovic in the final at the start of May.

From a personal point of view, this was as good as it got for Nadal as the remainder of the season was spent trying to recapture the form that began to allude him.

A bout of tendinitis in both knees restricted him and he didn't really hit the levels he had at the start of 2009.

His stranglehold on the French Open came to halt at Roland Garros when a fourth round defeat to Robin Soderling brought his four-year reign to an end.

He then lost handsomely in the US Open semi-finals to eventual winner Juan Martin del Potro and his final showing in the 2009 ATP World Tour Finals in London brought his individual campaign to a poor end.

He lost to Soderling, eventual winner Nikolay Davydenko and Djokovic without winning a set.

However, the tonic of his nations Davis Cup victory can bring some closure to a unfortunate second half of the year and the world number two will be hopeful he can kick on and challenge Federer's position once again.

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