14-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal confesses his 2nd-best playing surface
Rafael Nadal has revealed what his second-best surface was during his sensational professional career during his recent podcast appearance alongside Andy Roddick.
The Spaniard won 14 Grand Slam titles at the Parisian clay Grand Slam, as well as six on the hard courts of New York and Melbourne, with two arriving at Wimbledon.
However, it is on the grass courts of SW19 where Nadal believes he played at his highest non-clay level.
“Because I started winning a lot on clay, people started thinking I was a clay-court player,” Nadal said to Andy Roddick on the Served Podcast.
“But the truth is, of course, my game adapted well to the clay, but I loved playing on fast courts, I finished my career winning a couple of US Opens [late on], but my second-best surface was grass.
“I played the Wimbledon final in 2006, so it’s not like it took me five years to play well on grass.”
The 22-time Grand Slam champion failed to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon from 2012-15, before missing the event in 2016.
Nadal continued: “I lost in the second round in 2005 against Gilles Muller. In 2004, I couldn’t play because I was injured, but in 2003 I beat Mario Ancic already in the first round. So my game adapted well to all surfaces.
“I was in the Wimbledon final in 2006, 2007, won it in 2008, in 2009 I was not able to play.
“Then I won in 2010 and played the final in 2011, so not counting 2009, I played five finals in a row. Then arrived a point when I was not able to play on grass for many years. My knees were not holding, I was not able to slow down.”
It was at the 2008 event where Nadal had ended Roger Federer’s 65-match winning streak on grass, with the Swiss seeking a sixth-consecutive Wimbledon title.
The final of that edition ended 9-7 in the Spaniard’s favour after four hours and 48 minutes, in what many consider to be the greatest tennis match ever played.
“After that, 2012 to 2016, my knees were not good enough to play on grass,” the two-time Wimbledon champion said.
“Then I recovered well in my knees and started playing well on grass again.
“For me it was painful, because I felt that my chances were bigger, if I was healthy enough, on grass than hard. Honestly, I preferred to play against Novak [Djokovic] on grass than on hard.”
Nadal and Djokovic played on grass on four occasions, with these being equally split 2-2.
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The former world No 1 made the semi-finals during his final three appearances at the All England Lawn Tennis Club (2018, 2019, and 2022), with his most recent match taking place against Taylor Fritz – who he defeated in a fifth-set tiebreak, before withdrawing from his next match.
2022 Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios took to social media to reaffirm Nadal’s belief in his grass prowess: “Honestly Rafa on grass was ridiculous – lefty serve, great hands – can confirm was a nightmare on hard as well.”
