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  • The Nadal story part 4: 2005-2006- A developing star

    11/28/08 6:57 AM | Jonathan Morgan
    The Nadal story part 4: 2005-2006- A developing star Rafael Nadal's 2005 and 2006 seasons saw him shoot up the rankings to #2 in July 2005. He had to stay there for years while Federer made his case for the Greatest Ever, but it was these years that those two developed one of the best rivalries of all time.

    2005 was Nadal's best year to date on the tour. Another clash down under with Hewitt, this time 5 sets, saw the 18 year old Nadal playing insanely well, with his ranking just itching to shoot up. That 4th rounder in Australia bumped him up to 47.

    He then played the South American clay swing, where he really got big. He played in Buenos Aires against Gaudio in a crazy match where insults flew and Gaston was pissed. Gaudio won, but it was the last time he got a win over the Spanish bull. After back to back wins on clay in Brazil and Mexico against some tough claycourters, Nadal skipped Indian Wells to rest himself up. In Miami, he flew through the draw, losing just a single set, and faced off with Federer in the final.

    After winning the first two sets and leading big in the 3rd set tiebreak, Nadal just couldn't finish the deal and lost in 5. Bad line call? Possibly. Choke? Maybe. Squandered chance? Without a doubt. Like all great champions, though, Rafa bounced back as the clay season began. He played in the Valencia event and lost to Andreev in the quarterfinals. This would become a tennistic trivia quiz answer as Rafael reeled off 81 consecutive clay wins after that, before finally losing to Federer in Hamburg two years later.

    Back in 05, though, Nadal dominated clay, winning Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome, and Roland Garros. He had 2 tight bouts with Coria and took out Federer at the French Open, so it wasn't as if he had easy draws. Such a quick jump from nothing but potential to winning 2 Masters events and a slam were absolutely huge for Nadal's career as it seemed everyone on the planet had Nadal on the brain. After winning the French, his ranking hopped up to #3, but his grass season was disappointing.

    Surely no one considered Rafa to be a prime threat on grass, but going 1-2 on the surface was a bit rough. He bounced back and won 3 straight tournaments that summer, though. In Bastad and Stuttgart on clay, he won and claimed the #2 ranking after Stuttgart and then went to Canada and won his first hardcourt title of his career. Not only that, he defeated one of the greats, Andre Agassi, in the final. Agassi had nothing but praise for Nadal after that match.

    The next week, he lost to 6'5'' Tomas Berdych in Cincinnati. Berdych is a player with highly aggresive groundstrokes off both sides and an extreme height that helps him deal with Nadal's highly spun topspin strokes. At the US Open that year, Nadal lost to James Blake, a similar style of player.

    Once again Nadal rebounded from these losses to take the Beijing title. It was there that he again showed signs of injury and fatigue. This year was too much for a single body to take. The following week at a Davis Cup tie in Italy helped to confirm these thoughts as he looked sluggish on his clay against Andreas Seppi. Nevertheless, he went to Madrid for his last event of the season and won the final in 5 sets over Ivan Ljubicic, who dominated the indoor season that year. Rafa had come back from 0-2 sets down to take the title. After that, Rafa had to pull out of the rest of the year's events and even the 2006 Australian Open as he dealt with his foot injury.

    He later reveals that the time off during that stretch was one of the darkest of his life, as doubt was cast over his career and he didn't know if he would ever play again. Play again he did, as he returned to the tour in the Spring of 2006. His second event back was in Dubai where he made the finals and took on Roger Federer. Federer was undefeated thus far in the season and was having his best year yet. Nadal clipped him in the final in a theme that would haunt Roger for months afterward.

    After another loss to Blake in Indian Wells and a shocker to Moya in Miami, Nadal was back to his clay. He again dominated the clay, winning Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome, and Roland Garros. The difference this year, however, is that Federer was getting closer and closer to beating him. They first played in Monte Carlo where Federer lost in 4. Then they played in Rome where Federer held match points before losing in an epic 5 setter. Again they met in the French Open final, where Federer won the first set 6-1 and looked like he might finally dethrone Rafa and take the one slam that eluded him, but Nadal fought back, won the second set 6-1 and took the match in 4.

    Fighting seems to be a theme for Nadal.

    Rafa surprised the world by making the Wimbledon final that year, after a crazy fun 5 set win over Robert Kendrick in the second round and an all-generations battle with Agassi in the 3rd round in what turned out the be Agassi's final Wimbledon. Federer finally beat Nadal to take his 4th straight Wimbledon crown, but another message was sent. Nadal is a force on grass too.

    Nadal failed to win a title for the remainder of the year, with losses to Berdych, Ferrero, Youzhny, Joachim Johansson, Berdych again, Blake again, and Federer at the Masters Cup. A particular incident occured in Madrid when he lost to Berdych in a tight and very well-contested match. Berdych, annoyed at the crowd's poor behavior during the match, motioned with a finger to his lips after he claimed match point. Nadal wasn't too fond of this act and let Berdych know at the net. Berdych's next match against Fernando Gonzalez was marred with boos and even worse crowd behavior, and Tomas lost easily.

    At the end of 2006, people were quick to label Nadal as a one surface wonder and dismissed the Wimbledon run as a fluke. As we have seen in the past, when one doubts Rafael Nadal, he gets even better.

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