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Nadal’s New Weapon:

Chris Fowler: “Two days before the tournament, you made a grip change? Some people would say that’s kind of a risk!”

Rafa: “Yeah, but without risk, it’s impossible to have…”

As Nadal was searching for the right words, Brad Gilbert cut him off, saying, “What a great attitude.”

Presumably, he would’ve added “success,” though if he were a little more arrogant and a little less humble, he might’ve gone with, “the kind of success only the great ones achieve.” Of course, Rafa would never say something like this, and his mind-set is a large part of the reason he’s the best tennis player on the planet.

In these few lines from ESPN’s interview with Nadal on Wednesday, you can also feel the fire within this champion.

Mere days before the U.S. Open commenced, he adjusted the grip on his serve – rotating the tennis racket ever so slightly from a backhand style grip to a more traditional one. Granted, he’s never gone all the way at this tournament, but as the holder of 8 Grand Slam titles from the 3 other major tournaments, one might think he should leave well enough alone.

If you’re wondering how the adjustment is working out for him, he’s serving harder than he’s ever served in his life. John McEnroe has stated (I paraphrase here) that only a few years ago Rafa struggled to hit 120 MPH on his serve, yet during the 2010 U.S. Open, he has regularly been hitting it above 130. More amazing, he’s doing it with an incredible 70%-plus first serves in play.

Heading into the semi-finals, he has dropped only one service game in the entire tournament so far.

The Pursuit of Perfection

The other thing you notice from the interview is his constant effort to improve. Rafa will take any risk necessary, change any part of his game he’s asked to change, if it means getting better.

Take for example his adjustment from being a pure claycourt player to an all-surface master. Three years ago, Rafael Nadal was known for his expertise on clay like many Europeans before him. But I ask you this, is Gustavo Kuerten a household name, despite being one of the best claycourters of his generation? Hardly. And he won the French Open 3 times.

Nadal wanted desperately to win on other surfaces, especially the hallowed Wimbledon; to be the best in the world, not only the best in Europe. Every year he went to England, he improved. In his first appearance in the finals, in 2006, he lost in 4 sets to Roger Federer. In his second appearance, one year later, he took the match to 5 sets, eventually succumbing to his own nerves in the fifth.

But he worked hard on his serve, flattened out his groundstrokes to penetrate through the speedy grass courts more effectively, and added the entirely new dimension of an excellent net game.

Swing changes like these were extremely risky to his claycourt prowess, for it was those high spin shots that got him on the pro-tour in the first place. Still, Nadal took the risks. He made the changes and you can just see where they have landed him.

Aiming At the U.S. Open

Nadal is playing at the highest level he ever has at the U.S. Open in this 2010 year, and at the age of 24, he could be the youngest player ever to win the career Grand Slam (all four majors in a lifetime). In comparison, it took Roger Federer until he was 27 to achieve the feat, and he needed all the cards stacked in his favour for it to happen – Rafa was injured during the French Open in 2009 when Federer finally won it.

All well and good for Nadal, but for him to win this year, there is going to be one hurdle that will be more of a mountain. Again, we speak of the legendary Roger Federer – the man who has completely dominated the U.S. Open for 6 years, winning 5 straight championships, and being a finalist 6 straight times.

Fed, for his part, is also playing the best tennis he has in years. Gone is the lack of confidence he showed earlier this year during the French Open and then Wimbledon. Gone are his struggles with mono of 2008. In New York City in 2010, he is as on top of his game as he’s ever been.

Never was this more evident than during his quarter-final match against Robin Soderling on Wednesday night. Soderling, the same man who faced Federer in the finals of the 2009 French Open, and then knocked him out of the tournament in the semi-finals in 2009, was to be a real measuring stick for Federer’s current game.

Already up 2 sets, Federer found himself down a break in the third set. All Soderling had to do was win his service game at 5-3 to win the third set, and the comeback would have been on its way.

But Federer pulled out some magic that he left back in 2007 – hanging in there to break back. Not only did he save that game, he won 3 in a row and took the third set and the match.

Federer has returned.

Nadal is the current world number one and has won 2 straight Grand Slam tournaments.

On Sunday, the world may once again witness what is the number one rivalry in all of sports. Even if you are not a tennis fan, even if you’re not a sports fan, you must tune into this.