By Erik Gudris | Monday, May 12, 2014
Rafael Nadal resumed his winning ways in Madrid. But how much confidence will he, and several others, take with them heading into Paris?
Photo Credit: Christopher Levy
"There is magic here" is the English translation for the social media hashtag from last week's Madrid Open. The event, which often tries too hard in proving itself as one of the tour's best, overcame a rough opening, provided some engrossing contests, only to end with an inconclusive final weekend. The lingering question for many players as they say "adios" to the Spanish capital is if they conjured up any lasting confidence from their efforts heading into Roland Garros.
The men's draw suffered a blow as several of its top seeds either didn't show up or bowed out early. High profile withdrawals of Novak Djokovic (wrist), Roger Federer (twins!) and the surprise upset of Stanislas Wawrinka to Dominic Thiem left defending champion and local hero Rafael Nadal as the presumptive, and let's face it, only favorite left. It's hard to think of Nadal seeking a boost to his self-belief, especially on clay, but that's what he needed after two surprise losses earlier in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.
Freed up from not having to deal with Djokovic or Wawrinka, the world No. 1 seemed to get everything about his game in working order again. Nadal, back inside "La Caja Magica" arena (The Magic Box) transformed from the disjointed, unsure player of the last several weeks to his preferred role of "I'm the boss" on the dirt.
That was until he faced Kei Nishikori in the final. With Nishikori clearly the better player for most of the evening, Nadal reverted back to the passive style of play that we've become uncomfortably accustomed seeing from him. Nishikori had everything in his favor, except when his body finally gave out on him. Unfortunately, there was no magic elixir waiting to restore the newly minted top 10 entrant and a resigned Nishikori was forced to retire.
Nishikori's retirement allowed Nadal to raise the Madrid trophy once again to the delight of the home crowd. While a win is a win, it wasn't a full-on exclamation-mark ending that Nadal would have hoped for. How much of a morale boost Nadal will take out of that result, and the week, is a common theme for several players as they head down to Rome.
Svetlana Kuznetsova, once again being touted as a French Open darkhorse, held three match points in a third set tiebreak versus Agnieszka Radwanska before the crafty Pole erased them all and then won. Does the Russian take comfort she is playing some good ball right now or does she dwell on what might have been? One could say the same for Simona Halep. The rising Romanian couldn't snatch back control of her final versus Maria Sharapova. Halep can focus on the positives that she almost beat the best clay court player on the women's tour right now, though question marks linger on how Halep will handle the growing expectations placed on her.
And what about Sharapova's Madrid victory? In several dicey moments, Sharapova found a way to escape from what looked like straight-set defeats. But it wasn't through a hidden trap door inside the Magic Box. Sharapova's icy cool certainty that she would prevail came through again, despite relying on several pep talks from her coach Sven Groeneveld throughout the week. Does Sharapova's inner belief really need that much of a spark from an outside voice? She proved that it doesn't when she won Paris two years ago, and she will have to rely on not hearing Sven's voice on court if she wants to do it again. Especially if she has to face Serena Williams, the only woman she has yet to beat during her recent clay court win streak.
Whether one calls it élan, fearlessness or just plain mojo, finding that rock solid spirit that will get you through the toughest moments is what every player wanted to find and hold onto last week. After five years in its new spot on the calendar, the Madrid event continues to find its way. But for several players, including the country's most famous one of all, they may have just found theirs as they make the turn heading in the second Grand Slam of the season.