Nadal the poly-trick pony

Rafael Nadal proved he was a poly-trick pony when he won the Montreal Masters Sunday. Mind you, he was not really proving anything. More reminding. After all two Wimbledon titles, an Australian Open title, a US Open title and several hard court Masters are already pretty convincing evidence. But he had not won a title off the Clay since his 2010 season until this season’s Indian Wells so his success this year, beating players of the hard court quality of Del Potro, Federer and Djokovic along the way, has been more a case of him proving himself once again to those who doubt his surface versatility.

The win in Montreal came against newly top ten installed Canadian Milos Raonic. The affair was straightforward for the Spaniard, a 6-2, 6-2 victory that saw Nadal convert all four of his breakpoints against a man with a first serve percentage of 50%. It was a match in which Nadal was as consistent as ever, hitting 17 winners and making only 7 errors and winning 33 of the 46 baseline points played.

The win bodes well for Nadal, especially after the defeat at Wimbledon to Darcis. That loss might even work out well for Nadal in the long-term. Nadal would not have worked himself entirely out of the mindset of the Clay court game, which with the clay and outdoor hard court surfaces sharing similarities speed and bounce wise may prove to be advantageous. How fast the US Open hard courts are remains to be seen but the former Champion and finalist has the form to go far there, especially if he can keep his first serve percentage at the rate he had it in the Montreal final-70%. He will also go in with a slight psychological edge over his chief rival, Djokovic. His semi-final win against Djokovic, which the Spaniard won by dominating a third set tiebreaker, was his first win over the Serbian away from the Clay since 2010 and will no doubt prove to be a match he draws upon for confidence when the going gets tough in NYC.

Meanwhile, Serena Williams beat Sorana Cirstea 0 and 2 in the women’s final. Serena, like Nadal, swept all before her on the Clay circuit only to be pulled up short in SW 19. Though she went further than Nadal into the last sixteen she was not able to adapt to the Wimbledon grass courts so soon after three months on the Clay. But adapting to the Montreal courts so soon after her Gstaad victory was no problem for the world number one.

Motivated by her early Wimbledon loss and with the confidence this win and any further matches should give her, a fifth US Open title looks well within the reigning US Open champion’s reach.