Rafael Nadal: John McEnroe reveals the new tennis feature that HELPS Nadal
RAFAEL NADAL is playing better because of the introduction of the shot clock to tennis, reckons John McEnroe.
The 25-second shot clock was first introduced to Grand Slams at last year’s US Open and has proved a hit with spectators.
While there has always been a time violation ruling in place in tennis, the clock is now visible to players and fans.
This allows players to know how long they have left when preparing to serve, and for someone like Nadal, who’s notoriously known as someone that takes his time during serves, it’s pretty useful.
McEnroe, who won Wimbledon three times, believes that despite it sounding like a disadvantage to Nadal, it’s actually helped him.
“I think Nadal is playing better because of it,” he said.
“We all thought he'd struggle because he goes over so often but it forced him to sort of take a look out of the corner of his eye.”
Nadal noticeably takes time to adjust himself when preparing for service during games.
The Spaniard can usually be seen adjusting his shorts, fiddling with his hair, and bouncing the ball repeatedly before putting the ball into play.
Mats Willander has also had his say on the matter, and why he thinks it’s helped the 11-time French Open winner as well.
“He’s aware of it, and it has helped him to be quicker,” he said.
“He is much faster and I think there should be also a return clock because sometimes, even against Frances Tiafoe, he was like ‘Sorry, I am not ready.’”
Nadal got to the final of the Australian Open in January but he was thwarted by Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
Nadal was favourite to overcome his Serb rival, having not dropped a set all tournament, but ultimately Djokovic was too powerful for him.
The 17-time Grand Slam winner’s favourite major is up next, though, the French Open.
The 32-year-old hasn’t lost a match at Roland Garos since 2015 - however he had to retire from the 2016 tournament due to injury.