For his return, will Rafael Nadal be able to play on intimidation? “Against him, you are on the ropes before playing”

“Her way of jumping before the match in the locker room, he sprints next to you, I could even hear the music he was listening to in his headphones… Early in my career, it intimidated me.” The release was signed by Novak Djokovic during an interview with CBS on the show “60 Minutes” at the beginning of December. The current indisputable boss of world tennis and record holder of Grand Slam titles thus described his emotions before his first duels against Rafael Nadal at Roland-Garros around fifteen years ago.

The confession is all the stronger because it comes from another monster who leads 30 victories to 29 in their extraordinary rivalry. It says a lot about what it means to face Rafael Nadal on the tour. By his intensity even before entering the court, the Mallorcan engages in psychological combat: against him, the match does not begin at the first point, but well before. And it’s a safe bet that his first opponent in Brisbane will experience it in the same way as all his predecessors. Even more than his aura perhaps damaged by his long absence, can this pre-match ritual help him in his comeback despite the weight of the years?

Having practiced it for a long time on the circuit, the new captain of the French Davis Cup team Paul-Henri Mathieu knows how impressive the Spaniard is. “When I read what Djoko had said, I found myself in it so much. I felt like I was in the locker room actually. There are very strong moments that mark you, and that marked mehe tells us. Everyone was looking at him like, ‘What is he doing?’ With the intensity he put into his warm-ups, he won 99% of his matches before going on court. This is already often the case with the strongest, so with this warm-up… I don’t know if he needed that to really get in condition or if there was a part of intimidation too. Honestly, I think it’s a bit of both..”

This is the big question: was Nadal aware from the start of his career that he was physically imposing and did he use it to his advantage? Beyond the question of style or fashion, the Spaniard knew well, for example, that his tank tops highlighted his muscular arms, further accentuating his gladiator side. Even if he joked about it a lot, the fact that Roger Federer often spoke about it, comparing them to his own with self-deprecation, is also revealing.

But the naturally anxious character of the Mallorcan can also suggest the opposite. “Nadal has always been like that. He always had this attitude before entering the court, even when he was very young. It’s part of his routine. He in no way does it to impress his opponentssays Arnaud Clément who confronted the animal four times. Why does he win? It’s because he’s simply stronger. The loud music in the headphones is funny because I have a memory of that from Roland. You see Nadal moving a lot and you think he must be listening to something like Rocky’s music. And in fact, it was Justin Bieber! I didn’t expect that at all, it was a teenage thing.”

However, our consultant does not minimize the impact. “He needs to free himself physically, to free himself from a certain form of tension and he already arrives on the pitch sweating. It’s true that it’s very advanced with him. What he exudes in a match, all this physical bestiality, he begins to exude a little before the exchanges even begin. It is visible to the opponent and inevitably, it affects his morale. You have the impression of having a bull who enters the arena, who wants to go in all directions, who wants to hurt straight away. When you see him sprint after the toss, he exudes power, a strength that you feel just by looking at him..”

If Nadal had not been such a good tennis player, it is obvious that this whole pre-match “scenario” as Djokovic calls it would not have had the same effect. But what is remarkable about the Majorcan is that this routine has retained the same impact on his opponents, even if they have been warned for so many years. To be convinced of this, you just have to replay the images of a livid Casper Ruud alongside his idol who sprinted as usual before entering center court during the Roland-Garros final in 2022.

On this subject, Paul-Henri Mathieu, who often held Nadal without beating him in 10 confrontations, remembers a painful experience. “After several duels (including the extraordinary one at Roland Garros in 2006, Editor’s note), I told my coach at the time: ‘The next time I play him, I’ll do the same as him.’ And the next time, it was in the round of 16 at the Australian Open (in 2008). We were playing in a ‘night session’, so obviously there was no one left in the locker room. There are almost two of us, there is his team and there was just my coach in addition. And I do a Rafa warm-up with him next to me. I said to myself: ‘He does it, so can I. Tonight is for me.’ I arrive on the court in full swing. And on the first point of the match, I throw the ball to serve, I go to get it and… I hit my calf!”

By changing his own routine to reverse the balance of power, did “PHM” paradoxically let Nadal get into his head even more? He himself does not know because the injury was perhaps also due to a compensation phenomenon after a slight sprain at the start of the tournament. But the sequence, as terrible as it is, perfectly reflects the psychological standoff engaged before even entering the court. Whistled by the Australian public after having lasted a little more than a set with a breakdown, the new captain of the Blues has unforgettable memories.

We will have understood, consciously or unconsciously, as shy and gentle as he is off the court, Nadal has always had the gift of transforming himself into a stage beast. Although he no longer has the same physical means as 20 years ago, he still knows how to get his messages across and would be wrong not to use them again in Brisbane. “There is a side that scares you a little, you are a little on the ropes before entering the courtconcludes Mathieu. You say to yourself: ‘Wow if he’s like that in warm-up, what’s he going to be like on the pitch?’ Knowing that he starts the match with his foot on the floor and that he only releases the accelerator pedal when he has shaken the opponent’s hand. He puts you in a washing machine and he doesn’t stop.”