The art of hunting forehands – Rafael Nadal and the greatest groundstroke tennis has ever seen

The No.1 seed has a cunning plan to roast an up-and-coming Pom in the furnace of Rod Laver Arena on Monday afternoon.

Rafael Nadal practises his forehand on Margaret Court Arena on Sunday Picture: Michael Klein

A perfectly endearing image of Rafael Nadal is from when both his knees, one elbow, two shoulders, his left foot, at least eight toes, an ankle, nine fingers, a thumb, all 24 ribs, umpteen tendons, the bulk of his bones and the majority of his bulging muscles were all shot to bits. He plonked himself on a chair in the middle of a practice court in Majorca and slogged forehands … because slogging forehands is just about his favourite thing to do in this wild and precious life of his.

Nadal plays Englishman Jack Draper in the first round of the Australian Open at 2.30pm on Monday. If you think the timing of the fixture is the luck of the draw for Nadal, think once more. His wishes are always granted by the ever-accommodating Open boss Craig Tiley when it comes to scheduling. Nadal wanted to get the pale-skinned young Pom on Rod Laver Arena in the heat of a Melbourne day. The forecast is for an oppressive 30 degrees Celsius and so the pale-skinned young Pom should know the timing of the match has been no random act.

Tiley’s claim about this being “the best field we’ve had” is already unbeatable as the most entertaining quote of the tournament. No Roger Federer, no Serena Williams, no Ash Barty, no Naomi Osaka, no Carlos Alcaraz, no Venus Williams, no Simona Halep, no Angelique Kerber, no Elina Svitolina, no Marin Cilic and Australia’s only female singles hope, Ajla Tomljanovic, has pulled her tearstained pin. Am I missing something, or someone? It’s one of the weakest Opens ever – saved by the history-making duo of Novak Djokovic and Nadal, whose every wild and precious appearance in Melbourne, sadly, is potentially his last.

Britain's Jack Draper hits a return during a training session ahead of the Australian Open Picture: AFP

How he has won 22 majors? By hunting forehands. That’s it. Doesn’t matter who Nadal plays, the game plan is the same. Hunt forehands. Get what we’re saying here? Nadal doesn’t just hit forehands. He hunts them. How to beat Djokovic? By hunting forehands. How to beat Federer in their glory days? By hunting forehands. How to beat Draper? By hunting forehands. He’ll run up the players’ tunnel and back if it means he can find one, gorge on it, devour it. His serve is respectable and his backhand is decent but the 36-year-old has become the most successful male player in history by doing one thing over and over and over again. Hunting forehands.

It’s the greatest and most destructive groundstroke in the history of tennis. I saw a training drill in Paris once in which his then coach, Uncle Toni, hit balls to Nadal’s backhand corner. What Nadal had to do was run around the backhand to hit forehands from out near the doubles alley. He scampered from the centre of the baseline to get to the outside of the ball, clobbering another forehand from where most players accept backhands. They did about ten of these drills, one-minute each, after which the exhausted Nadal fell to his haunches.

“Animals,” is how Nick Kyrgios describes the physical and mental approaches of Nadal and Djokovic. And he’s right. Nadal stalks forehands. He sniffs them out like a great white shark smelling tuna blood, leaping on them like weakened prey, running backwards, frontwards, sidewards, upwards, downwards, all-around-wards if it means deploying his murderous bread-and-butter. When others hit a backhand … Nadal wants an airborne forehand.

There’s never been a shot like it. He plants his back foot like he’s about to hurl a discus. He coils and throws his feet, thighs, ample backside and hips into it, getting airborne when he’s really letting rip, as the shoulders slingshot to the left and then the right. The snap of the wrist is extreme and savage, imparting enough topspin to mutate the ball, turning it egg-shaped, making it drop like it’s fallen from a cliff or curve like a trick snooker shot. The follow-through is of a man who’s just thrown a lasso.

If you were building the perfect player you’d have Pete Sampras’s serve, Djokovic’s returns and topspin backhand, Ken Rosewall or Ash Barty’s sliced backhand, John McEnroe’s volleys with apologies to Pat Rafter, Rod Laver’s bucket hat, John Newcombe’s moustache and net-leaping celebration, Jimmy Connors’ mongrel, somehow sprinkle it all with Roger Federer’s magic dust – and top it off with Nadal’s screaming banshee of a forehand.

Ash Barty’s sliced backhand was a shot of beauty Picture: Michael Klein

The problem for Nadal against Draper is that he’s getting longer in the tooth and slower in the legs, and so the explosiveness is dimming and he has to be content with hitting routine, mostly rally-extending backhands more than before. Draper’s lefty serve is a handful and the challenge for Nadal, who keeps losing to these young blokes, will be getting into rallies long and loud enough to turn the pale-faced Pom’s skin a deeper shade of pink.

American poet Mary Oliver was the beautiful soul who wrote, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Nadal has spent most of his hunting forehands but sigh, the end is nigh. Tennis will miss the wild and precious Nadal – but not half as much as he will miss it. Anyone who practices in a chair is a true devotee. He admits he’s down on form and confidence and sensitive to the possibility of defeat against Draper but always reckons he loves the suffering. There’s a hint of optimism in the hobbling, groaning, grunting old Spaniard.

Asked if he’s vulnerable against Draper, Nadal says: “Without a doubt, no? I have been losing more than usual, so that’s part of the business. I think I am humble enough to accept the situation and just work with what I have today. I need to build again the confidence with myself. With victories. But it’s true that I have been losing more than usual. I need to live with it and just fight for the victories, no? I have been here for three weeks, practising with the best players. I don’t know what can happen on Monday but my personal feeling, without a doubt, is better now than three weeks ago.”

How can Nadal win another Australian Open? By hunting forehands. How on earth did he recover from a two-set deficit to beat Daniil Medvedev in last year’s final? By hunting forehands like they were his last meals. Like his life depended on them. His clash with the pale-faced young Pom will be his first match on RLA since the five-set, four-hour miracle against Medvedev.

“The sport goes fast and what happened last year is already past,” he says. “In a sport like tennis, people remember the victories, no, at the end? People are going to remember that today I have 22 slams, not that I lost another 50. But what happened last year is going to stay in my heart and my memory forever. One of the most emotional victories of my tennis career. The love of the people, the atmosphere we lived here on Rod Laver Arena in that final – unforgettable for me. I hope to be ready to fight for this first round. Let’s see what can happen.”