Nadal aims for 4th major title

McClatchy Newspapers

Melbourne, Australia

The most pressing issue Down Under heading into the 2011 Australian Open is when it might stop raining. Deadly floods have drenched large regions of Australia since November, and the wet weather continued to wreak havoc with a few tune-up tournaments last week.

But the biggest on-court question as the tennis world converges on Melbourne is whether Rafael Nadal will win a fourth consecutive major title. Last season, he won the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open. If he wins the Australian Open, he will be the first man to win four majors in a row since another left-hander, Rod Laver, did it in 1969.

Laver, an Australian, was the last man to complete a true Grand Slam, which is to sweep the four major titles in a calendar year. He also had a Grand Slam in 1962.

Roger Federer came close. The Swiss won three in a row over two seasons twice, and won three of four in a year (Australian, Wimbledon, U.S. Open) in 2004, 2006 and 2007. Jimmy Connors won three majors in 1974, and Mats Wilander did it in 1988.

Experts — including Laver — agree that if Nadal, 24, were to win four in a row, the “Nadal Slam,” although impressive, would not be quite as prestigious as Laver’s Grand Slams.

“There is something special to winning all four in the same calendar year,” said former No. 1 Jim Courier, now a TV commentator. “That is the technical definition of the Grand Slam. I think there is some added pressure that goes with doing it in a calendar year, where you have all the build-up post-Wimbledon and all summer, everyone talking about it. It doesn’t quite exist when you carry it over from the end of a season into the next, and that is the nod to Laver.”

Laver agreed.

“There’s a good chance he could pull it off, but it’s not a Grand Slam, certainly,” Laver told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his home in Carlsbad, Calif. “People will say, ’He’s going for a Grand Slam.’ And I say, ’No, he’s not doing that.’ That wasn’t the way this whole thing was set up. It starts in January and ends in September; starts with the Australian Open and ends with the U.S. Open.”

“Still,” Laver said, “what he’s trying to do is a great effort. It’s not a Grand Slam, but it’s a great effort.”

Courier pointed out that in some ways, if Nadal wins four in a row, it would surpass any achievement of a player from an earlier era.

“Looking at the awesomeness of the achievement — if he is able to do this, he’s doing it in an era that’s deeper than any era, pro or amateur,” Courier said. “He’s doing it now on three different surfaces, as opposed to Laver doing it on two. And, the physicality of the game is so much greater. To stay healthy for seven matches, four tournaments, is no given, particularly the bruising style of tennis Rafa plays to win.

“So, just to win three in a row is immense, and now he might do four, which hasn’t been done since The Rocket, so it’s worth all the hype.”