Is Nadal about to end his New York nightmare?

Every sports person has a challenging obstacle to face up against, whether that is a fixture or an opponent, an event or a venue it’s what makes competition so intriguing.

For some they are able to overcome these obstacles and on occasions by prevailing these they can transform themselves from a champion into a truly great champion.

Rafael Nadal undeniably understands his obstacle probably more than he understands how to move a ball around a clay court but there is one thing understanding it to actually overcoming it.

Going into the hard court stretch the Spaniard has looked back to his supreme best, winning three straight events on the clay before securing both the French Open title and then his second Wimbledon Championships.

After all the trouble of last season with his aggravating tendonitis in his knees and the tennis world distressing about whether or not the 24-year-old may have to cut his career devastatingly short this now looks to be behind him, for the meantime anyway.

But since moving on to the hard the discomfort returned and this time it is not just his delicate knees there are a number of things which come with it for the World No.1.

I understand that Nadal has proven plenty of times that he is able to win on hard, for god sakes he won the Australian Open in 2008 but the North American courts are different.

Other than his two Rogers Cup titles in Toronto two years ago and Montreal back in 2005 the Spaniard has struggled in the tournaments running up to the final slam of the year.

Then we come to Flushing Meadows, not by any stretch the eight time grand slam champion’s favoured place to play. In recent years it must be said his record has steadily improved and with all his difficulties has reached the semi finals in his last two visits.

This type of effort demonstrates the type of winner and sportsman Nadal is. It proves why he is the world’s best player but until he conquers that slam, therefore winning the illustrious Career Grand Slam alongside six other men (Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer), the argument about whether he is ‘great’ will forever be questioned.

Rafael Nadal’s US Open record - 2003 – 2nd Rd; 2004 – 2nd Rd; 2005 – 3rd Rd; 2006 – QF; 2007 – 4th Rd; 2008 – SF; 2009 – SF

You could make similar parallels with Federer, who for years had a giant question mark over his extraordinary career until he completed the set with the French Open last year.

The way in which they are different however is the fact that the one and only obstacle the Swiss had to remove was Nadal and luckily for him this was removed for him, but for the Spaniard there is more than one person, it is a number of elements.

First of all there is the ball. Every tournament has their particular ball, for instance Wimbledon uses Slazenger, the French Open makes their own ball and the Aussie Open uses Wilson.

The US Open are also users of that manufacturer but it is a fraction smaller and lighter which is more suited to the flat hitters of the ball, like last year’s champion Juan Martin Del Potro, who can generate huge amounts of pace at the players heals.

This therefore relegates Nadal’s greatest asset, his viciously whipped forehand, which at the other three slams especially at the French and Wimbledon has brought him so many rewards but in the US fails to kick up as much.

The other is the court surface. We know of Nadal’s problems with the hard courts with his knees continuing to take the strain due to his physical nature of play and last year this showed signs of defeating him.

With all this contriving against Nadal not forgetting the impending ask of facing the more suited hard court players it is amazing how he can walk on to court thinking that he can overcome all this but this is what makes him the spirited, heart on his sleeve champion he is.

Over the past nine years on the circuit, the 24 year old has pretty much gone by the phrase ‘what hurts you only makes you stronger’ because after adversity he continues to comeback a better man and in this championship especially that appears to be the case.

He has put all his mental demons as well as his physical difficulties to one side to produce some magnificent tennis and goes into tomorrow’s semi final against Mikhail Youzney without dropping a set.

The key for Nadal as yet has been his serve. This is not something one would point out with the World No.1s game but it has been something which he has kept consistently strong throughout and even produced a 135mph serve against his compatriot Feliciano Lopez in the fourth round, his fastest since 2005.

Along with the aggressive serve he is utilising his flat punchy backhand as much as possible and to great effect. He is also looking to end points as soon as possible, which has often been the problem with the Spaniard who tends to grind out points.

Another obstacle Nadal had to endure in his quarter final clash against Fernando Verdasco was the blustery weather conditions but unlike his opponent he was undeterred by this to stay focused and blow Verdasco away 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

After all this great tennis Nadal has now two hurdles remaining and possibly the biggest he has ever faced. The first is to make his first US Open final by defeating Youzhney, a man who he lost 6-0, 6-1 in Chennai in 2008 and also knocked him out in the quarters at Flushing Meadows four years ago.

Then, if that is achieved he will have to produce the performance of his life to defeat either the

five time winner Federer or the 2007 runner-up Novak Djokovic in the final.

And if this is be achieved, well, he will become the youngest to achieve the Career Grand Slam and it will end any doubt in anyone’s mind that Nadal is a true great in the sport, which will be richly deserved.