NEW YORK -- It is wholly appropriate that Rafael Nadal come to this city in his effort to twist one last bit of muscle into the hard headlock he now has on men's tennis.
New York is a place, after all, where toughness, strength and the ability to bully one's way through any obstacle are primary points of pride.
Sure, the Spaniard is a wonderful guy; cheery, humble, even sweet -- off the court.
On the court, tennis has never witnessed a bigger, badder tough guy than Rafa Nadal, who goes after his third straight Grand Slam title when the U.S. Open starts its two-week run Monday.
If you're the average sports fan, you're thinking: "A tennis player? Tough and rough?"
Did you see Nadal at the All England Club?
He has the well-chiseled look and the speedy, deft feet of an NFL defensive back. In his hands, a tennis racket becomes a cudgel, brutalizing every ball he hits.
There's the spin, which most observers say he imparts more lethally than anyone in tennis history. A high-speed video study by John Yandell, a San Francisco tennis teaching pro, showed Nadal slaps his forehand around at an average of 3,200 revolutions per minute. Roger Federer's ball rotates at 2,500 rpm. Andre Agassi generated 1,800 rpm.
There's the power. Watch him live and up close. Nadal hits so hard that the effect of ball striking strings when he really lays into it creates a percussion you can practically feel through your feet.
But most important is Nadal's sheer doggedness and determination. He's the guy in the barroom brawl that is going to keep swinging, no matter what, even if he's flat on his back.
Think back to his manic determination on the red clay in Paris, where he has never lost and has now won four French Open titles.
Think back to Wimbledon, where, after losing a two-set lead and a match point, the 22-year-old found the will to sneak out a fifth-set theft of King Roger's crown.
That's tough.
For more than three years he had been lodged at No. 2 in the world, chasing Federer, never giving ground. Finally, after following up Wimbledon with continued spectacular play on the hard courts of the Rogers Cup in Canada, and after winning an Olympic gold medal in Beijing, Nadal begins this U.S. Open ranked No. 1 in the world for the first time.
That's dogged.
So, over the next two weeks, is there anyone, or anything, capable of stopping Nadal on the Flushing Meadows hard courts, a surface he has so far never managed to master at the Grand Slam level?
