MELBOURNE, Australia — “Let’s wait a little bit, no?” Rafael Nadal said, snapping his fingers after reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open when asked to explain what impact his new adviser Carlos Moya was having on his game.
“Things are not like this,” he said, snapping his fingers again.
Nadal’s success on a tennis court has long been about more than his ability to cover the corners as few in history have and rip a left-handed forehand as nobody in history has. It has been about his capacity to stay in the present and revel in the present; to embrace the point and challenge directly at hand.