Now players are scared to even train with Nadal!

I was privileged to be at courtside when Rafael Nadal had his first scheduled practice at Wimbledon a few days before the tournament started.

What an eye-opener! Nadal was hitting with Spanish compatriot, Tommy Robredo.

In fact, it’s almost true to say Nadal was hitting Robredo, because the world ranked No. 20 was having to duck and dive as the ball whistled back at him.

I’ve seen most of the world’s great players in practice. One thing they have in common is that it’s always an intense session of real focus and concentration.

But I have never before seen a player come out like Nadal did and hit every ball as hard as he could. It was truly amazing.

I actually felt sorry for Robredo. He virtually needed armour plating, because a lot of Rafa’s shots seemed to target him like body-line bowling in cricket.

All the other top players I’ve seen have started a warm-up slowly, concentrating on keeping the ball in court and trying to avoid any error. Once they’ve got the feel of the ball, they then step up the pace.

Jimmy Connors, for instance, was ferociously intense in practice, playing every point like a Wimbledon Final. But his focus was on not making a single error.

Nadal was hitting shots at Mach 5 from the very first ball, and he maintained that approach for an hour.

Coach Uncle Toni was there encouraging Nadal on every point to concentrate on accelerating the racket through the ball. The pace he was generating was phenomenal.

To start with, a high percentage of Rafa’s shots were flying beyond the baseline, putting Robredo at risk, but eventually Nadal found his range.

I have never seen anything like it, and asking around, I found that many players don’t want to practise with Nadal because of his approach!

Most players like to settle into a rhythm. Hitting with the Spanish World No. 1 does not allow them to find any rhythm at all.

It was fascinating and almost frightening to watch. And if Rafa ends up winning the trophy this time next week, maybe everybody will change their practice habits!