It hasn't been easy for Rafa Nadal the past year. After his ninth French Open victory in ten tries, things descended downhill rapidly. A wrist injury forced him out of Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open, where he was set to defend all 3 titles. When the Spaniard finally reappeared on tour, he was struck back down with appendicitis. Although clearly in pain, Rafa carried on playing. He eventually took the initiative and had an appendectomy in November, forcing him to miss the rest of the 2014 season. 

The bittersweet year of 2014 was over, and Rafa was ready to return back onto the tour. People expected him to make a comeback like 2013, but that certainly is not what took place. With mediocre results and a couple of shock losses along the way to Michael Berrer and Fabio Fognini, everybody started to panic. With little to celebrate apart from a 250 title in Buenos Aires, it was obvious that this comeback was going to be a little more gradual. 

In April, the 14-time slam champion was back onto his beloved clay, but was still yet to succeed on the big stage. A semifinal loss against eventual champion Novak Djokovic in Monte Carlo was a fantastic sign. He had beaten a top ten player (for the first time since June last year) in the quarterfinal. The celebration and relief (despite a SF loss) soon wore off as Rafa was beaten by Fabio Fognini (AGAIN) in Barcelona. That brings us to Madrid. Nadal was the defending champion, and achieved his best result yet this year. Dominating Grigor Dimitrov and Tomas Berdych along the way, he reached his second final of the year. Rafa was the clear favourite given his dominance earlier in the week. Victory was at his fingertips yet he couldn't pull it off. Rafa Nadal was a nervous wreck and he went down embarrassingly in straight sets to Murray.

So, that brings us to now. As you can see, the last 11-12 months have been a disaster. Questions have been asked- 'Is Nadal on his way out?' 'What's wrong with him?' Rafa is known for having immaculate mental strength and courage. It's incredibly unusual for him to get nervous when facing big opponents like he has been recently. We're completely sure it's a mental problem. Take yesterday's final for example, he constructs the perfect point and creates an opportunity to whip a forehand down the line, but it lands way off target. His inconsistency is shocking. Just when he seems to have recovered his troubles, he falls down again. 

Nadal is aware of the problem. He's in a crisis, but that will not stop him. However nervous, inconsistent and abnormal he seems on the court right now, he's still Rafael Nadal. He's the same man who battled against Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final in 2008, who overcame a career threatening injury, who saves championship points. "I gonna fix it. I don’t know if in one week, in six months, or in one year, but I gonna do it." We trust him. Rafa is working so hard to be back to his best. It's a matter of time and matches. The issue is clearly confidence, and what gives him the confidence is winning matches. He has to persevere until he wins a tournament, then the confidence will carry him.

Rafael Nadal is not finished yet. The pressure is obviously getting to him, but it is not overwhelming him. He has fixed his game and fitness, next is to work on the mentality. That's something that comes in time. We cannot expect him to have instant results. They're gradual, we can see that with a semifinal match in Monte Carlo and a final in Madrid. 

He's encountered a problem and is currently working to fix it. The focus is no longer on Roland Garros, the rankings or the other grand slams, it's on the ability to play tennis without nerves and to have "good feelings" as he describes. 

The tennis world has every reason to panic. Of course his performance is alarming, but that shows more about his dominance and brilliance over the past 10 years than his difficulties now. Rafa is accepting the situation and being patient. It's about time to rest of us do too.