Top-seed Nadal positioned to finally win Open

Just because he hasn't doesn't mean he can't. But what Rafael Nadal faces at this year's U.S. Open is the ongoing skepticism that his hard-driving tennis authority, already responsible for eight major tournament titles at 24, ultimately works against him at Flushing Meadows like no other Grand Slam event.

In seven previous tries, his best Open results have been two semifinals - the past two years. Though Nadal has won each of the other three majors, on the three different surfaces of the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon, the accepted wisdom continues to hold that the U.S. punishing hardcourts, the Open's late date in a full calendar of global events and Nadal's stringent physical demands on himself combine to break him down as much as his normally threatened opponents.

Nadal repeatedly enters the Open not only with a collection of greatest tennis hits - seven consecutive years with at least one of the year's Grand Slam titles already in his pocket - but also with some nagging injury. (Usually, his battered knees.)

So the subject in late August never changes, leaving Nadal to gamely deal with another wearying matter - questions about his health. "I feel perfect," he told reporters in Toronto. "Thank you."

Old champ John McEnroe, these days as opinionated a commentator as he was a player, recently called Nadal the "test case" for what McEnroe believes is a too-compact Grand Slam schedule. McEnroe long has called for giving players more recovery time between the French, played on clay in early June, and Wimbledon's grass-courts championship that begins later in the month. The subsequent hardcourt season, McEnroe argues, further debilitates anyone's Open chances.

"Maybe something crazy has to take place," McEnroe said, "where the entire top ten is not there for the Open because of injuries, before people step up to do something about it.

"Nadal feels, and a lot of people feel, including myself, that his best chance to win the Open is right now. He's tried to pull back [on his competitive schedule], played enough to have his confidence and be sharp, but also to give his body a break. Sometimes you have seven weeks between Wimbledon and the Open, sometimes eight, and this year it's eight. So this looks like a pretty promising situation for him.

"But there are a lot of players trying to figure out a way, because of the wear and tear and fatigue, to give it all they've got and peak for this one."

Nadal has played 12 tournaments in 2010 (and won five), down slightly from the 16 he contested leading up to both the 2007 and '08 Opens. He spent a full month away from the pro tour after winning his third Wimbledon and is enjoying, he agreed, "the best moments of my career."

But he also noted that, only months ago, after being bumped from the Australian quarterfinals by Andy Murray and having his ranking slide to No. 4, he was hearing that "I was never going to be another time on the top."

In public interview sessions, he tends to shrug a lot, downplaying talk of both the frustrations and highlights he has experienced. "We will see,'' he said of his future possibilities, his health, his legacy. Already, he is being compared to 29-year-old Roger Federer - who has a record 16 major titles but is 2-for-7 against Nadal in Grand Slam finals - as the best ever.

Of course, just because Nadal can win his first Open this year, doesn't mean he will. But much of the tennis world believes he should.

U.S. hopes

Not quite so buried under the layers of foreign accomplishment (among them No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, No. 7 Thomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, No. 8 Fernando Verdasco of Spain, No. 10 David Ferrer of Spain and No. 11 Marin Cilic of Croatia) are the best of the U.S. men:

Andy Roddick
Age 28, No. 9 seed
The last U.S. male to win any Grand Slam event — the ‘03 U.S. Open — he remains a potential contender whose power game is suited to hardcourt. But he isn’t getting any younger (today is his birthday) and the challengers keep coming from all corners of the globe.

Sam Querrey
Age 22, No. 20 seed
A championship win over No. 4 Andy Murray in Los Angeles this summer was a high mark. Back from a frightening accident, in which he sustained a potentially career-ending cut on his serving arm when he fell through a glass table last fall, he is enjoying his best year.

John Isner
Age 25, No. 18 seed
Don’t ask him about winning the longest match in tennis history, that 70-68 fifth-set Wimbledon marathon, because he wants to be known for other accomplishments. But there isn’t much to say about his hardcourt season, with one final appearance and two early exits.

Mardy Fish
Age 28, No. 19 seed
Since losing 30 pounds after surgery last fall, his stock and place in the rankings have risen in great leaps and bounds. Because he is so much lighter, he said, his movement has made a profound difference. He won two of four summer hardcourt tournaments and was runner-up (to Roger Federer) in a third.

The other Americans
After the four highest-seeded players, the other Yanks are 29-year-old Californian Taylor Dent, ranked 70th; 32-year-old Michael Russell of Houston, 80th; former teenaged phenom Donald Young of Atlanta, still only 21, 100th; and James Blake, 30, who once was as high as No. 4, now 111th.