Rafael Nadal hasn't been feated by players for a while and Jim Courier thinks it's contributed to some poor results lately.
Nadal is hoping to avoid losing a 5th match in a row to Ruud today as that would be the longest losing streak of his career. It's going to be tough and nobody really expects Nadal to avoid the defeat and Jim Courier talked about what he has seen:
"Everyone knows it. Everyone's talking about how they feel they have a chance now, and they did not feel that way before. He needs to resurrect a little bit of that for the locker room fear factor for Australia. That's why this match matters to Rafa."
He's not wrong as we've been seeing that across the board with many young players feeling like they have a shot now against some of the best like Djokovic and Nadal. Losing the match in the locker is a real thing for many players.
Courier added:
"He needs momentum towards next season. He wants to build a little bit of that aura back."