Australian tennis great Wally Masur has pinpointed the very unusual changes Rafael Nadal has made to his game ahead of the Australian Open, pointing to a new reliance on serve and volleying that's out of character for the tennis icon.
Nadal has dismissed concerns over his form of late after battling a chronic foot problem and two abdominal tears at the back end of last season and starting the new year in underwhelming fashion.
The Spaniard failed to win both of his singles matches at the United Cup, losing to Cameron Norrie and Alex de Minaur.
Masur thinks Djokovic will take out the Australian Open in Melbourne later this month, and has described Nadal's game as being in 'a state of flux'.
'It was pretty apparent, you could see what he'd been working on,' Masur said on Stan Sport's Grand Slam Daily.
'He was trying to abbreviate points, he was trying to be more aggressive, he was serve-volleying.
'Rafael Nadal was serve-volleying - he won Wimbledon without serve-volley. He couldn't just be the guy that just won the arm-wrestle and just won by attrition - he's trying to [be the aggressor to] win more points.
'It wasn't completely natural, it's not Rafa Nadal - he's operated a certain way for a lot of years. For example there were times when he was on the back foot but he was trying to flatten the ball out.
'It's like, well, no, you've got to get on the front foot, take it on the rise, that was a dropping ball and you're deeper in the court, that was not the right moment.
'He was fighting against instincts to play a bigger game and he was making more errors than he would normally make.'
Despite these changes to his game, Masur thinks the defending champion cannot be counted out.
'But I just think Rafa's in a bit of a state of flux,' Masur said.
'So I'm not sure Rafa's quite where he needs to be. Can he find it in time? Never doubt a champion.'
Nadal and his wife, Xisca Perello, welcomed a baby boy named Rafael Jr in October, but there were complications with the pregnancy and she was required to spend time in hospital in September.
However, the Spaniard opted to head to New York for the US Open, leaving the doctors to monitor his wife in Mallorca while he looked to add to his haul of Grand Slams.
Speaking in Sydney last week, the 36-year-old revealed his wife had encouraged him to compete in the US Open and then head to London to feature in Roger Federer's emotional tennis farewell.
The two-time Australian Open winner insisted becoming a father had not had a negative impact on his performances, but conceded he had to adapt around his new reality.
'It's about adapting to this new part of my life in all ways,' he said.
