What Federer did right

[Towser83]

Watching the Federer vs nadal match I noticed a few things, I know people have probably mentioned them all but I wanted to sum up what I think Federer did well in the match.

1. Serving. Serve percentage was high in the first set (about 74%) and he was overall very good at clutch serving (perfectly demonstrated by the ace on match point) this was very impressive given the wind.

2. Backhand. Federer really hit his backhand with purpose and attack. He didn't just slice it back and give Nadal an easy ball to hit, he used it as a weapon and made few errors off it. Nadal was unable to attack either wing enough and thus had no fallback plan to go to.

3. Volleys. Too often Federer comes in off a weak approach and promtly gets passed. Sometimes Nadal hits a great couple of shots to get into a Federer service game and Federer panics, tries to end the point too soon by coming in out of hope than real intelligence and pays the price. He forces the issue too much coming in when really he should know the shot isn't good enough. Then after he gets burnt a few times he stops coming in. In the first set in the IW semi, he won 9 out of 9 net aproaches and 12 of 13 overall. This is fantastic from Federer. He came in to net at the right times, played good vollies and didn't give up when Nadal won points at net (though obviously he only won one point when Federer made the aproach) Federer really displayed the total opposite of what he usually does at net vs Nadal.

4. shot choice. Federer played a very clever match, he knew exactly whan to wrong foot nadal and go back behind him, he didctated play and seemed to have a feel for how to construct points. His defense was much better than I exected it to be.

5. Attitude. Federer looked ike he meant business and believed he was going to win. When he got broken back in the first set he stuck to his task and didn't lose composure. Same in the second set when he lost one break.

EDIT. Tudwell mentioned breakpoints as well, here Federer took his chances better than he has done in a lot of mathes

The question is, can Federer do this on a regular basis or was this a rare show of form? Federer needs to rewatch the tape and remember what he did!

[tudwell]

I think Federer generally does well at net against Nadal. Obviously against a great passer like Nadal, he's gonna get burned quite a bit, but even if he loses a few points at net, it puts pressure on Nadal not to let up at all.

The problems Federer has encountered in the past against Nadal are mostly mental. He's too passive on break points and often indecisive tactically, leading to unforced errors. The times he beats Nadal, he's confident and sticks to a specific game plan.

[Towser83]

Originally Posted by tudwell

I think Federer generally does well at net against Nadal. Obviously against a great passer like Nadal, he's gonna get burned quite a bit, but even if he loses a few points at net, it puts pressure on Nadal not to let up at all.

The problems Federer has encountered in the past against Nadal are mostly mental. He's too passive on break points and often indecisive tactically, leading to unforced errors. The times he beats Nadal, he's confident and sticks to a specific game plan.

I forgot to mntion break points! Yeah he did much better in that area too

[tudwell]

Federer's return was another thing that stuck out. I remember one game early on where Federer shanked two returns in a row way out of the court and I thought, "Oh no, not this again." But that was it. Other than that, he put almost every single ball back into play, which put a lot more pressure on Nadal to back up his serve off the ground, which proved difficult to do in the windy conditions.

[OddJack]

Good summary

#2-- I dont remember even one slice actually, it was all top spin or flat.

#3-- the key to volleys was approaching on Nadal's BH vs FH, like he did at AO. Only once it failed yesterday

6- Return of serve, instead of his usual chip back on his BH he stepped inside the court and took it early and blocked.

[Towser83]

Good points OddJack,

yep return of serve was much better

[MichaelNadal]

Order will be restored next time they play, calm down guys. If I didn't see the match, id think Rafa played well with the way u guys are acting. The guy had 1 forehand winner in an hour of tennis and was pushing.

[OddJack]

Originally Posted by MichaelNadal

Order will be restored next time they play, calm down guys. If I didn't see the match, id think Rafa played well with the way u guys are acting. The guy had 1 forehand winner in an hour of tennis and was pushing.

He had one FH winner because he was busy defending his bh.

And pushing is what he does, how do you think he has lost all those finals to Djoker, by attacking??

[DarthFed]

Originally Posted by MichaelNadal

Order will be restored next time they play, calm down guys. If I didn't see the match, id think Rafa played well with the way u guys are acting. The guy had 1 forehand winner in an hour of tennis and was pushing.

Lol this forum is still so shitty.

[nadalwon2012]

Originally Posted by OddJack

Good summary

#2-- I dont remember even one slice actually, it was all top spin or flat.

#3-- the key to volleys was approaching on Nadal's BH vs FH, like he did at AO. Only once it failed yesterday

6- Return of serve, instead of his usual chip back on his BH he stepped inside the court and took it early and blocked.

Bottom line- wet weather. ball doesn't kick up as high. Plus windy weather making Nadal uncertain (which he usually isn't).

Better pray for rain at Miami

[MichaelNadal]

Originally Posted by OddJack

He had one FH winner because he was busy defending his bh.

And pushing is what he does, how do you think he has lost all those finals to Djoker, by attacking??

Please. Federer was attacking much better with his backhand for example at RG 2011 and lost the match. Don't take it personal, I like Fed and he played better than Nadal and that's all that matters. But the million threads being created about his "new tactics" and him winning bc he "successfully exploited Nadal's backhand" are just bogus. Nadal played terribly and Federer played great.

[tudwell]

Originally Posted by MichaelNadal

Please. Federer was attacking much better with his backhand for example at RG 2011 and lost the match. Don't take it personal, I like Fed and he played better than Nadal and that's all that matters. But the million threads being created about his "new tactics" and him winning bc he "successfully exploited Nadal's backhand" are just bogus. Nadal played terribly and Federer played great.

As a Federer fan, I pretty much agree. When Nadal's playing well and the score is close, Federer falters. He starts to miss more second serve returns and second guess his own game plan. When Nadal's a little (or a lot) off, Federer can swing freely and remain confident.

[OddJack]

Originally Posted by nadalwon2012

Bottom line- wet weather. ball doesn't kick up as high. Plus windy weather making Nadal uncertain (which he usually isn't).

Better pray for rain at Miami

At least Nadal has won IW couple of times.

Seems like he's the one needing pray for a Miami title.

[MichaelNadal]

Originally Posted by tudwell

As a Federer fan, I pretty much agree. When Nadal's playing well and the score is close, Federer falters. He starts to miss more second serve returns and second guess his own game plan. When Nadal's a little (or a lot) off, Federer can swing freely and remain confident.

Thanks for keeping it real man. I don't get why people have to act like Nadal was playing the match of his life and Federer just blew 100% Rafa off the court. Federer played better and won, just be happy with that. Jeez.

[Towser83]

Originally Posted by MichaelNadal

Order will be restored next time they play, calm down guys. If I didn't see the match, id think Rafa played well with the way u guys are acting. The guy had 1 forehand winner in an hour of tennis and was pushing.

No one said Federer was going to win every match from now on or that this changed something, but Federer could have well let nadal back in the match and lost. Federer played better than he often has against Nadal, right from the first game.

Whatever happens, it's just nice to see him have a positive attiude. Like many of you nadal fans were over the moon nadal tried in the AO final, I just hope to see Federer try to play a good match even if he loses. He will probably lose the next one but I hope he at least learns what can work for him.

Of course though whenever fed plays bad it's cos Nadal is making him, but with Nadal if he ever plays bad let's just use it as an excuse to take away the win from his opponent. Probably hasn't ever lost a match when playing above dreadful.

You have become really quite miserable since Nadal suffered about the 5th Novak loss. Even Clarky had better praise for Fed's prformace. I mean we know nadal didn't play great but that doesn't mean Federer didn't have to play well to win like he did.

[OddJack]

Originally Posted by MichaelNadal

Please. Federer was attacking much better with his backhand for example at RG 2011 and lost the match. Don't take it personal, I like Fed and he played better than Nadal and that's all that matters. But the million threads being created about his "new tactics" and him winning bc he "successfully exploited Nadal's backhand" are just bogus. Nadal played terribly and Federer played great.

Well that's great.

Please tell Nadal fans to please shut up about the H2H, because whenever he has won he played great and Federer played terribly.

[Towser83]

Originally Posted by MichaelNadal

Thanks for keeping it real man. I don't get why people have to act like Nadal was playing the match of his life and Federer just blew 100% Rafa off the court. Federer played better and won, just be happy with that. Jeez.

Who acted like that? Did I say anywhere Nadal played great? Federer still had to win the match and he got broken back from a break up and almost blew a double break lead. More importantly he cae out with belief. Sorry but you used to be a great poster but you've just become bitter since Nadal started losing more.

[DarthFed]

Originally Posted by MichaelNadal

Thanks for keeping it real man. I don't get why people have to act like Nadal was playing the match of his life and Federer just blew 100% Rafa off the court. Federer played better and won, just be happy with that. Jeez.

Dont be a hypocrite, if you change Nadals name to Djokovic, and Federers to Nadal you know exactly what kind of reaction would occur on the forum. We'd have the SAME sort of topic. People get excited when their player does well...why others have to "keep it real" and kill their parade idk...i'd like to think everyone is over 5.

[MichaelNadal]

Originally Posted by Towser83

Who acted like that? Did I say anywhere Nadal played great? Federer still had to win the match and he got broken back from a break up and almost blew a double break lead. More importantly he cae out with belief. Sorry but you used to be a great poster but you've just become bitter since Nadal started losing more.

Lol im not bitter, but it's just funny how no one is mentioning how poorly Rafa played. It's been reversed plenty of times where Rafa beat a subpar Fed. The difference is Rafa fans didn't create 20 threads about what Rafa "did right". @at your last post, if they did create those topics they'd be just as delusional. Had Nadal won the AO final, he wouldn't have done anything better except play with more aggression. Not have "new tactics"

[wilkinru]

The best match Ive ever seen fed play was madrid 2009 final.

That is the blueprint on how to beat nadal. Has been for 3 years now. Watch that match. Fed goes balls out offense and redlines his game.

He will win or lose depending on how he is feeling that day. As he gets older, he will not feel as good as often...