Greatest Footwork of All Time!

[krosero]

Steve Tignor wrote this piece a couple of days ago, asking why Nadal is so good on clay. He zeroed in on sliding and said he found it impossible to separate Rafa's movement from his actual shots.

http://blogs.tennis.com/thewrap/2012...d-the-why.html

As in, what makes Nadal, who is very good on all surfaces, virtually unbeatable—to the tune of a 247-19 career record—on one of them? The New York Times asked that question today, and received an answer from Justin Gimelstob about how Nadal “moves the margins in his favor” by forcing his opponents to play riskier tennis than they normally would. A rather dry answer, perhaps, but it's certainly true. Witness David Ferrer’s losing performance against Rafa today. Ferrer tried to hit bigger and take more risks then he normally does, but it still wasn’t risky enough, not even close. As Jim Courier said during the match, Ferru didn’t just need to hit hard or deep, he needed to be all-out “reckless” and aim straight for the lines to have any chance of winning. You might as well just say he needed to be blind lucky for three straight sets.

With that in mind, I sat in Chatrier today and tried to get an idea, purely from observation, what makes Nadal’s game so simpatico with crushed brick. It obviously has something to do with his speed and strength and spin and consistency, and the weight of his shots. But it also has something to do with a unique aspect of clay-court tennis—sliding. On clay, when he’s confident, Nadal creates a sliding rhythm to his rallies that he can’t re-create on other courts. His movements are more elegantly connected on clay.

Nadal’s first moment of confidence came after he broke Ferrer and held to go up 4-2. In the next game, you could see him begin to accelerate, to do his clay version of full flight Federer. He slid to his right and hit his best backhand of the match. On the following shot, he slid the same way and took a bigger cut at his backhand. Next, he slid farther and changed the direction of his backhand to go down the line. Finally, he took his longest slide of the rally in the opposite direction and whipped up on his most ambitious, high-bouncing forehand of the match. Ferrer could only pop it back into the air, and Nadal jumped on it for a swing volley winner. As the rally had progressed, Nadal’s slides had grown longer and more daring, and his shots had followed suit.

Toni Nadal told the Times that he had been “entranced” by Bjorn Borg’s precise and assured movement on clay, and he thinks Rafa’s footwork is the most underrated aspect his clay game. To me, watching him today, at his best, his movement is impossible to separate from his shots themselves; one flows into the other. I don’t get the feeling, as Courier does, that Nadal “thinks three of four shots in advance.” It seems more instinctive than that. He lets his feet, as much as his mind, take him where he wants to go. A fish in water, Rafa’s in his element on dirt.

[urban]

Yep, sliding is essential in clay court tennis, it is a bit like skating. I have seen slowmotion clips from Borg's footwork on clay, he looked more elegant to me, always on his toes. His legs were a bit bow legged, and his toes and feet a little pointing to the inside. He did not that much sliding, you could see that on his socks, which were always quite clean (like Wilander's). Other players with heavier feet, like Lendl or Vilas, had theirs socks always completely pudered by the red dust.
Despite being more compact built than Borg, Nadal has great movement. On clay, his movement, and ability to cover the court and change direction, looked a bit better to me than that of Fed. On clay, Fed did leave his forehand side often wide open, that made his forehand vulnerable to be hit late. Nadal covers the whole court very well.

[chrischris]

Nadal is the best mover. Federer is the most efficient mover . Nole is a bit of both.