thomasferrett
Hall of Fame
When Nadal plays Medvedev he uses a lot of slice, S&V and net rushes.
The thing that makes Nadal great is that he (other than Medvedev for some reason) uses the same tactic against every player; hit high topspins to the backhand, no? Get your opponent to adapt to you; never adapt to them.
If it doesn't work, hit MORE topspins, hit MORE higher.
Medvedev is right-handed and has an awkward looking, technically shaky backhand (and forehand as well for that matter). If Nadal simply used his normal strategy against him, I'm sure he'd win their matches in half and hour and barely drop any games instead of being drawn into these weird cat-and-mouse slugfests that result when they play.
Why doesn't he simply hit high topspins to the backhand of Medvedev?
The thing that makes Nadal great is that he (other than Medvedev for some reason) uses the same tactic against every player; hit high topspins to the backhand, no? Get your opponent to adapt to you; never adapt to them.
If it doesn't work, hit MORE topspins, hit MORE higher.
Medvedev is right-handed and has an awkward looking, technically shaky backhand (and forehand as well for that matter). If Nadal simply used his normal strategy against him, I'm sure he'd win their matches in half and hour and barely drop any games instead of being drawn into these weird cat-and-mouse slugfests that result when they play.
Why doesn't he simply hit high topspins to the backhand of Medvedev?
Medvedev often has a similar issue that Djokovic used to where he sucks at generating his own power, so if you junkball him with slice there isn’t much he can do. Considering he hadn’t dropped a set before today and only faced 3 break points I’d say it was a not unsuccessful tactic, though he often handled it much better in this match than he often does.
