Tom Michael · July 5, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Now that the conversation is going in the direction of the US Open, I want to say that Nadal is not necessarily the clear favorite in my book yet. He is the greatest athlete in all of tennis. However, athleticism alone does not win US Opens. It is strategy. Nadal has increased options on the court because he improved his serve and variety off both strokes over the years. To win the US Open, he needs to put it all together. My major issue with his strategy on the court is his running around the backhand on the deuce side of the court to hit a forehand. When he does this, he is literally outside of the doubles tram lines, and off the court, making him vulnerable to down the line forehand winners by righties. He lost to Youzhny in the 2006 US Open quarters because of this stupid habit. He lost a few points at Wimbledon doing this, too, but fortunately, they were not too crucial. However on hard courts, with a truer bounce, the edge Rafa has on movement is not enjoyed. Many poor movers have a chance on hard court against Rafa because they employ better strategy, and do not give up the width of the court like Rafa does.
So the simple conclusions are these. Rafa, stop running around your backhand, especially on the deuce side of the court. You can selectively run around the backhand on the ad side because it is easier to recover back to the middle once hitting a forehand on this side. Ultimately, hit enough backhands, up to 30-40% of your shots. Do not limit the % backhand hit to only 20. This is self-defeating. Use more close-stance hitting on the backhand, instead of the open-stance, particularly when the ball comes deep down the middle. This is better for true counter-punching. Rafa’s open-stance backhand (which is great when pulled wide on the court) is actually an offensive stroke, but he needs to counter-punch more in some neutral rallies on hard courts. It does not make sense to generate extra pace on the hard courts, when the surface provides so much pace on its own.
Keep serving well, with the improved variety, placement, and speed, to win cheap points, and force one-two combination putaways. Stay healthy, and move fearlessly on the court. Use slice to return first serves back in the court. Hit the ball deep.
With Rafa, I am not always sure what strategic play he uses to win on hard courts. He may regress to attacking with the forehand, but he needs to be selective with this stroke. Even though I emphasize him hitting his backhand, and it is a good stroke, it is not a great stroke. And it is because he does not vary the stances like I explained above. He needs to be aware of when to vary the stances, and even when to slice. To me Nalbandian is the master of the backhand. What is funny is that Rafa has the ability to make his backhand comparable to the great David. Because he has a comparably pretty swing, but not the best judgment and footwork on this stroke. So ultimately, it is going to come down to how he handles this side. Fortunately his will to win makes him stingy on points, but his opponent can still take advantage of bad strategy. And Rafa is a prime suspect to employ it.
Author comment by Scoop Malinowski · July 5, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Tom were you at that Nadal 2006 match vs. Youzhny? I was there and at love-40, triple set point for Nadal in the third set (to go up 2-1) I was literally getting up and ready to go when out of nowhere Youzhny suddenly started smashing winners all over the court. It was like lightning striking, like Sugar Ray Leonard knockout combination of punches and it shocked Rafa who just was shellshocked. He even had a lead in the tiebreak and Youzhny again came back with some electrifying winners. I mean, it wasnt bad strategy on Rafa’s part it was just that the opponent stepped it up and made the big shots. This can happen on hard courts. I don’t think Rafa’s tactics can be called stupid at all, he is the smartest player in tennis, the most intelligent competitor the sport may have ever produced. Hard courts has been the trickiest surface for him to master but he has won a Masters Series, Olympics and Australia and rest assured he will figure out how to win in New York and will win more than one U.S. Open. If not, I will buy you a bologney sandwich and a Coke at the 2015 US Open.
Tom Michael · July 5, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Actually Scoop, I was there. Youzhny did hit outrageous winners. But those winners were mostly down the line ones. But the down the line forehand winners from Mikael should have been limited if Nadal did not hit forehands from the deuce side of the court literally standing in the doubles alleys even off the court. Nadal should have hit backhands from those locations, even if he missed them, because he ended up losing the match hitting predominantly forehands from the wrong locations. And because he avoided hitting backhands, when he decided to actually hit one, he missed a makeable one for a passing shot winner into the net at set point up (6-5) in the 3rd set tie-break.
Youzhny opened up on his shots because he saw opportunity based on the targets on the court Nadal showed him. Nadal’s poor court positioning hitting inside out forehands from the deuce side doubles allies to the righty’s forehand is not smart. The righty sees opportunity to hit that forehand down the line, once the ball was short enough, and Nadal was still literally off the court hitting that nutty forehand.
Trust me! I am not ready to crown Nadal the smartest tennis player yet. That title actually goes to Federer, Nalbandian, and Hewitt. Rafa is emotionally the smartest player, and of course, he is the greatest athlete tennis has seen. But his tennis IQ is very good, but not the best.