Duel Match Stats/Report - Nadal vs Federer, Australian Open finals 2009 & 2017

For me fedrer won 2017 AO because
1 nadal was somewhat slow
2 Pressure free tennis from fedrer. His backhand was truly firing. He lost some point but he won some point also. Earlier Nadal policy was play to fedrer backhand and always it worked but when aggresive approach was taken on that day it worked in fedrer favour. Mind you if it was FO still fedrer would not have won .
 

7thKingSlam

New User
Nadal didn't look slow at all. Certainly not his post 2021 self.

He was as fast as 2014 tbh when he almost reached final
I’d definitely say he looked faster in 2014. But I do think the court speed makes Nadal look slower in the 2017 match than he was. Probably was around the same speed as 2018-19. Also he was more aggressive in 2018/19 so he was getting weaker balls back and conserving energy a bit more.
 

7thKingSlam

New User
Yeah, I posted then about how Grigor just got MTOATed plain and simple. (Mentally Toughest of All Time) in that last 20 minutes or so. So soo mental at the end there.
At 3-4 15-40 in the 5th set Nadal caught fire. Got through that game with really aggressive plays and basically all winners, then broke Dimitrov’s serve the very next game off a 2 shot pass combo. Crowd goes insane while Rafa calmly walks to his bench. One of the commentators said, “Rafa fans, are you really surprised?”

I was. Considering how poorly the last almost three years had gone for him, and how well Dimitrov was playing, I didn’t know how he’d overcome that.

Regarding the fatigue factor, it’s also important to note the AO used to do the semifinals on separate days. Federer played his on Thursday, Nadal on Friday. The match was very long and went late, then he had to play Federer on Friday afternoon. It was a parallel situation to AO2009 or Djokovic’s AO2012, both of which are considered some of the best physical feats in tennis. It would be normal for Nadal to show some fatigue so he performed admirably in that final imo.
 

Mustard

Bionic Poster
Nadal didn't look slow at all. Certainly not his post 2021 self.
Fast by post-2021 standards. Slow by 2005-2009 standards.

Nadal changed his style a bit in 2017, i.e. to save his movement for when he really needed it, to serve better, and to try to end points more quickly. That worked well against the field, but not in a direct matchup against Federer.

He was as fast as 2014 tbh when he almost reached final
Nadal did reach the 2014 Australian Open final. That final saw the back injury, which was bothering him for months afterwards, even in the latter stages of the 2014 French Open final.
 

nolefam_2024

Bionic Poster
Fast by post-2021 standards. Slow by 2005-2009 standards.

Nadal changed his style a bit in 2017, i.e. to save his movement for when he really needed it, to serve better, and to try to end points more quickly. That worked well against the field, but not in a direct matchup against Federer.


Nadal did reach the 2014 Australian Open final. That final saw the back injury, which was bothering him for months afterwards, even in the latter stages of the 2014 French Open final.
I meant to say almost won the title. Sorry for mistype.
 
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