Duel Match Stats/Reports - Davydenko vs Nadal, Shanghai 2009 & Doha 2010 finals

[Waspsting]

Nikolay Davydenko beat Rafael Nadal 7-6(3), 6-3 in the Shanghai final, 2009 on hard court

It was the third and last of Davydenko's Masters titles and he would soon win his sole Year End Championship title shortly after. This was Nadal's first final in Shanghai. He's never won the title there, but did win Madrid Indoors which was the corresponding tournament in 2005

Davydenko won 74 points, Nadal 63

Serve Stats
Davydenko...
- 1st serve percentage (53/76) 70%
- 1st serve points won (39/53) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (12/23) 52%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (11/76) 14%

Nadal...
- 1st serve percentage (42/61) 69%
- 1st serve points won (29/42) 69%
- 2nd serve points won (9/19) 47%
- Aces 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (12/61) 20%

Serve Pattern
Davydenko served...
- to FH 40%
- to BH 57%
- to Body 3%

Nadal served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 52%
- to Body 8%

Return Stats
Davydenko made...
- 49 (23 FH, 26 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (2 FH, 3 BH)
- 6 Forced (2 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (49/61) 80%

Nadal made...
- 64 (31 FH, 33 BH), including 8 runaround FHs
- 7 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (4 FH)
- 3 Forced (2 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (64/75) 85%

Break Points
Davydenko 2/7 (3 games)
Nadal 1/4 (3 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Davydenko 31 (13 FH, 8 BH, 4 FHV, 3 BHV, 3 OH)
Nadal 7 (4 FH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)

Davydenko's FHs - 3 cc, 4 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out, 4 inside-out and 1 inside-in
- BHs - 4 cc (1 return) and 4 dtl

- 3 FHVs were swinging shots - 1 cc from near baseline and 2 dtl (1 non-net)
- 1 BHV was a swinging shot - a slice drive

Nadal's FHs - 1 cc at net, 1 dtl, 1 inside-in pass and 1 drop shot

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Davydenko 43
- 39 Unforced (31 FH, 7 BH, 1 OH)
- 4 Forced (2 FH, 1 BH, 1 FHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.5

Nadal 32
- 24 Unforced (7 FH, 17 BH)
- 8 Forced (5 FH, 3 BH)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 43.8

(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)

(Note 2: The 'Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is a measure of how aggressive of intent the average UE made was. 60 is maximum, 20 is minimum. This match has been scored using a four point scale - 2 defensive, 4 neutral, 5 attacking, 6 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Davydenko was 10/14 (71%) at net

Nadal was 5/5 (100%) at net

Match Report
An amazing match. Play is all on Davydenko's racquet, with Nadal's consent on a fast court and both sets are close, with Davydenko edging them

Its a simple, easy to understand encounter with some odd strategic choices and counter-intuitive outcomes to those choices

The court is fast. Slightly wide hit power shots rush both players. Slightly wide serves are troubling. Its kind of court where you might see 40% unreturned rate, a big servers and shot makers court

So why are the unreturned rates so low (Davy 14%, Nadal 20%)? Neither player serves wide. Both stick to in-swing zone stuff - Nadal is probably incapable of pinpoint wide serving, I'm not sure about Davy. Even that type of serving has potential to do damage on this court. Deceptively good job by both returners to return with such consistency. Superficially, there's little that's difficult about the returns they're faced with - at most, hefty serves a step or two wide, and usually closer than that - but you see even good returners give up much higher unreturned rates against comparable serves on similar paced courts

Match is close. Davy breaks to lead 2-1 in first set before Nadal equalizes at 4-4.. No more breaks, but Nadal has break/set points at 5-4 and is 0-30 up in as Davy serves to send it into tiebreak
Stupendous tiebreak by Davy, who dispatches 5 winners in it. He's pretty 'stupendous' all match and in particular first set, so not too surprising

In second set, Davy saves lone break point he faces, with Nadal unusually missing regulation return. Game after, Davy scores the lone break

Break points read - Davy 2/7, Nadal 1/4 with both players having them in 3 games and Davy serves 6.45 points per game to Nadal's 5.6

Nature of action is almost completely Davy attacking, Nadal defending. Bare minimum, Davy leading, Nadal reacting. There's virtually no exception

Winners - Davy 31, Nadal 7... Nadal's total in less than Davy's FH, BH or volleys/OHs taken seperately
UEs - Davy 39, Nadal 24... Nadal would need a lower count to be getting better of play (more on that later)
- UEFIs - Davy 49.5, Nadal 43.8... fair reflection of play
FEs - Davy 4, Nadal 8... its a miracle Nadal's count is that low (more on that later). Davy's done well to keep his that low too

 

[Waspsting]

Playing Dynamics
Starting point is the two exchanging hard hitting groundies, Davy a bit behind baseline, Nadal a bit more so

As above numbers indicate, Davy is completely the one making plays, but its effectively Nadal who implements that. He's quite happy to fall back and let Davy at it. Essentially, Nadal's playing his defensive clay court game - allowing his opponent to attack and relying on out-defending him to the tune that Davy will make more errors attacking than win points

On a court this quick and Davy obviously capable of hard hitting, attacking play off both wings and in both directions (+ FH inside-out), I would call it one of the daftest game plans possible. This isn't clay and your not supposed to be able to defend against strong, dual winged, dual direction attacks. Its a strategy Nadal often fell to on hard courts in his early years (including here, clearly) and got him into a lot of trouble against strong players

Only, it more or less works. About as well as could be expected. Seeing Nadal running around and making running gets ball after ball, with Davy's power hitting looks like Nadal won't be able to keep it up. Throw in Davy's exceptional shot making off both wings, and that's trebly so. Only... it works. That's why match is close. The game plan is dubious but remarkable defensive gusto from Nadal to make it more

Remarkable as it seems, perhaps the most impressive stat on show is Nadal with just 8 FEs. The way play goes, wouldn't be surprised to see treble that number, but he keeps retrieving hard hit, wide shots. Against a powerful hitter. On a court where even slightly hit, firm shots are likely to draw UEs sooner rather than later

Excellent, balanced attacking play from Davy too. Once he's stepped up to leading position, he does not go for blazing winners out of nowhere. He starts with beat-down strong groundies and when those don't draw errors, ups it to hard hit, wider shots. Its good attacking progression. When even that doesn't draw errors, that's when he starts aiming for winners, having set up the kill shots. Logical and smartly aggressive play from Davy

31 winners, forcing 8 errors and 39 UEs are typical, crazy (i.e. going for winners out of nowhere) numbers. That's not at all how Davy plays, and numbers have come out that way due to Nadal defending like the dickens and making it so that nothing short of a perfect winner will do

Couple of caveats. Davy's BH holds equal to the Nadal FH cc. Always key in a Nadal match. Generally, Nadal gets better of these exchanges to tune of opponent giving up softer shots - and then Nadal attacks. Here, there are no soft shots, so play remains hard hittingly 'neutral', with Davy stepping up to attack and Nadal falling back to defend. Might be Nadal's choice to play the Verdun game ('they shall not pass'), but its contingent on Davy's BHs neutral strength. Likely, Nadal would have gone more on attack if he could have bullied the Davy BH

Other one is minor. Nadal with 8 runaround FH returns, mostly in deuce court. Its not a good move. Its a risky one at best of times as it leaves court wide open. The upside for Nadal specificially tends to be that he can loop the return to make it rise shoulder high in a way he can't do off the BH, making an aggressive shot into open court difficult. Here, he's wasting his time. The ball rises to not uncomfortable height around lower ribs at most and Davy's demonstrated his ability to attack off such a height. He just pounds the ball. Not a good move from Nadal, but then again, my opinion was his whole game plan was not good. If it works for him, then its a good idea. This doesn't

Some absolutely amazing winners from Davy, off both sides. Look at distribution of his winners - off the FH there's 3 cc, 5 dtl based and 4 inside-out. Off the BH 4 dtl and 3 cc. Every which way, he's devastating

Davy's no shrinking violet when it comes to taking net either. Its testament to Nadal's retrieving that he doesn't dish out balls that invite approaches. About a third of Davy's 14 approaches are 'delayed' serve-volleys (where he waits on the return before choosing to come in). Davy doesn't hesitate to swat swinging volleys from no-man's land or even near the baseline

He has 3 swinging FHV winners - 2 of them very rare dtl shots (1 from no-man's land, the other near enough to service line to be marked a net point) and 1 them from cc from near baseline
At one point, he 'delay' serve-volleys to put away a deft, touch drop BHV winner. Couple of points later, he hits a swinging, slice-drive BHV winner... a shot I've never thought of, much less seen before

That's all in context of blasting the ball from the back, running Nadal ragged and finishing with winners. And of course, good lot of errors too

Match long stats are extreme enough, but first set ones are even more -
- Davy 23 winners, 27 UEs, 2 FEs (21 FH UEs)
- Nadal 4 winners, 11 UEs, 4 FEs

In second, set, Davy eases up a bit on the attacking. And of all things, chooses to try beating down Nadal's BH with his FH, which had been by far the loosest shot in the match

Again, it works. By matches end, Nadal has high 17 UEs. In second set, Davy's FH has 10 UEs, Nadal's BH the same number - and more of Davy's would be attacking shots. He gets better of Nadal's BH in the cc rallies, which given how loose Davy's FH had been and how rock-like Nadal's BH usually is, comes as a big surprise

Note huge differences in UE counts between cc paired shots
- Nadal's FH/Davy's BH has 12
- Davy's FH/Nadal BH has 48

Plenty of hard hitting Nadal FH - Davy BH rallies, with neither being able to gain advantage and Davy turning to other lines of attack
The hard hitting Davy FH - Nadal BH rallies tend to end with a blink. And Davy's FH errors include a very large lot of winner attempts that have nothing to do with the staple neutral rally

Breakdown of UEs
- Neutral - Davy 16, Nadal 17
- Attacking Davy 9, Nadal 4
- Winner Attempts - Davy 14, Nadal 2

regarding the neutral errors, Nadal's are beaten out of him, more than Davy's. Early on, Nadal slices a fair bit and is error prone on it too
Davy's 9 attacking errors are on high side, given he's only forced 8 errors. Primarily credit Nadal's defence, that make puts many an attacking shot back in play. For that matter, Davy does well to keep his FEs down to 3 baseline ones too. Nadal isn't aggressive, but he gets off the odd wide shot, but Davy doesn't miss much on the run either (though he's not called on to defend to anything like the extent Nadal is)

The 2 winner attempts to go with just 2 baseline-to-baseline winners sums up Nadal's passive play. He basically doesn't look to attack at all
31 winners - many of them incredible shots - to 14 winner attempt errors from Davy is good enough. Very few misses by a long way or going for low percentage type shots involved in Davy's showing

Davy with 8 winners, 7 UEs off the BH... very rare to have more winners than UEs of that wing in a baseline match. Even more for a right hander against Nadal for obvious reasons. Davy leads with FHs, but its BH that's most efficiently productive for him. FH has 13 winners, 31 UEs

Summing, stunning match of action. Both players return with exemplary consistency on a fast court, though also against average serving. Baseline play is hard hitting off both sides. With Davydenko's BH standing even with Nadal's FH, its Davydenko who steps up and hits harder, than wider and than going for winners to the corners with Nadal falling back willingly and looking to defend until his opponent misses. Doesn't seem like a good idea from Nadal, given pace of court and Davydenko's terrific hitting strength and variety, but it works to tune of keeping play about even

Later, Davydenko successfully breaks down Nadal's BH with beat down FH cc's.

Action is all on Davydenko's racquet and he pulls of any number of breath taking shots and combinations of shots, but also makes enough errors to keep contest close. Not too much in the result but a fitting outcome in favour of a terrific dual winged, multi-direction aggressive showing from Davydenko against an almost equally vigorous defensive showing from Nadal

Stats for pair's '08 Miami final - Match Stats/Report - Davydenko vs Nadal, Miami final, 2008 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

 

[mike danny]

Imagine if Davydenko was a better player than he was in reality.

 

[Mainad]

Davydenko really did have Nadal's number on hardcourts. The H2H falls 6-1 in his favour and includes 2 Masters 1000 finals (2008 Miami, 2009 Shanghai) both won in straight sets. Nadal's sole win against him on HC came in their very first meeting (in the round robin of the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup, the name by which the WTF was then known) and even that came in 3 very close, hard fought sets. What was it that favoured Davydenko so much in their match-up on this surface?

On clay it was a different matter with Nadal winning all 4 of their encounters on that surface all, bar their 1st meeting, in routine straights. Their overall H2H still falls 6-5 in Davydenko's favour because of his dominance on hardcourts. They never met on grass.

 

[ghostofMecir]

Thank you for reminding me about about this match. Demko put out some real master classes in hitting in some of his encounters with Nadal.

 

[Jonesy]

Medvedev father was really good.

 

[mr tonyz]

@Waspsting

How long does it take for you to compile these 'match reports' ??

Furthermore, what would you think is the percentage of forum members reading 100% of what you type? I'd assume (if i'm being generous) between 1-3%

It's funny how the more detail in postings typically delivers very few responses (non-moral scientific type postings). I post similar types of postings in the Gears Forums pertaining to PvE Horde Mode with similar reply-rates to that of your postings here ;P

 

[mr tonyz]

Imagine if Davydenko was a better player than he was in reality.

Imagine if i was a 5% superior human being than i currently am. I'd be 5% more superior ...

 

[mr tonyz]

Thank you for reminding me about about this match. Demko put out some real master classes in hitting in some of his encounters with Nadal.

Nadal on his day can 'make' opponents look like they're playing God-Mode tennis (Nadal-Fognini 2015 US Open) if he's hitting with his Future's/Challenger level depth-of-shot allowing his opponent to Tee-Off on their groundies. Rafa-Soderling F.O '09 is another example.

Journo' ('09 French 4th round) "Why did you play short?"

Rafa "I play short because i play short"

;D

 

[Nadal>>>>>Federer]

Nadal's qf and semi opponents both retired mid match

 

[brc444]

Davydenko was 6-1 against Nadal on hard court and 0-4 on clay.

 

[MichaelNadal]

Davydenko was 6-1 against Nadal on hard court and 0-4 on clay.

Davy took Rafa's ball ridiculously early. Doha 2010 is the most brutal. Davy ate a bagel and still made adjustments and ended up winning.

 

[Artanis]

Correct. Hitting on the rise and cutting angles at its best. And capable of doing that on both wings was pretty spectacular.

 

[mike danny]

Imagine if i was a 5% superior human being than i currently am. I'd be 5% more superior ...

Davydenko, like Nishikori, is being handicapped by his height which prevents him from having a better serve. His ground game is elite, it's just that his lack of serve drags him down.

FO 2007 against Fed is a prime example of that. With a better serve, Davy could have made life difficult for Fed.

 

[Deleted member 771911]

Davygoat ps5 version

 

[Hitman]

Peak Davydenko was amazing to watch. Totally ruthless.

 

[platypus50]

Loved watching Davydenko play on HC when he was in the zone - ruthless hitting

 

[Waspsting]

Davydenko beat Nadal 0-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 in the Doha final, 2010 on hard court

It would be Davydenko’s only title at the event and he beat among others Roger Federer en route to the final. He’d beaten Nadal and Federer en route to title at his previous event at Year End Championship 2009 also. Nadal would go onto win it in 2014

Davydenko won 92 points, Nadal 98

Serve Stats
Davydenko...
- 1st serve percentage (73/99) 74%
- 1st serve points won (45/73) 62%
- 2nd serve points won (12/26) 46%
- Aces 2
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (12/99) 12%

Nadal...
- 1st serve percentage (57/91) 63%
- 1st serve points won (38/57) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (18/34) 53%
- Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (18/91) 20%

Serve Pattern
Davydenko served...
- to FH 40%
- to BH 53%
- to Body 7%

Nadal served...
- to FH 24%
- to BH 73%
- to Body 3%

Return Stats
Davydenko made...
- 71 (16 FH, 55 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 17 Errors, comprising...
- 10 Unforced (3 FH, 7 BH)
- 7 Forced (5 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (71/89) 80%

Nadal made...
- 83 (41 FH, 42 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (3 FH, 2 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 4 Forced (2 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (83/95) 87%

Break Points
Davydenko 3/8 (5 games)
Nadal 5/8 (6 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Davydenko 40 (17 FH, 8 BH, 7 FHV, 8 BHV)
Nadal 18 (9 FH, 5 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)

Davydenko's FHs - 5 cc (1 pass), 8 dtl (1 pass, 1 at net), 2 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 inside-in
- BHs - 4 cc, 2 dtl (1 pass), 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 net chord dribbler

- 1 FHV was a non-net swinging cc & 1 BHV was possibly not clean

Nadal's FHs - 1 dtl, 2 inside-out, 3 inside-in, 2 drop shots, 1 net chord dribbler
- BHs - 3 cc (1 pass), 1 dtl/inside-out, 1 net chord dribbler

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Davydenko 58
- 37 Unforced (16 FH, 20 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH pass attempt & the BHV was a swinging, non-net shot
- 21 Forced (13 FH, 3 BH, 1 FH1/2V, 2 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 1 BHOH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 50

Nadal 38
- 20 Unforced (9 FH, 11 BH)
- 18 Forced (6 FH, 11 BH, 1 OH)... the OH was flagrantly forced, on the bounce baseline shot against an at net smash
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.5

(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)

(Note 2: The 'Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is a measure of how aggressive of intent the average UE made was. 60 is maximum, 20 is minimum. This match has been scored using a four point scale - 2 defensive, 4 neutral, 5 attacking, 6 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Davydenko was 25/34 (74%) at net. with...
- 0/1 forced back

Nadal was 9/14 (64%) at net. with...
- 1/2 forced back

Match Report
An even better match than the merely “amazing” one in Shanghai. Davydenko is even more sparkling, and Nadal plays aggressive ball too (as opposed to falling back and leaving match fully in opponents hands), making for still better tennis. And things are much more tense here, with both players having chances to win. Court is slow side of normal

Nadal has 2 match points in the second set tiebreak. Both service points, and the first of them before Davy has set point in the game. Before that, Davy fails to serve out the set at 5-4, where he has 3 set points before double faulting on sole break point of the game. Even in top drawer match, whole set stands out as breathtaking - Davy in particular, and Nadal’s no shrinking violet either. 25 winners, 15 UEs in the set for Davy, Nadal has 4 winners, 9 UEs (he forces 13 errors, Davy 7)

Third set carries on in same style, and scarcely less thrilling. Davey 13 winners, 11 UEs, Nadal 7 winners, 8 UEs

Before all that, Nadal wins first set 6-0. A combo of Nadal being very good (secure, but also playing up court and thumping pressuring FHs, especially cc), Davy missing fair bit with his usual, early taken, sharp cc and dtl attacking shots. Nadal 7 winners 3 UEs, Davy 2 winners, 11 UEs

It’s a slowish court, a lot slower than Shanghai, but freebies are virtually the same
Unreturned serves (Davy first, Nadal second) in Shanghai - 14% & 20%, here 12% & 20%
Makes court action easy to compare

In Shanghai -
- Davy 31 winners, forcing 8 errors, 39 UEs
- Nadal 7 winners, forceing 4 errors, 24 UEs

Here -
- Davy - 40 winners, forcing 18 errors, 37 UEs
- Nadal 18 winners, forcing 21 errors, 20 UEs

Sans first set bagel, noting Nadal’s superiority in it -
- Davey 38 winners, forcing 14 errors, 27 UEs
- Nadal 11 winners, forcing 16 errors, 17 UEs

Comparable numbers for Davy is fair reflection of his being aggressor in both matches
The biggest difference is in Nadal’s vastly larger aggressive yields in this match. Also a fair reflection and getting right to the difference in the 2 matches

Shanghai was Davy attacking, Nadal defending (and basically letting Davy attack). A test of Davy’s attacking efficiency
Here, both players attacking. Davy more so. He has to seize the aggressor role, because Nadal fights for it. A contest of lead/attack position and test of both players point building abilities

The defence and counter-attacking here is better and more at forefront. Slower court helps. Davy’s defence and counter-attacking abilities are very important. He’s even quicker than Nadal around the court

And simply, a better played match - more winners, more errors forced, fewer UEs by both players and by big or substantial amount. Even controlling for length of match (comparison with Shanghai and last 2 sets here is most telling for this). Along with longer, more thrilling rallies (the counter-attacking - as opposed to pure defence - helps here)

To go along with raised tensions of match either player can win. Loser having match points for straight sets win is biggest part of it. Nadal’s up a break early in third set too - and has 2 break points for a double break 4-1 lead even. The tennis just a hair below second set, which is as brilliant set of tennis you’ll see

If Shanghai was “an amazing match”, what does that make this? Gorgeous, dynamic, open court rallies, brilliant all court offence, just as brilliant counter-attacking almost throughout. And tight contest with loser having 2 match points on serve in a tiebreak and delivering a bagel

Serve-return isn’t important
Just 2 aces in match (both from Davy), 1 service winner (Nadal). There are 6 double faults (Davy 4, Nadal 2)
High in counts (Davy 74%, Nadal 63%), with serves usually good to give servers initiative
Low freebies (Davy 12%, Nadal 20%). Nadal as ever seemingly incapable of missing a return, Davey missing small few
Similar proportion of return UEs and FEs (Davy 10 & 7, Nadal 6 & 4)
Some wide returns from Davy to get moving rally going. More than that, he returns firmly without much trouble

Nice base for what follows

Winners - Davy 40, Nadal 18
Errors forced - Davy 18, Nadal 21
UEs - Davy 37, Nadal 20

Winners/UE differential - Davy +3, Nadal -3
Aggressively ended points/UE differential - Davy +21, Nadal +18

The point to stress is that aggressive finishers from both players are like the exclamation point. The rallies themselves is - open court, two players running side to side, both extremely quickly - is where real fun is

Davy more aggressive. Taking ball early off both wings and going wide every direction. Cc and dtl are majority, but with inside-out there too (including rarely with the BH). Nadal not allowed to implement neutral, grindy rally

Nadal does counter-attack, rather than purely defend. FH line being the biggest reversor. FH dtl is his biggest weapon when he’s in charge, and he uses it adventurously to. Attempts to pressure with heavy FH cc’s get turned around by Davy, so that doesn’t cut it. He doesn’t have time to move over to play FH inside-outs offensively. Rarely goes wide with BH cc

The defence and retrieving turns would be 1-2 finishing combos in 3-4s or more
Finally, a lot of net play by Davy to augment his offence. Hitting wide and coming in. More sneak approach than commanding one

Both players are extremely fast. Davy more so seemingly, though Nadal does more off the running and is more consistent at making the shot on the run (partially because Davy goes for more on them)

 

[Waspsting]

Winners and UEs in baseline rallies by shot -
- Davy FH 14 and 15
- Nadal FH 9 and 9
- Davy BH 7 and 20
- Nadal BH 3 and 11

Nadal also forces 13 errors in baseline rallies, 12 of them FHs. Davy forces 8, split across wings

Neutral UEs - Davy 15, Nadal 8

Necessary for Nadal to be more neutrally secure. His problem is he can’t keep Davy in that gear. While Davy’s FH is most damaging shot, BH has huge role in both building up and starting attacks. Nadal’s FH cc getting better of Davy’s BH trading stock groundies, but Davy more often, just escaping the grindy rally with a wider, attacking cc shot or a dtl

Attacking UEs - both 7
Errors forced - Davy 8 (4 of each wing), Nadal 13 (12 of them FHs)

Those numbers are better then nominal ratios because it’s a pain in force an error from either player. Takes 2-4 potentially finishing shots to do it. ‘Attacking’ doesn’t just mean potential point ending shot, but also, part of attacking point-building

All the winners come out of successful attacking shots that outmanuver opponent, where Davy shines more. Another way of looking at it is Nadal’s defence forcing him to finish with clean winner

Both players counter-attack as well as defend regularly. Davy more so. All those FH FEs are mostly drawn by Nadal’s FH line, and Davy’s looking to hit an aggressive running FH against them. Nadal’s FH cc usually setting them up
Davy forcing 4 FH and 4 BH FEs is sign of his using the entire court and range of shots to attack; a freestyling type of aggression, as opposed to Nadal’s more systematic, planned one

Winner attempt UEs - Davy 15, Nadal 5
Winners - Davy 21, Nadal 12

Lots of brilliant winners to end those brilliant rallies, but considerable cost too, especially for Davy. 5 of those UEs are in set 1, where has just 1 ground winners, so after that, 20 winners, 10 UEs trying

Nadal going to the well less often, but doing so more effectively. While forcing errors more efficiently too

Impressive as match long numbers are, they’re significantly different across parts of match

In first set (not just baseline points here) -
Davy 2 winners, forcing 4 errors, 11 UEs
Nadal 7 winners, forcing 5 errors, 3 UEs

… Davy missing his attacking plays and Nadal incapable of misisng, while forcing the issue

Rest of match -
Davy 38 winners, forcing 14 errors, 26 UEs
Nadal 11 winners, forcing 16 errors, 17 UEs

… Davy on fire to keep match on his racquet, and its not for Nadal not competing for that position; Davy snatches the role with boldness and executes brilliantly. Nadal making do what he can and making forcing to Davy to keep at it to finish

Net points (all from rallies) - Davy 25/34 at 74%, Nadal 9/14 at 64%

There’s no clean distinction between baseline and net play. Hit wide and come in, almost sneakily, is one of Davy’s standard finishers. Nadal on the pass often able to give him low volley to finish but when he’s usually been pushed wide and just putting the volley in court will do

On the ‘volley’ Davy has 14 winners (excluding a non-net FHV), 5 FEs (2 are half-volleys, 1 BHOH). He doesn’t have a UE (his only nominal 1 is non-net swinging approach)
On the pass, Nadal with just 1 winner, 10 FEs (2 FH, 7 BH)

Again, brilliantly executed by Davy, keeping in mind the almost sneaky nature of the approaches. Its part of, rather than goes with, his general, wide hitting baseline brilliance. Quite a lot of tricky, low and low-ish volleys to finish, and he can’t miss. Pretty good passing from Nadal too, despite just the 1 winner, but Davy’s very competent at net

Match Progression
Nothing like a bagel to get things started. Ironically, the the only set of 9 on outdoor hard court that Nadal would win against Davy

Loses 1 point on serve and breaks in 10, 10 and 6 point games
Nadal’s very secure, moves into court to strike pressuring FH cc’s and finish. Davy falters trying to take ball early and attack dtl or sharp angled cc

Hold to 15 to start. FH winners from inside-out and drop shot in the game, plus a winning wide BH cc

Break in 10 point game with decent rallies and Davy giving up errors to end them. Last point though is superb BH cc pass winner from a Nadal who’d been run about side to side
Wall stuff plus a few damaging FHs and a net chord dribbling return gain the second break
Last break is to 30 - Davy starting and ending the game with dtl winner attempt misses (1 of each wing), with Nadal dashing a FH inside-in winner in between, in point that Davy defends splendidly in

Second set is fantastic and as good a set of tennis as there’s been. Game after great game
Davy’s the aggressor, but Nadal plays ball too

Brilliant point construction by Davy - taking ball early, hitting wide and looking to finish with a winner from the back or by dashing to net. Nadal of course defending hard
Nadal thumping a few early BHs himself and FH dtl is his spearhead. Davy’s just as vigourout and quick, if not as consistent defending, and he more often counter-attacks

Nadal wallops a BH cc winner to get things under way. Has to save 3 break points before holding in 14 points. Great rallies throughout
Davy breaks for 3-2, finishing last 4 point aggressively (taking net after forcing Nadal back, wining BH dtl and winners from smash and a FH dtl pass against a not-good volley)

The tennis remains extraordinary until Davy serves for the set at 5-4
Looks like just another brilliant game, with Davy reaching 40-15 with 3 winners (FHV and 2 BH cc’s - the second one fantastic), but Nadal fighs his way to deuce, with Davy missing third ball attacking BH dtl on is second set point

Penultimate point is another great rally, where both players end up at net. Davy’s got fairly easy FH pass after being forced back little behind service line, but misses. He double faults to get broken and its 5-5

Tiebreak soon after
Only 5/18 points are won by the server. Same brilliant tennis as rest of set

After Nadal starts with a winning FH dtl, Davy knocks off 4 winners in a row (FH dtl at net, FHV, drop BHV, running BH dtl pass)
Adds another BHV winner, set up by a BH dtl to reach 5-4, with 2 service points to come
Loses both of them with aggressive UEs - a swinging, non-net BHV approach shot and a BH dtl, and its Nadal who has 6-5, match point on his serve
Davy takes net to save it. Raises his own set point with BH cc winner from routine position
Nadal with a winning FH inside-in, and a point after, its another match point on serve at 8-7
Nadal gets a look at a FH dtl winner shot and misses. Worth the shot
Davy takes it from there with FH dtl winner against a powerful third ball FH inside-out and a brilliant BH dtl winner. 10-8 set and on to decider

Stats for second set -
- Winners - Davy 25 (9 FH, 6 BH, 10 volleys), Nadal 4 (1 BH, 3 volleys)
- Errors forced - Davey 7 (2 regular, 5 passes), Nadal 12 (12 regular, 1 pass, 3 ‘volleys’)
- UEs - Davy 15 (3 FH, 11 BH, 1 non-net volley), Nadal 9 (4 FH, 5 BH)

Third set is slightly toned down continuation of fireworks display
Nadal saves a break point, in which Davy misses FH dtl winner attempt, and holds by firing off a pair of his own winners (FH dtl from routine position and FHV set up by good serve) for 1-1

Then breaks to 15 in another brilliant game. Last 3 points end with shoelace BHV error from Davy, BH dtl/inside-out winner from normal position and FH drop shot winners by Nadal after having davy defending like the dickens

Basic UEs set Davy down 15-40 next go around, looking down barrel of 1-4. He escapes with couple of net points and a good serve
The routine ground UEs in the game and couple of routine return misses by Nadal bring home how rare anything less than livewire action has been all match

Its back to brilliance right away as Davy levels at 3-3. Couple of net points from Davy and a winning FH dtl in the game. Nadal misses routine third ball FH on break point

Davy holds 10 point game for 5-4, with points ending with winners or attacking errors from lively rallies

Break to 15 to finish. No winners (says something about match that that’s worth noting for a 5 point game), but still a good game. Davy makes a tough return to start and Nadal misses third ball FH winner shot. Davy draws a pressured UE with a deep ball and Nadal misses a third ball, attacking wide BH cc to fall behind 15-40

Match point is another fine rally, which Davy wins with a very wide, rolled FH cc that’s inches off the ground and well outside court when Nadal reaches it and is forced into error

Summing up, thrill-a-minute, magnificent match. Davydenko is still the dazzler, but this time, against a Nadal that fights for that role and has his share of brilliance too, while retaining all the solidness and defensive vigour of previous encounter

Davydenko simply brilliant in his attacking play - adventurous, early taken shots off both wings, either sharply angled cc or dtl - get him on the attack. It takes more brilliant combinations of shots to finish points, including with sneaky trips to net, against the whizzing defence of opponent, with no small amount of counter-attacking thrown in

Nadal with some scorching FH dtl attacks of his own, along with a few early thumped BHs; his hat’s in the ring for attacker role, but opponent is that much more proactive to snatch it. Davydenko if anything, is even faster than Nadal in defence, though not as tough to finish off and more apt to counter-attack on the run

 

[Third Serve]

^ @MichaelNadal you're a big fan of this match right?

Really need to give this a rewatch soon.

 

[Third Serve]

Also remembered they played a match at Doha again the next year, Nikolay winning in straights this time. Not sure how good it was.

 

[MichaelNadal]

^ @MichaelNadal you're a big fan of this match right?

Really need to give this a rewatch soon.

I'll have to watch highlights, don't remember this one, but I do know I watched it live

 

[Third Serve]

I'll have to watch highlights, don't remember this one, but I do know I watched it live

Talking about Doha 2010. The thread is Shanghai 2009 but the posts right before mine are the Doha statistics. I think it was worth its own thread tbh.

 

[MichaelNadal]

Talking about Doha 2010. The thread is Shanghai 2009 but the posts right before mine are the Doha statistics. I think it was worth its own thread tbh.

Yes, Doha 2010 is insane wish Nadal won, he should have

 

[7thKingSlam]

Match Report
An even better match than the merely “amazing” one in Shanghai. Davydenko is even more sparkling, and Nadal plays aggressive ball too (as opposed to falling back and leaving match fully in opponents hands), making for still better tennis. And things are much more tense here, with both players having chances to win. Court is slow side of normal
Even in top drawer match, whole set stands out as breathtaking - Davy in particular, and Nadal’s no shrinking violet either. 25 winners, 15 UEs in the set for Davy, Nadal has 4 winners, 9 UEs (he forces 13 errors, Davy 7)
Third set carries on in same style, and scarcely less thrilling. Davey 13 winners, 11 UEs, Nadal 7 winners, 8 UEs



And simply, a better played match - more winners, more errors forced, fewer UEs by both players and by big or substantial amount. Even controlling for length of match (comparison with Shanghai and last 2 sets here is most telling for this). Along with longer, more thrilling rallies (the counter-attacking - as opposed to pure defence - helps here)

To go along with raised tensions of match either player can win. Loser having match points for straight sets win is biggest part of it. Nadal’s up a break early in third set too - and has 2 break points for a double break 4-1 lead even. The tennis just a hair below second set, which is as brilliant set of tennis you’ll see

If Shanghai was “an amazing match”, what does that make this? Gorgeous, dynamic, open court rallies, brilliant all court offence, just as brilliant counter-attacking almost throughout. And tight contest with loser having 2 match points on serve in a tiebreak and delivering a bagel

Guys, I think Wasp enjoyed the match lol.

Seriously though, seems I need to give this a watch. This was such a great rivalry overall. Shame Federer matched up incredibly well with Davydenko (mixed with some BO5 struggles) or Davydenko probably wins a slam. I wonder if Medvedev would be the same way if he played in Fed's era... granted Med was a better server.

 

[TheFifthSet]

Seriously though, seems I need to give this a watch. This was such a great rivalry overall. Shame Federer matched up incredibly well with Davydenko (mixed with some BO5 struggles) or Davydenko probably wins a slam.

Definitely a bit of both. Davy was up a late break in 5 of their 6 slam sets in 2007...lost every single one.

 

[Waspsting]

I think it was worth its own thread tbh.

True, true

Proximity of the matches, the similarity of Davy's approach to play, the contrast in Nadal's (in Shanghai, he plays a "show-me-what-you've-got" match and lets Davy take charge, in Doha, Davy actively takes charge) all influenced my choice
Would have involved repeating a lot of stuff from the Shanghai report too

Best would have been to do Doha first, and tag the Shanghai match on later

Oh well

...Davydenko probably wins a slam. I wonder if Medvedev would be the same way if he played in Fed's era

He had a wonderful, attacking style of play, which makes him one of my favourites to watch. Nalbandian is another
I think he was quite a choker though
Perception of this tends to get confounded by his playing style - we tend to put it down to percentages not being with him. As opposed to someone blander, like Zverev, whose style is one we tend to expect that he should be able to keep executing with minimum dips

Without remembering the specifics, impression I have of Davey was he's a guy you could count on blowing things
When he got it right though, joy to watch
When Zverev gets it right, I'm more likely than usual (the usual being 0) to know who was on Oprah on the day

 

[ForehandCross]

True, true

Proximity of the matches, the similarity of Davy's approach to play, the contrast in Nadal's (in Shanghai, he plays a "show-me-what-you've-got" match and lets Davy take charge, in Doha, Davy actively takes charge) all influenced my choice
Would have involved repeating a lot of stuff from the Shanghai report too

Best would have been to do Doha first, and tag the Shanghai match on later

Oh well



He had a wonderful, attacking style of play, which makes him one of my favourites to watch. Nalbandian is another
I think he was quite a choker though
Perception of this tends to get confounded by his playing style - we tend to put it down to percentages not being with him. As opposed to someone blander, like Zverev, whose style is one we tend to expect that he should be able to keep executing with minimum dips

Without remembering the specifics, impression I have of Davey was he's a guy you could count on blowing things
When he got it right though, joy to watch
When Zverev gets it right, I'm more likely than usual (the usual being 0) to know who was on Oprah on the day

I remember Australian open 2010 QF against Federer.

Federer was getting outplayed badly in first and a half, if I am not wrong Davydenko was up a set and a break.

Then Federer took a break or something and it disrupted Davydenko so much that he ended up losing in 4.

Davydenko in the fall of 2009 and early 2010 might be the best player on tour. He was beating everyone.

 

[Third Serve]

I remember Australian open 2010 QF against Federer.

Federer was getting outplayed badly in first and a half, if I am not wrong Davydenko was up a set and a break.

Then Federer took a break or something and it disrupted Davydenko so much that he ended up losing in 4.

Davydenko in the fall of 2009 and early 2010 might be the best player on tour. He was beating everyone.

I think Davy lost like 13 games in a row. If he wasn’t such a choker he could have seriously contended for Slams imo. Beautiful ballstriking and very quick on his feet.

I’d love to see a match report on that AO 2010 match. Probably some interesting takeaways there.