Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal 6-4, 7-5 in the Year End Championship (Tennis Masters Cup) semi-final, 2006 on indoor hard court in Shanghai, China
Federer would go onto beat James Blake in the final to win the title. Federer had topped his group unbeaten, Nadal had finished second in his with win-loss record 2-1, the loss having come against Blake. This was Federer's first straight set win over Nadal
Federer won 75 points, Nadal 65
Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (37/60) 62%
- 1st serve points won (32/37) 86%
- 2nd serve points won (10/23) 43%
- Aces 7
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (17/60) 28%
Nadal...
- 1st serve percentage (55/80) 69%
- 1st serve points won (33/55) 60%
- 2nd serve points won (14/25) 56%
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (12/80) 15%
Serve Pattern
Federer served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 59%
- to Body 2%
Nadal served...
- to FH 9%
- to BH 86%
- to Body 5%
Return Stats
Federer made...
- 66 (10 FH, 56 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 7 Unforced (1 FH, 6 BH)
- 5 Forced (1 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (66/78) 85%
Nadal made...
- 39 (18 FH, 21 BH), including 4 runaround FHs
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (3 BH)
- 7 Forced (4 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (39/56) 70%
Break Points
Federer 3/11 (6 games)
Nadal 1/2 (2 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Federer 19 (9 FH, 1 BH, 4 FHV, 4 BHV, 1 OH)
Nadal 13 (8 FH, 5 BH)
Federer's FHs - 3 cc (1 at net), 1 dtl pass, 3 inside-out and 2 inside-in
- BH - 1 dtl
- 4 from serve-volley points (1 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH), all first volleys
- 2 non-net swinging FHVs
Nadal's FHs - 3 cc, 2 dtl, 2 inside-out and 1 inside-in
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 3 dtl (1 pass) and 1 drop shot
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Federer 36
- 30 Unforced (16 FH, 12 BH, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 6 Forced (3 FH, 3 BH)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.3
Nadal 37
- 25 Unforced (10 FH, 15 BH)
- 12 Forced (6 FH, 5 BH, 1 FHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.2
(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
Federer was...
- 18/22 (82%) at net, including...
- 6/7 (86%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
Nadal was...
- 3/5 (60%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
Match Report
Hard hitting match on a quick-ish court with Federer forcing the pace from the back and Nadal slow to step up from defensive position behind baseline in response. That, and Federer's serve sees him over comfortably
Its not a very good match. Fed with 19 winners to 30 UEs (he does move +1 if errors forced are added to his winners), Nadal 13 winners, 25 UEs (he's -6 even with errors forced added). Best part of action is the lightning movement shown by both. The hitting itself is mostly of the ball-bashing kind
Federer starts match with intent, holding to 15 with 3 aces and then breaking to 30 with 3 FH winners. He continues to press Nadal with net approaches and hard hit, deep groundstrokes. In response, Nadal plays from significantly behind baseline and looks to break down the Fed BH with FH cc's. With reasonable success... but it doesn't do him much good in return games, where Fed gains control of points with first serves and nurses it through with hard hit groundies and trips to net to finish points
Serving for set, Fed plays a terrible game to be broke to 0 - a double fault, 2 FH UEs and a very easy, missed OH
He breaks next game to take set though, starting the game with swinging FHV from no-man's land after pushing Nadal about from back, finishing with a strong error forcing FH and with a couple Nadal BH UEs in between
Second set is a bit better from Nadal. He steps up (a bit), leading to Federer falling back (a bit) and the two move one around (mildly). Nadal continues to go after Fed's BH more often than not but short of systematically and also makes errors going wide with FH cc's. Fed lets go shots at FH inside-out point enders and goes for pressuring, hard hit inside-ins instead
Its not attractive tennis... basically, slightly refined ball bashing. Movement though is outstanding from both - especially Federer. His footspeed is probably a shade better than Nadal's while footwork from both is top rate from both
In latter part of second set, Nadal takes to genuinely stepping up and often hits from inside the court, flattening out shots more. He's not bad at it and if you weren't familiar with his game (or what he'd shown earlier in match), there'd be no reason to think he's out of his element. The BH does tend to miss attacking shots, but so does Federer's FH
Federer's serve and net play still leaves him with advantage, with rest of play about equal. Nadal survives 2 break and match points to hold a 14 point game to take score to 5-5, but is broken in 10 point game just shy of tiebreak. Federer ends match on an unbroken 24 returns made run - 21 of them BHs
Serve & Return
The standout stat is Federer winning a huge 86% first serve points. And that's with a moderate 28% unreturned serves, though the 7 aces are above norm for him
While Fed does serve with typical strength, this as considerably due to his play, not just his serve. Nadal returns regularly and Fed doesn't kill off points at once with third ball baseline shots. In other words, he has to nurse his advantage on third ball to winning points - which he does 19/23 points (sans aces and serve-volley points, but including other unreturned first serves)
The other notable point is Fed's 85% return rate. This is as much about ordinariness of Nadal's serve as surety of Fed's return.... he has 0 aces, and 7/10 return errors he draws have been marked unforced. The usual stream to Fed's BH (86%) makes it typically predictable too. Fed doesn't do much with returns other than put them in play, usually neutralizingly or with a small third ball initiative for Nadal. Can't keep the third ball off Nadal's FH either
Play - Baseline & Net
While Fed's high first serve points won involves court skills starting with initiative, Nadal probably remains the slightly better player and certainly from the baseline - which is another way of crediting Fed for coming to net and being good up there
Virtually all of Nadal's service points start 50-50. But he wins 60% off first serve and 56% of second (also 60% sans double faults... Fed edges just past 50% non-double fault second serve points also, but is down to 43% overall)
Fed's baseline game is based on hitting hard and deep FHs, while going for the winner when the chance arises (he tends not to go for them out of the blue) or coming to net to finish. Off the BH, he looks to hold up against Nadal's FHs
In the final against James Blake by contrast, he smacked BH winners regularly all match. Here, he has just 1 in the last game of the match, a terrific dtl from outside doubles alley
Fed's FH with match high 9 winners (just 1 more than Nadal's) and 16 UEs (1 more than Nadal's BH). The errors go up in last part of match when Nadal steps up and looks to ball-bashingly 'attack'. That Fed is able to keep action his FH vs Nadal BH to large extent in this, most lively part of match would be a strategic win for him
Fed's net play flows organically from baseline play. He comes in after collaring points from back, usually off strong approaches. Good move - its the best, high percentage way to finish against Nadal. Just a couple of errors up front - a not easy reaction BHV and a completely easy OH putaway - plus a couple blazing Nadal passes are the only points he loses up there. Also knocks away a couple of swinging FHV winners from no-man's land
Initially, Nadal's court positioning is off. He's playing from too far back behind baseline, as he he might on clay. Even with his court coverage, its a losing position. Fed exploits well, with even not sharp angles proving effective or coming to net. Still, he's largely successful in breaking down Fed's BH
For lions share of second set, Nadal moves up to baseline or even inside court and looks to hit hard and flat. Power, not placement is base of his 'attack' (its more like going for beatdown UEs than forcing errors) and he yields errors of both sides, though slightly less so than Fed. Fed's court coverage and defence is also first rate... lots of hard hit balls put back with authority
This hard-hitting, beat down dynamic seems to suit Fed more than persistent high rising top spin Nadal FHs to his BH
Summing up, smart and solid showing from Federer who serves strongly and is able to exploit Nadal's overly defensive court position to start and later, guides him to a ball-bashing battle that suits him more than Nadal. Nadal can do little with the serve and though typically tough from the back to the tune of just about edging action, can't find a way to boss Fed from there as he often does
Stats for the final between Federer and James Blake - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...lake-year-end-championship-final-2006.670649/
Stats for '06 French Open final - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...dal-vs-federer-french-open-final-2006.632972/
Stats for '06 Wimbledon final - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...federer-vs-nadal-wimbledon-final-2006.659778/
Federer would go onto beat James Blake in the final to win the title. Federer had topped his group unbeaten, Nadal had finished second in his with win-loss record 2-1, the loss having come against Blake. This was Federer's first straight set win over Nadal
Federer won 75 points, Nadal 65
Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (37/60) 62%
- 1st serve points won (32/37) 86%
- 2nd serve points won (10/23) 43%
- Aces 7
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (17/60) 28%
Nadal...
- 1st serve percentage (55/80) 69%
- 1st serve points won (33/55) 60%
- 2nd serve points won (14/25) 56%
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (12/80) 15%
Serve Pattern
Federer served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 59%
- to Body 2%
Nadal served...
- to FH 9%
- to BH 86%
- to Body 5%
Return Stats
Federer made...
- 66 (10 FH, 56 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 7 Unforced (1 FH, 6 BH)
- 5 Forced (1 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (66/78) 85%
Nadal made...
- 39 (18 FH, 21 BH), including 4 runaround FHs
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (3 BH)
- 7 Forced (4 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (39/56) 70%
Break Points
Federer 3/11 (6 games)
Nadal 1/2 (2 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Federer 19 (9 FH, 1 BH, 4 FHV, 4 BHV, 1 OH)
Nadal 13 (8 FH, 5 BH)
Federer's FHs - 3 cc (1 at net), 1 dtl pass, 3 inside-out and 2 inside-in
- BH - 1 dtl
- 4 from serve-volley points (1 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH), all first volleys
- 2 non-net swinging FHVs
Nadal's FHs - 3 cc, 2 dtl, 2 inside-out and 1 inside-in
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 3 dtl (1 pass) and 1 drop shot
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Federer 36
- 30 Unforced (16 FH, 12 BH, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 6 Forced (3 FH, 3 BH)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.3
Nadal 37
- 25 Unforced (10 FH, 15 BH)
- 12 Forced (6 FH, 5 BH, 1 FHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.2
(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
Federer was...
- 18/22 (82%) at net, including...
- 6/7 (86%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
Nadal was...
- 3/5 (60%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
Match Report
Hard hitting match on a quick-ish court with Federer forcing the pace from the back and Nadal slow to step up from defensive position behind baseline in response. That, and Federer's serve sees him over comfortably
Its not a very good match. Fed with 19 winners to 30 UEs (he does move +1 if errors forced are added to his winners), Nadal 13 winners, 25 UEs (he's -6 even with errors forced added). Best part of action is the lightning movement shown by both. The hitting itself is mostly of the ball-bashing kind
Federer starts match with intent, holding to 15 with 3 aces and then breaking to 30 with 3 FH winners. He continues to press Nadal with net approaches and hard hit, deep groundstrokes. In response, Nadal plays from significantly behind baseline and looks to break down the Fed BH with FH cc's. With reasonable success... but it doesn't do him much good in return games, where Fed gains control of points with first serves and nurses it through with hard hit groundies and trips to net to finish points
Serving for set, Fed plays a terrible game to be broke to 0 - a double fault, 2 FH UEs and a very easy, missed OH
He breaks next game to take set though, starting the game with swinging FHV from no-man's land after pushing Nadal about from back, finishing with a strong error forcing FH and with a couple Nadal BH UEs in between
Second set is a bit better from Nadal. He steps up (a bit), leading to Federer falling back (a bit) and the two move one around (mildly). Nadal continues to go after Fed's BH more often than not but short of systematically and also makes errors going wide with FH cc's. Fed lets go shots at FH inside-out point enders and goes for pressuring, hard hit inside-ins instead
Its not attractive tennis... basically, slightly refined ball bashing. Movement though is outstanding from both - especially Federer. His footspeed is probably a shade better than Nadal's while footwork from both is top rate from both
In latter part of second set, Nadal takes to genuinely stepping up and often hits from inside the court, flattening out shots more. He's not bad at it and if you weren't familiar with his game (or what he'd shown earlier in match), there'd be no reason to think he's out of his element. The BH does tend to miss attacking shots, but so does Federer's FH
Federer's serve and net play still leaves him with advantage, with rest of play about equal. Nadal survives 2 break and match points to hold a 14 point game to take score to 5-5, but is broken in 10 point game just shy of tiebreak. Federer ends match on an unbroken 24 returns made run - 21 of them BHs
Serve & Return
The standout stat is Federer winning a huge 86% first serve points. And that's with a moderate 28% unreturned serves, though the 7 aces are above norm for him
While Fed does serve with typical strength, this as considerably due to his play, not just his serve. Nadal returns regularly and Fed doesn't kill off points at once with third ball baseline shots. In other words, he has to nurse his advantage on third ball to winning points - which he does 19/23 points (sans aces and serve-volley points, but including other unreturned first serves)
The other notable point is Fed's 85% return rate. This is as much about ordinariness of Nadal's serve as surety of Fed's return.... he has 0 aces, and 7/10 return errors he draws have been marked unforced. The usual stream to Fed's BH (86%) makes it typically predictable too. Fed doesn't do much with returns other than put them in play, usually neutralizingly or with a small third ball initiative for Nadal. Can't keep the third ball off Nadal's FH either
Play - Baseline & Net
While Fed's high first serve points won involves court skills starting with initiative, Nadal probably remains the slightly better player and certainly from the baseline - which is another way of crediting Fed for coming to net and being good up there
Virtually all of Nadal's service points start 50-50. But he wins 60% off first serve and 56% of second (also 60% sans double faults... Fed edges just past 50% non-double fault second serve points also, but is down to 43% overall)
Fed's baseline game is based on hitting hard and deep FHs, while going for the winner when the chance arises (he tends not to go for them out of the blue) or coming to net to finish. Off the BH, he looks to hold up against Nadal's FHs
In the final against James Blake by contrast, he smacked BH winners regularly all match. Here, he has just 1 in the last game of the match, a terrific dtl from outside doubles alley
Fed's FH with match high 9 winners (just 1 more than Nadal's) and 16 UEs (1 more than Nadal's BH). The errors go up in last part of match when Nadal steps up and looks to ball-bashingly 'attack'. That Fed is able to keep action his FH vs Nadal BH to large extent in this, most lively part of match would be a strategic win for him
Fed's net play flows organically from baseline play. He comes in after collaring points from back, usually off strong approaches. Good move - its the best, high percentage way to finish against Nadal. Just a couple of errors up front - a not easy reaction BHV and a completely easy OH putaway - plus a couple blazing Nadal passes are the only points he loses up there. Also knocks away a couple of swinging FHV winners from no-man's land
Initially, Nadal's court positioning is off. He's playing from too far back behind baseline, as he he might on clay. Even with his court coverage, its a losing position. Fed exploits well, with even not sharp angles proving effective or coming to net. Still, he's largely successful in breaking down Fed's BH
For lions share of second set, Nadal moves up to baseline or even inside court and looks to hit hard and flat. Power, not placement is base of his 'attack' (its more like going for beatdown UEs than forcing errors) and he yields errors of both sides, though slightly less so than Fed. Fed's court coverage and defence is also first rate... lots of hard hit balls put back with authority
This hard-hitting, beat down dynamic seems to suit Fed more than persistent high rising top spin Nadal FHs to his BH
Summing up, smart and solid showing from Federer who serves strongly and is able to exploit Nadal's overly defensive court position to start and later, guides him to a ball-bashing battle that suits him more than Nadal. Nadal can do little with the serve and though typically tough from the back to the tune of just about edging action, can't find a way to boss Fed from there as he often does
Stats for the final between Federer and James Blake - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...lake-year-end-championship-final-2006.670649/
Stats for '06 French Open final - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...dal-vs-federer-french-open-final-2006.632972/
Stats for '06 Wimbledon final - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...federer-vs-nadal-wimbledon-final-2006.659778/
