Duel Match Stats/Reports - Djokovic vs Nadal, Cincinnati semi-finals, 2008 & 2009

[Waspsting]

Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal 6-1, 7-5 in the Cincinnati semi-final, 2008 on hard court

Djokovic would go onto win lose the final to Andy Murray. The two would meet again shortly after in the Olympics semi-final in Shanghai, with Nadal winning en route to the title. The result broke Nadal's win streak that included titles in Hamburg, French Open, Queen's Club, Wimbledon and Canada (with wins over Djokovic at the first three)

Djokovic won 59 points, Nadal 43

Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (32/57) 56%
- 1st serve points won (23/32) 72%
- 2nd serve points won (19/25) 76%
- Aces 4, Service Winners 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (16/57) 28%

Nadal....
- 1st serve percentage (26/45) 58%
- 1st serve points won (19/26) 73%
- 2nd serve points won (9/19) 47%
- Aces 2
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (10/45) 22%

Serve Patterns
Djokovic served...
- to FH 40%
- to BH 60%

Nadal served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 55%
- to Body 7%

Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 34 (16 FH, 18 BH), including 5 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 8 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (3 FH, 2 BH)
- 3 Forced (2 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (34/44) 77%

Nadal made...
- 41 (18 FH, 23 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (1 FH, 3 BH)
- 7 Forced (2 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (41/57) 72%

Break Points
Djokovic 3/4 (3 games)
Nadal 0/1

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Djokovic 14 (8 FH, 3 BH, 3 FHV)
Nadal 8 (4 FH, 1 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)

Djokovic's FHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl, 5 inside-out (1 return, 1 at net)
- BHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl, 1 drop shot (a net chord roll over)

Nadal's FHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 2 dtl
- BH - 1 cc

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Djokovic 25
- 20 Unforced (8 FH, 12 BH)
- 5 Forced (4 BH, 1 FH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 50

Nadal 28
- 14 Unforced (5 FH, 8 BH, 1 FHV)
- 14 Forced (13 FH, 1 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.3

(Note 1: All 1/2 volleys refer to such shots played at net. 1/2 volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke numbers)

(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Djokovic was 9/11 (82%) at net, with...
- 1/1 forced back

Nadal was...
- 5/7 (71%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
---
- 0/1 forced back

Match Report
Two part match - Djokovic zones through the first set, but the second is competitive, high quality baseline contest. Court is on quick side but with high bounce

The key stat is an unusual one. Nadal with 13 FH FEs. Most are drawn by Djoko’s FH dtl, which is the most important shot in the match

Putting 13 FH FEs in perspective -
- Djoko has 16 unreturned serves, Nadal 10
- Djoko has 14 winners, Nadal 8
- Nadal has 14 UEs total
- Djoko has 5 FEs, Nadal has just 1 non-FH FE

8/13 are in the second set, which is the important part in final outcome, taking the first set for granted when Djoko’s on fire in many ways, including FH dtl but it doesn’t stand out with everything else firing too

Match long stats are cute. Similar in-counts (Djoko 56%, Nadal 58%) and 3/4 of the types of points are clustered together -
Djoko’s first serve 72%, Djoko’s second serve 76% and Nadal’s first serve at 73%
Nadal’s second serve lags a mile or 2 behind at 47%

47% second serve points won isn’t bad or unusual by a normal standard, but 76% is outrageously good. It doesn’t have much to do with the serve or return shots themselves

Early on, Nadal has a bit of trouble returning the chest-shoulder high second serves and makes a few errors. He gets a grip on the return in second set and returns about his norm. Djoko winning so much is just about his playing superiority

For that matter, Nadal’s done well to be so effective behind his first serve. Its not a troubling one, and Djoko returns comfortably. But that overall figure is twisted by sets. He wins just 6/12 in first set, but 13/14 in second

In first set, Djoko can’t seem to do anything wrong. Dispatches third balls FH inside-out for winners - weak returns and not-strong ones, from well over in ad court and more often, around center line. BH cc’s, BH dtl’s and few FH dtl’s all fire too. And Nadal has some trouble with on the high return

Djoko with 9 winners, forcing 5 errors and just 6 UEs for the set
Nadal has 2 winners, forces 1 error and has 3 UEs

Djoko winning 14 points aggressively, while getting just 3 UEs is clear enough. He just blows Nadal away
Nadal also misses 5/11 second returns, which is out of character. Decent second serving from Djoko, and the height catches Nadal out

In second set, Djoko has 5 winners, forces 9 errors and has 14 UEs
Nadal has 6 winners, forces 4 errors and has 11 UEs

Djoko looks to keep up his zoning to start, but starts missing his would-be winners. Nadal returns more securely. And they play some excellent baseline tennis
Rallies can be divided as tough, with both players being gritty and hard hitting or lively, with lots of moving one another around going on. And Djoko sprinkling in his attempts at point ending shots
As just 5 winners attest, he’s not too successful, but those FH dtl’s keep hard forcing running FH errors

Nadal isn’t too aggressive. He’s tough and efficient. Match long, edges neutral UEs 7-10 against the smartly solid Djoko. Just 2 attacking and winner attempt UEs apiece (Djoko has 6 and 7 respectively). To be aggressive, he goes wider with his usual FH cc’s. They have to wider to trouble Djoko’s whose BH seems comfy in stationary rallies

 

[Waspsting]

In general, Nadal tended to have a weakness wide to his FH because he positioned himself in deuce court, looking for runaround FHs. Usually, back-away FH inside-outs are what could hurt him. That.s not what happens here. He keeps just slightly leaning on deuce court stock position, as good as central. Its unusual for FH dtl to be the griller - all credit to Djoko for that

Those FH dtl’s tend to come out from shot-making, not point construction. In later years on clay, Djoko would use a ploy of persistent powerful FH cc’s to pin Nadal to a side, and then at choice moment, go for the dtl finisher

Not what he does here. Dual winged rallies, not overly biased to a particular direction or wing… and Djoko pulls the FH dtl trigger

As for Nadal, his FH cc’s are effective. Djoko’s BH may look comfy and it doesn’t yield weak balls, but has match high 12 UEs, while Nadal’s FH has match low 5

That’s deceptive if it suggests the 2 just trade cc shots until an error pops out. For starters, not small number of Djoko’s UEs are dtl winner attempts and he also toys with very wide angled cc aggressive shots too. The not-giving-up weak balls part is the most positive part of Djoko’s BH showing (and one which not many can manage against Nadal). He might blink up a few errors, but Nadal isn’t able to take charge of rallies by going to Djoko’s BH

If anything, its Nadal’s BH that yields softest balls. It has 8 UEs - same as Djoko’s FH, but a lot more of Djoko’s would be aggressive shots. Djoko’s BH also does its share of damage - in first set, both cc and dtl, while Nadal’s BH is there to just hold the fort. 8 UEs isn’t holding the fort, especially considering that’s as many as by far the most deadly shot on show

Beyond that, good serving from Djoko and ordinary from Nadal. Ace/Service winner rates off first serves read 16%, Nadal 8%

Return error breakdown -
- UEs - Djoko 5, Nadal 4 (and 2 of Djoko’s is in a throwaway game near the end)
- FEs - Djoko 3, Nadal 7

Djoko’s serve is more powerful and better placed, with earlier mentioned effective high second serves. Nadal’s is as mundane as can be - in swing zone stuff, not too pacey

On the return, Djoko proactively taking a few risks in going for point ending returns. He blasts a FH cc one not far from Nadal and has 5 runaround FHs. 2 are against first serves, to give some idea of how untroubling Nadal’s serve is. He goes for brute power, not dtl or wide returns to be aggressive with some success. About as much missing as making - not too important when set is on serve

Other than the blip against high balls, normal returning from Nadal, content to start rally in reactive position. Djoko tends to be very aggressive in taking on the third ball. Djoko draws larger lot of weak returns too because his serve is wide enough to do so, unlike Nadal’s

Match Report
8 points into the match, its 2-0 Djokovic. He opens with 2 third ball FH inside-out winners and ends his hold with a wide, high kicking second serve that surprises Nadal

He breaks by forcing 3 FH errors - 2 with FH dtl’s, 1 with a big, wide BH cc return

Ace and another third ball FH inside-out winner go into consolidating for 3-0

And break for 4 love is as good as everything else - blasted FH inside-out return winner, runaround FH returns against first serves, net points set up by dtl shots, a BH cc winner out of the blue and finishing with a FH dtl winner from routine position

4 more winners to hold again for 5-0 - FHV set up after overpowering Nadal, an ace, another third ball FH inside-out winner (not a weak return) and a BH dtl one set up by another big FH inside-out

After Nadal gets on the board, Djoko serves out to 15 in an all 2nd serve point game, with Nadal missing 3 returns. Possibly some tanking going on, but they’re good, high serves

Top class set of tennis from Djoko, it proves not to be sustainable

He tries continuing in same vein in second, but misses his big shots and Nadal returns more surely. Djoko needs good serves to keep his nose ahead on service games and delivers, with his in-count going up to 62% from 45% in first set

Turns out to be a fine set of tennis, with tough rallies and fluid ones and not easy holds for either player. Nadal steady, Djoko just as hard of shot while occasionally going for ambitious winners, missing more often than not. And those FH dtl’s that keep forcing errors

Nadal’s sole break point of match comes in game 6, in which a tough rally develops. It’s the kind that Nadal’s been winning, but here, Djoko finds a big FH inside-out from routine position to win the point, before holding with a couple of strong serves

Djoko’s sole break of the set decides matters. There are 2 error forcing FH dtl’s from Djoko in it and Nadal is outboxed in other points to give up errors. Djoko serves out to 15, finishing with consecutive winners - a third ball putaway FH inside-out at net and a FHV set up by a third ball FH longline shot

Summing up, fun and good little match. Djokovic is as good as can be for a set - flaming point ending shots off both wings regularly and rendering the average serving Nadal helpless. But second set is fine contest and good demo of how the two players stack up, with little in it amidst tough rallies and moving-opponent-about rallies. Nadal is more secure off the ground, but Djokovic has more damaging serve and his FH dtl shots are a huge hit

Zoning fun aside, Djokovic's FH dtl's are the high point and main take away from the match - superb stuff

Stats for the final between Djokovic and Andy Murray - Match Stats/Report - Murray vs Djokovic, Cincinnati final, 2008 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

 

[MichaelNadal]

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

The run he was on, had to end somewhere. I kind of foresaw this loss coming due to the lead-up matches.

 

[Third Serve]

So ended Nadal's most impressive winning streak. A good performance from Djokovic.

 

[MichaelNadal]

So ended Nadal's most impressive winning streak. A good performance from Djokovic.

It was almost the end of sleeveless Rafa we only got 3 more kits

 

[Waspsting]

Djokovic beat Nadal 6-1, 6-4 in the Cincinnati semi-final, 2009 on hard court

Djokovic would go onto win lose the final to Roger Federer. Earlier in the year, the two met in the finals of Monte Carlo and Rome, with Nadal winning both times

Djokovic won 63 points, Nadal 48

Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (36/55) 65%
- 1st serve points won (27/36) 75%
- 2nd serve points won (11/19) 58%
- Aces 5, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (20/55) 36%

Nadal....
- 1st serve percentage (35/56) 63%
- 1st serve points won (21/35) 60%
- 2nd serve points won (10/21) 48%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (8/56) 14%

Serve Patterns
Djokovic served...
- to FH 30%
- to BH 70%

Nadal served...
- to FH 51%
- to BH 42%
- to Body 8%

Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 45 (27 FH, 18 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 7 Errors, all unforced...
- 7 Unforced (3 FH, 4 BH), including 1 runaround BH
- Return Rate (45/53) 85%

Nadal made...
- 34 (14 FH, 20 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 14 Errors, comprising...
- 8 Unforced (3 FH, 5 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 6 Forced (1 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (34/54) 63%

Break Points
Djokovic 3/6 (4 games)
Nadal 0/1

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Djokovic 14 (9 FH, 4 BH, 1 OH)
Nadal 9 (3 FH, 3 BH, 1 FHV, 2 OH)

Djokovic's FHs - 1 cc, 2 dtl, 4 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 inside-in
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 2 dtl, 1 longline pass

Nadal's FHs - 1 dtl, 2 inside-out
- BHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out slice pass

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Djokovic 30
- 26 Unforced (13 FH, 11 BH, 2 BHV)
- 4 Forced (1 FH, 1 BH, 2 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.8

Nadal 26
- 16 Unforced (11 FH, 5 BH)
- 10 Forced (4 FH, 6 BH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.9

(Note 1: All 1/2 volleys refer to such shots played at net. 1/2 volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke numbers)

(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Djokovic was...
- 8/13 (62%) at net, including...
- 1/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves

Nadal was 6/9 (67%) at net

Match Report
Very similar score. Not too similar a match. Djokovic still the aggressor, but he’s less impressive than previous year in that role, but Nadal falters more too. Having so much better of serve-return complex is biggest factor in result. Court is about the same

Unreturned serves - Djoko 36%, Nadal 14%
… gap of 22%, compared to 6% previous year

Nadal still serving harmlessly. Even more so. All 7 of Djoko’s return errors have been marked UEs, and he scarcely faces a difficult serve. About half those errors are throwaway returns after Djoko’s up a break or 2, including a couple of dtl winner attempts. Quality of returns is clinically firm. If not neutralizing, it would require Nadal to be proactive to take charge of rallies off third ball (which he isn’t)

More tellingly is Nadal being a bit off on the return. 8/14 return errors have been marked UEs, including 3 runaround FHs. In general, Nadal rarely makes return UEs (simple or routine returns)

His returns aren’t as strong as Djoko’s, and Djoko is proactive in looking to collar rallies off the back. He’s not as good at it as he was previous year, but with the extra lead in freebies, he doesn’t need to be

Winners - Djoko 14, Nadal 9
Errors Forced - Djoko 10, Nadal 4
UEs - Djoko 26, Nadal 16

Not great by either player. A little deceptive for Djoko in that he tends to get careless when up a break or more. Otherwise, seems to be able to get into return games at will. And he’s getting enough out of the serve shot alone to be comfy in holding

Djoko still has his lot of big third ball FH inside-outs and goes for attacking dtl shots (more off both wings than with FH starring to extent of previous year, but more FHs than BHs). Not too successful with the latter and doesn’t overly indulge the former

On his serve, he’s able to get on front foot and command action at least, pushing Nadal into reactive role (more often, outright defensive). Opposite isn’t true. His return is dealt with unaggressively by Nadal and upcoming rally tends to be neutral

‘Neutral’ with Djoko playing closer to baseline, hitting with better depth, not slow to step up further if chance opens up to (and his depth tends to create such chances) and even willing to go for the all-in attacking dtl shot (without too much success)

Its lazy to say that he ‘pins Nadal back’. His depth is good but not without exception. The odd not deep ball there (rarely short though). If Nadal were looking to step in more, he has chances to. He doesn’t seem to be looking to - and from 2-3 paces behind baseline, he’s unlikely to be able to attack

 

[Waspsting]

To win playing that way, he’d need Djoko to overreach attacking or/and be a full wall to outlast the harder hitting, closer to baseline positioned Djoko

Neutral UEs - Nadal 9, Djoko 15
Attacking UEs and errors forced - Nadal 3 and 4, Djoko 7 and 10

That’s poor errors forced: attacking UEs ratio for both players. Court is quick enough for good, wide attacking shots to force errors. Neither player managing. Nadal’s usually not in position to and doesn’t really try (2 of the errors he force are from net-to-net situations), so the blackmark here is more for Djoko, who misses his dtl shots that were so effective previous year

Gist of those numbers is Nadal succeeds somewhat in his style of play, but not nearly enough to off-set his handicap on serve-return. More just criticism of Nadal would be his style of play; essentially, he’s hoping Djoko mucks up with errors. This isn’t clay and its not a strategy that’s likely to work against good players, or looks even less likely when you see Djoko’s form, movement and hitting. If anything, one half-expects Djoko to win the error battle

Numbers are also deceptive in that balance of those errors turn on situation in set. Much of Djoko’s take place when he’s up breaks

9 winners, 13 UEs, and forcing several errors by Djoko's FH, again the best shot of the match. More than double the winners of the next best shot (other groundies have 4, 3 and 3)
Nadal’s BH with a rock like 5 UEs, less than half any other shot (other groundies have 11, 11 and 13)

Few unusual winners in the match. Nadal hits a BH cc winner from middle of court that’s close to being inside-in. Djoko’s BH longline pass winner is almost parallel to sideline and just wide of the central Nadal, but wrong-foots him a little. And Nadal ekes out a running BH dtl/inside-out slice passing winner that slips by the approaching Djoko

Match Progression
Trade of holds to open the match. Djoko’s impressive - hitting a couple of aces and couple of dtl winners (1 of each wing) in the two games, with his FH giving up errors too

He wins next 5 games. His 3 holds are built around strong serving - he has 3 aces and a service winner in the games - which he backs up aggressively and at once. The 2 breaks are more a product of Nadal stumbling

Double fault and couple of FH errors - 1 an unusually aggressive dtl winner attempt, the other a routine third ball cc - set Nadal down 30-40. Adventurous approach on the break point and Djoko’s BH pass is almost down the middle of the court, slightly wrong footing Nadal as it goes through for a winner. Second break is a particularly bad game from Nadal, missing regulation groundies

Nadal’s under the gun at start of second set too as he saves 3 break points to hold a 14 point game, featuring some wonderful 1-2s from Djoko. His second service games goes to deuce, with several good rallies, though they end with UEs

The 2 trade BH dtl winners in game 4. Nadal’s shot brings home how less frequently he plays such a shot to Djoko, who fairly regularly goes line with the BH

Djoko secures the break for 3-2. Nifty winning BHOH by Nadal in the game and Djoko plays a strange runaround BH return that he misses against a first serve, but ekes out the baseline rallies to gain the break

After that, Djoko takes it a bit easy on return games and makes careless errors

Nadal has 0-30 following game, but misses 3 routine first returns in next 4 points. Very unusual for for him. He goes one better next go-around when he gains his only break point of the match. Djoko takes charge of the rally, finally finishing it with a pounded FH inside-out winner, before going on to hold with a perfect, short-angled BH cc pass winner

The serve-out goes to deuce too, though Djoko’s never behind in the game, closing it out with an approach to net to force a BH passing error

Summing up, another convincing win for Djokovic. He serves pretty well and Nadal’s returning consistency being considerably off is his biggest net positive in the match, but when he wants/needs to be, he gets better of court action too - hitting harder, from closer in, changing directions, attacking dtl, coming to net and staying quite steady doing all that

Getting very little out of his own ordinary serve and unusually missing a number of routine returns, Nadal also does little to contest control of rallies, staying behind the baseline and only trading routine groundstrokes without damaging force. At best, he holds even doing so and only when Djokovic is already up breaks and taking things a little easy

Good from Djokovic, less than that from Nadal - and not a well thought out match by the loser either

Stats for the final between Djokovic and Roger Federer - Match Stats/Report - Federer vs Djokovic, Cincinnati final, 2009 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)