Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 6-4, 6-4 , 6-1 in a Davis Cup first round rubber, 2009 on clay in Benidorm, Spain
The result won the tie for Spain 3-1 and they would go onto win 4-1. They would go onto win the event, beating the Czech Republic in the final. Spain were the defending champions and Serbia would go onto win the event the following year. Earlier, Djokovic had lost to David Ferrer and Nadal had beaten Janko Tipsarevic, and Serbia had won the doubles rubber.
Nadal and Djokovic would go onto meet in the finals at Monte Carlo and Rome and the semi-final in Madrid shortly after, with Nadal winning all the matches
Nadal won 98 points, Djokovic 71
Serve Stats
Nadal...
- 1st serve percentage (49/73) 67%
- 1st serve points won (34/49) 69%
- 2nd serve points won (18/24) 75%
- Ace 4
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (16/73) 22%
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (55/96) 57%%
- 1st serve points won (33/55) 60%
- 2nd serve points won (17/41) 41%
- Ace 2
- Double Faults 4
- *Unreturned Serve Percentage (14/96) 17%
Serve Pattern
Nadal served...
- to FH 31%
- to BH 59%
- to Body 10%
Djokovic served...
- to FH 34%
- to BH 66%
Return Stats
Nadal made...
- 78 (28 FH, 50 BH), including 6 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (5 FH, 1 BH)
- 6 Forced (2 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (78/92) 85%
Djokovic made...
- 55 (18 FH, 37 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (3 FH, 2 BH)
- 7 Forced (7 FH)
- Return Rate (55/71) 77%
Break Points
Nadal 6/12 (8 games)
Djokovic 1/4 (2 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Nadal 23 (15 FH, 7 BH, 1 OH)
Djokovic 16 (7 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)
Nadal's FHs - 1 cc pass, 1 cc/down-the-middle pass, 3 dtl, 6 inside-out (1 pass), 1 inside-in, 1 drop shot, 1 running-down-drop-shot cc at net, 1 net chord dribbler at net
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 2 dtl (1 pass), 1 inside-out return pass, 1 inside-in/cc, 1 longline pass
Djokovic's FHs - 1 cc, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-out/longline, 1 inside-in, 1 longline/cc, 2 drop shots
- BHs - 1 cc return, 2 dtl (1 possibly not clean), 1 inside-out, 1 longline pass at net, 1 drop shot
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Nadal 39
- 24 Unforced (12 FH, 12 BH)
- 15 Forced (11 FH, 4 BH)... with 1 FH at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.5
Djokovic 55
- 42 Unforced (22 FH, 16 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH)
- 13 Forced (6 FH, 5 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.4
(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 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
Nadal was 4/9 (44%) at net, with...
- 0/2 forced back
Djokovic was...
- 15/30 (50%) at net, including...
- 2/4 (50%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 1/2 off 1st serve and...
- 1/2 off 2nd serve
---
- 1/1 forced back
Match Report
Efficient, squeeze out by Nadal, who is simply, better baseliner than Djokovic
38 ground UEs from Djokovic. Putting that in perpective -
- both players combined have 30 unreturned serves
- both players combined have 39 winners (Nadal 23, Djoko 16)
- both players combined have 28 FEs
- Nadal has 24 UEs (all groundies)
- (Djoko also 4 net UEs - including 2 of his notorious OH ones)
Simply, Djoko can’t keep the ball in court, rallying with Nadal. Its not even that he plays badly or sloppily. Hits well, moves well, rallies go on for awhile with mild side to side action. Its not that Nadal is uber consistent or rock like either. He’s just better at not missing balls, QED
Final figures don’t even bend much the way they do due to last set breadstick, and Nadal cozily gets better of first 2 sets too
After 2 sets, Nadal’s served 52 points for 9 holds, and getting broken once. Average service game 5.2 points
Djoko’s served 72 points for 7 holds and getting broken 3 times, average service game 73 points
In all, Nadal winning 58% of points, serving just 43% of them
Confined to first 2 sets, which at least on scoreline level aren’t one sided, its 56% of points, serving 42%
For his part, Nadal with a fine 23 winners, 24 UEs showing. For him, probably a notch below par, for anyone else, would be outstanding
FH with typical 15 winners, 12 UEs. That’s with a slow start. He’s got 8 in first set - including a blue moon rare poor, 4 UEs game to get broken, so just 4 UEs in next 2 sets. Moving over, by his standard, moderately to take FHs in lieu of BHs (by anyone elses, quite a lot). On top of all the winners, Nadal FH doing what it does - combo’s of cc/inside-in and inside-out to work Djoko over a bit. It can’t bully Djoko’s firm BH (as in, draw weak balls from it), but the errors come from that side. Not for being broken down systematically, but just because point has to end someway
Djoko looks to attack Nadal’s FH corner, with move-over FH inside-outs most threatening. BH cc’s pack a punch too, but not as much as the FHs. 1 problem he has is a poor follow-up FH inside-in (or what passes for it)
Attacking FH inside-out to drag Nadal to corner, who retrieves it cc, and Djoko follows with a FH ‘inisde-in’. Its more like a longline shot down center of court than to opposite corner and Nadal can catch up to it without too much trouble. Looks even worse for the masterclass in combination FH, moving-opponent-around play going on at other end, though Djoko’s attack isn’t so much about that as it is trying to find a winning shot. With Nadal, its not even certain a shot into corner would do it, let alone a shot around the middle of court. Some good, hard BH dtl shots by Djoko too. Genuinely aggressively shots, not simple longline change-ups. These test Nadal but they’re infrequent
Djoko also visiting net good amount. Always a good move when being outplayed from the back. Can only come away with modest 50% points won from his 30 trips forward. Nadal has 9 approaches, some of them forced
Djoko’s FH a little flourishy, not as tight and compact as it would come to be. And the loosest shot on show
The result won the tie for Spain 3-1 and they would go onto win 4-1. They would go onto win the event, beating the Czech Republic in the final. Spain were the defending champions and Serbia would go onto win the event the following year. Earlier, Djokovic had lost to David Ferrer and Nadal had beaten Janko Tipsarevic, and Serbia had won the doubles rubber.
Nadal and Djokovic would go onto meet in the finals at Monte Carlo and Rome and the semi-final in Madrid shortly after, with Nadal winning all the matches
Nadal won 98 points, Djokovic 71
Serve Stats
Nadal...
- 1st serve percentage (49/73) 67%
- 1st serve points won (34/49) 69%
- 2nd serve points won (18/24) 75%
- Ace 4
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (16/73) 22%
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (55/96) 57%%
- 1st serve points won (33/55) 60%
- 2nd serve points won (17/41) 41%
- Ace 2
- Double Faults 4
- *Unreturned Serve Percentage (14/96) 17%
Serve Pattern
Nadal served...
- to FH 31%
- to BH 59%
- to Body 10%
Djokovic served...
- to FH 34%
- to BH 66%
Return Stats
Nadal made...
- 78 (28 FH, 50 BH), including 6 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (5 FH, 1 BH)
- 6 Forced (2 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (78/92) 85%
Djokovic made...
- 55 (18 FH, 37 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (3 FH, 2 BH)
- 7 Forced (7 FH)
- Return Rate (55/71) 77%
Break Points
Nadal 6/12 (8 games)
Djokovic 1/4 (2 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Nadal 23 (15 FH, 7 BH, 1 OH)
Djokovic 16 (7 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)
Nadal's FHs - 1 cc pass, 1 cc/down-the-middle pass, 3 dtl, 6 inside-out (1 pass), 1 inside-in, 1 drop shot, 1 running-down-drop-shot cc at net, 1 net chord dribbler at net
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 2 dtl (1 pass), 1 inside-out return pass, 1 inside-in/cc, 1 longline pass
Djokovic's FHs - 1 cc, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-out/longline, 1 inside-in, 1 longline/cc, 2 drop shots
- BHs - 1 cc return, 2 dtl (1 possibly not clean), 1 inside-out, 1 longline pass at net, 1 drop shot
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Nadal 39
- 24 Unforced (12 FH, 12 BH)
- 15 Forced (11 FH, 4 BH)... with 1 FH at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.5
Djokovic 55
- 42 Unforced (22 FH, 16 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH)
- 13 Forced (6 FH, 5 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.4
(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 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
Nadal was 4/9 (44%) at net, with...
- 0/2 forced back
Djokovic was...
- 15/30 (50%) at net, including...
- 2/4 (50%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 1/2 off 1st serve and...
- 1/2 off 2nd serve
---
- 1/1 forced back
Match Report
Efficient, squeeze out by Nadal, who is simply, better baseliner than Djokovic
38 ground UEs from Djokovic. Putting that in perpective -
- both players combined have 30 unreturned serves
- both players combined have 39 winners (Nadal 23, Djoko 16)
- both players combined have 28 FEs
- Nadal has 24 UEs (all groundies)
- (Djoko also 4 net UEs - including 2 of his notorious OH ones)
Simply, Djoko can’t keep the ball in court, rallying with Nadal. Its not even that he plays badly or sloppily. Hits well, moves well, rallies go on for awhile with mild side to side action. Its not that Nadal is uber consistent or rock like either. He’s just better at not missing balls, QED
Final figures don’t even bend much the way they do due to last set breadstick, and Nadal cozily gets better of first 2 sets too
After 2 sets, Nadal’s served 52 points for 9 holds, and getting broken once. Average service game 5.2 points
Djoko’s served 72 points for 7 holds and getting broken 3 times, average service game 73 points
In all, Nadal winning 58% of points, serving just 43% of them
Confined to first 2 sets, which at least on scoreline level aren’t one sided, its 56% of points, serving 42%
For his part, Nadal with a fine 23 winners, 24 UEs showing. For him, probably a notch below par, for anyone else, would be outstanding
FH with typical 15 winners, 12 UEs. That’s with a slow start. He’s got 8 in first set - including a blue moon rare poor, 4 UEs game to get broken, so just 4 UEs in next 2 sets. Moving over, by his standard, moderately to take FHs in lieu of BHs (by anyone elses, quite a lot). On top of all the winners, Nadal FH doing what it does - combo’s of cc/inside-in and inside-out to work Djoko over a bit. It can’t bully Djoko’s firm BH (as in, draw weak balls from it), but the errors come from that side. Not for being broken down systematically, but just because point has to end someway
Djoko looks to attack Nadal’s FH corner, with move-over FH inside-outs most threatening. BH cc’s pack a punch too, but not as much as the FHs. 1 problem he has is a poor follow-up FH inside-in (or what passes for it)
Attacking FH inside-out to drag Nadal to corner, who retrieves it cc, and Djoko follows with a FH ‘inisde-in’. Its more like a longline shot down center of court than to opposite corner and Nadal can catch up to it without too much trouble. Looks even worse for the masterclass in combination FH, moving-opponent-around play going on at other end, though Djoko’s attack isn’t so much about that as it is trying to find a winning shot. With Nadal, its not even certain a shot into corner would do it, let alone a shot around the middle of court. Some good, hard BH dtl shots by Djoko too. Genuinely aggressively shots, not simple longline change-ups. These test Nadal but they’re infrequent
Djoko also visiting net good amount. Always a good move when being outplayed from the back. Can only come away with modest 50% points won from his 30 trips forward. Nadal has 9 approaches, some of them forced
Djoko’s FH a little flourishy, not as tight and compact as it would come to be. And the loosest shot on show
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