Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the French Open final, 2012 on clay
It was Nadal's record breaking 7th French Open title. Djokovic had been going for a non-calendar year Grand Slam. It was the pair's 4th successive Slam final (Djokovic had won the previous 3). Nadal had won both of the pair's matches on clay leading into the event (Monte Carlo and Rome finals)
Nadal won 125 points, Djokovic 116
Serve Stats
Nadal...
- 1st serve percentage (73/118) 62%
- 1st serve points won (45/73) 62%
- 2nd serve points won (24/45) 53%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (21/118) 18%
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (73/123) 54%
- 1st serve points won (45/73) 62%
- 2nd serve points won (22/50) 44%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (16/123) 13%
Serve Pattern
Nadal served...
- to FH 29%
- to BH 66%
- to Body 5%
Djokovic served...
- to FH 43%
- to BH 57%
Return Stats
Nadal made...
- 103 (50 FH, 53 BH), including 9 runaround FHs
- 13 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (4 FH), including 1 runaround FH
- 9 Forced (4 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (103/119) 87%
Djokovic made...
- 93 (31 FH, 62 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 3 Winners (1 FH, 2 BH)
- 17 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (6 FH, 3 BH)
- 8 Forced (8 BH)
- Return Rate (93/114) 82%
Break Points
Nadal 9/17 (9 games)
Djokovic 7/10 (9 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Nadal 30 (22 FH, 4 BH, 1 FHV, 3 OH)
Djokovic 36 (19 FH, 10 BH, 2 FHV, 3 BHV, 2 OH)
Nadal's FHs - 2 cc, 1 cc/longline pass (off an OH), 4 dtl (2 passes), 8 inside-out, 5 inside-in and 2 drop shots
- BHs - 3 cc (2 passes) and 1 drop shot
- the FHV was a swinging shot and 1 OH was on the bounce
Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc (1 at net), 1 cc/inside-in, 2 dtl (1 return), 9 inside-out, 1 inside-in, 1 longline and 2 lobs
- BHs - 4 cc (1 return, 2 passes), 3 dtl, 1 inside-out return (which took a bad bounce), 1 lob and 1 drop shot
- 1 from a serve-volley point - a first volley FHV
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Nadal 60
- 36 Unforced (22 FH, 14 BH)
- 24 Forced (15 FH, 19 BH)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.2
Djokovic 70
- 57 Unforced (26 FH, 30 BH, 1 BHV)
- 13 Forced (5 FH, 8 BH)… with 2 BH running-down-drop-shots at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.5
(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 an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented for these two matches are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Nadal was...
- 5/12 (42%) at net, with...
- 0/2 forced back
Djokovic was...
- 18/26 (69%) at net, including...
- 2/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves
Match Report
A good, if patchy match with one or the other player having off periods. Its a baseline match and Djokovic is the more proactive player, though less so than many of the pair's other encounters. Nadal steps up to command play, almost always with his FH, regularly too. Conditions are tough with rain making it tricky at best and problematic beyond that
Rain, Conditions & Sportsmanship
The match is played over two days because of rain and its ironic that it ends in bright sunshine, which appears about 10 minutes before the finish. About 95% of the match had taken place in overcast conditions and about 50%, during light rain/drizzle
When plays is called off with Djokovic a break up in the fourth set and Nadal just broken a run of 8 straight games lost, Nadal is complaining about the court. Its been drizzling throughout Djoko's run of games and how heavy conditions have become becomes evident on resumption; Play looks like a hard court compared to what it had been when it was called off. Both players were moving with extra care and even Nadal was tentative with his sliding. Ball comes off the court slower than normal and without much spin
Conditions hadn't changed much (probably at all) over the last hour. There were no complaints when Nadal was leading 2-0 at the start of the third. This is understandable. If he's winning and looks like he can finish the match that evening, why stop playing? From Djokovic's point of view, the heavier conditions would be in his relative favour
Commentators suggest that play wasn't called off earlier due to the possibility of the match being finished in three sets. Whatever the reasons and however convenient the timing of Nadal's complaints, conditions were sub-par enough to have halted play long before it was, probably at the end of the second set
The match is played with good sportsmanship. Both players make calls against themselves multiple times. Unprompted and with Djokovic ready to serve a second serve, Nadal checks the mark of the supposedly missed first serve and calls it in. Djokovic concedes a point where Nadal had hit a winner of a ball erroneously called out rather than play a let
Serve & Return
Nadal's return is the standout shot here
Uber-consistent returning is part of the Nadal package (especially on clay), but he's outdone himself returning 87% of Djoko's serves. Furthermore, in keeping with changes to his game this year, he's returning quite deep. With a return rate that high, you'd expect to see a fair few weak, short returns that Djoko can wade into. Not too many of them is what you actually see
While giving bulk of credit to Nadal's returning, Djoko's serve isn't great either. With Nadal standing so far back, there's scope to move him out of position with well placed serves. Djoko doesn't do much of it... its not a particularly strong point of his serving. Even power seems to be a bit down (just 3 aces) and for that, serving at 59% is on the low side. Note also the bad timing of double faults - 3 come on break points, including match point
Nadal by contrast serves quite strongly, and would have realized the need to against the strong Djoko returner. In the previous years final against Roger Federer, he'd all but rolled in first serves. Here, he bangs them down hard. According to commentary, he'd been broken once in his run to the finals
The distribution of serves is interesting. Maybe a gamble? By this date, Nadal would have been familiar with Djoko enough to know the FH return is more error prone than the BH. He'd served majority to FH at both Monte Carlo and Rome leading into the French
But here, he's gone 66% to BH and 29% to FH. Doesn't seem to have made much difference - he draws 6 FH errors to 11 BHs, about in proportion to how he served. Djoko's return winners are also in about the same proportion - 1 FH, 2 BHs
A strangely comforting part of serving to Djokovic is there's not much need to agonise over such things. He's about as good of either side
Note coincidental identical first serve points won of 45/73 @ 62%
It was Nadal's record breaking 7th French Open title. Djokovic had been going for a non-calendar year Grand Slam. It was the pair's 4th successive Slam final (Djokovic had won the previous 3). Nadal had won both of the pair's matches on clay leading into the event (Monte Carlo and Rome finals)
Nadal won 125 points, Djokovic 116
Serve Stats
Nadal...
- 1st serve percentage (73/118) 62%
- 1st serve points won (45/73) 62%
- 2nd serve points won (24/45) 53%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (21/118) 18%
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (73/123) 54%
- 1st serve points won (45/73) 62%
- 2nd serve points won (22/50) 44%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (16/123) 13%
Serve Pattern
Nadal served...
- to FH 29%
- to BH 66%
- to Body 5%
Djokovic served...
- to FH 43%
- to BH 57%
Return Stats
Nadal made...
- 103 (50 FH, 53 BH), including 9 runaround FHs
- 13 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (4 FH), including 1 runaround FH
- 9 Forced (4 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (103/119) 87%
Djokovic made...
- 93 (31 FH, 62 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 3 Winners (1 FH, 2 BH)
- 17 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (6 FH, 3 BH)
- 8 Forced (8 BH)
- Return Rate (93/114) 82%
Break Points
Nadal 9/17 (9 games)
Djokovic 7/10 (9 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Nadal 30 (22 FH, 4 BH, 1 FHV, 3 OH)
Djokovic 36 (19 FH, 10 BH, 2 FHV, 3 BHV, 2 OH)
Nadal's FHs - 2 cc, 1 cc/longline pass (off an OH), 4 dtl (2 passes), 8 inside-out, 5 inside-in and 2 drop shots
- BHs - 3 cc (2 passes) and 1 drop shot
- the FHV was a swinging shot and 1 OH was on the bounce
Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc (1 at net), 1 cc/inside-in, 2 dtl (1 return), 9 inside-out, 1 inside-in, 1 longline and 2 lobs
- BHs - 4 cc (1 return, 2 passes), 3 dtl, 1 inside-out return (which took a bad bounce), 1 lob and 1 drop shot
- 1 from a serve-volley point - a first volley FHV
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Nadal 60
- 36 Unforced (22 FH, 14 BH)
- 24 Forced (15 FH, 19 BH)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.2
Djokovic 70
- 57 Unforced (26 FH, 30 BH, 1 BHV)
- 13 Forced (5 FH, 8 BH)… with 2 BH running-down-drop-shots at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.5
(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 an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented for these two matches are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Nadal was...
- 5/12 (42%) at net, with...
- 0/2 forced back
Djokovic was...
- 18/26 (69%) at net, including...
- 2/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves
Match Report
A good, if patchy match with one or the other player having off periods. Its a baseline match and Djokovic is the more proactive player, though less so than many of the pair's other encounters. Nadal steps up to command play, almost always with his FH, regularly too. Conditions are tough with rain making it tricky at best and problematic beyond that
Rain, Conditions & Sportsmanship
The match is played over two days because of rain and its ironic that it ends in bright sunshine, which appears about 10 minutes before the finish. About 95% of the match had taken place in overcast conditions and about 50%, during light rain/drizzle
When plays is called off with Djokovic a break up in the fourth set and Nadal just broken a run of 8 straight games lost, Nadal is complaining about the court. Its been drizzling throughout Djoko's run of games and how heavy conditions have become becomes evident on resumption; Play looks like a hard court compared to what it had been when it was called off. Both players were moving with extra care and even Nadal was tentative with his sliding. Ball comes off the court slower than normal and without much spin
Conditions hadn't changed much (probably at all) over the last hour. There were no complaints when Nadal was leading 2-0 at the start of the third. This is understandable. If he's winning and looks like he can finish the match that evening, why stop playing? From Djokovic's point of view, the heavier conditions would be in his relative favour
Commentators suggest that play wasn't called off earlier due to the possibility of the match being finished in three sets. Whatever the reasons and however convenient the timing of Nadal's complaints, conditions were sub-par enough to have halted play long before it was, probably at the end of the second set
The match is played with good sportsmanship. Both players make calls against themselves multiple times. Unprompted and with Djokovic ready to serve a second serve, Nadal checks the mark of the supposedly missed first serve and calls it in. Djokovic concedes a point where Nadal had hit a winner of a ball erroneously called out rather than play a let
Serve & Return
Nadal's return is the standout shot here
Uber-consistent returning is part of the Nadal package (especially on clay), but he's outdone himself returning 87% of Djoko's serves. Furthermore, in keeping with changes to his game this year, he's returning quite deep. With a return rate that high, you'd expect to see a fair few weak, short returns that Djoko can wade into. Not too many of them is what you actually see
While giving bulk of credit to Nadal's returning, Djoko's serve isn't great either. With Nadal standing so far back, there's scope to move him out of position with well placed serves. Djoko doesn't do much of it... its not a particularly strong point of his serving. Even power seems to be a bit down (just 3 aces) and for that, serving at 59% is on the low side. Note also the bad timing of double faults - 3 come on break points, including match point
Nadal by contrast serves quite strongly, and would have realized the need to against the strong Djoko returner. In the previous years final against Roger Federer, he'd all but rolled in first serves. Here, he bangs them down hard. According to commentary, he'd been broken once in his run to the finals
The distribution of serves is interesting. Maybe a gamble? By this date, Nadal would have been familiar with Djoko enough to know the FH return is more error prone than the BH. He'd served majority to FH at both Monte Carlo and Rome leading into the French
But here, he's gone 66% to BH and 29% to FH. Doesn't seem to have made much difference - he draws 6 FH errors to 11 BHs, about in proportion to how he served. Djoko's return winners are also in about the same proportion - 1 FH, 2 BHs
A strangely comforting part of serving to Djokovic is there's not much need to agonise over such things. He's about as good of either side
Note coincidental identical first serve points won of 45/73 @ 62%
Last edited: