Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 in the Hamburg semi-final, 2008 on clay under a roof
It was the last year that the event was played as a Masters 1000 event. Nadal would go onto win his first title at the event, beating Roger Federer in the final in a reverse of the previous years final. He had also beaten Andy Murray and Carlos Moya in earlier rounds. Djokovic would go onto win the next Masters event in Rome
Nadal won 104 points, Djokovic 99
Serve Stats
Nadal...
- 1st serve percentage (82/110) 75%
- 1st serve points won (47/82) 57%
- 2nd serve points won (14/28) 50%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (18/110) 16%
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (60/93) 65%
- 1st serve points won (35/60) 58%
- 2nd serve points won (15/33) 45%
- Service Winners 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (12/93) 13%
Serve Pattern
Nadal served...
- to FH 23%
- to BH 72%
- to Body 4%
Djokovic served...
- to FH 37%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 2%
Return Stats
Nadal made...
- 81 (40 FH, 41 BH), including 10 runaround FHs
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 8 Forced (3 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (81/93) 87%
Djokovic made...
- 90 (22 FH, 68 BH), including 4 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH), a runaround FH
- 15 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (2 FH, 3 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 10 Forced (4 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (90/108) 83%
Break Points
Nadal 5/9 (6 games)
Djokovic 4/19 (9 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Nadal 28 (15 FH, 5 BH, 4 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 OH)
Djokovic 29 (10 FH, 5 BH, 4 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 3 BHV, 6 OH)
Nadal's FHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 3 dtl (1 pass), 1 dtl/inside-out pass, 5 inside-out (1 pass), 1 inside-in, 2 lobs and 1 drop shot at net
- BHs - 3 cc passes, 1 cc net-to-net and 1 drop shot at net
- 1 FHV was swinging shot and 1 was played net-to-net
Djokovic's FHs - 6 dtl (1 runaround return), 2 inside-out and 2 inside-in
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 1 dtl net-to-net and 2 drop shots (1 at net)
- 1 first volley FHV from a serve-volley point
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Nadal 56
- 18 Unforced (13 FH, 5 BH)
- 38 Forced (23 FH, 12 BH, 1 FHV, 1 OH, 1 BHOH)… with 2 BH at net. The OH was baseline shot, a flagrantly forced attempt to cope with a smash
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 42.8
Djokovic 58
- 43 Unforced (23 FH, 17 BH, 2 BHV, 1 OH)… with 1 FH at net
- 15 Forced (7 FH, 2 BH, 2 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 2 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)… with 1 FH at net and 1 BH at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.8
(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 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...
- 16/27 (59%) at net, with...
- 1/3 (33%) forced back/retreated
Djokovic was...
- 32/58 (55%) at net, including...
- 4/6 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 3/4 (75%) off 1st serve and...
- 1/2 off 2nd serve
---
- 0/3 forced back/retreated
Match Report
A great match, the pair's best to that point on clay (and probably off it too). Nadal does his usual thing even better than usual, while Djokovic attacks the net while being tough from the baseline. Conditions seem quick for clay with stronger groundstrokes and serves going through so as to rush both players. The match is played under a roof
What is Nadal's "usual thing, even better than usual"?
- makes every return. Return rate of 87% and Djokovic kept to 0 aces. As conditions are fast enough for him to trouble Djoko with his serve (3 aces and some bona fide error forcing serves), you'd expect to Djoko to do the same. He can't because he's not allowed. Everything comes back. More than that, it comes back fairly deep. Not much scope for Djoko to look to finish point with big third ball either, unlike other matches between the two
- doesn't miss a ball. 18 unforced errors in play. Djoko has 23 off FH, 17 off BH and 43 in total. No freebies from Rafa… every point Djoko wins, he has to earn
- defends like the dickens. Djoko plays very well to force 38 errors out of him, and it feels like pulling a stubborn tooth. 2-3 point-ending looking shots needed to get him to miss. For certain very consistent players like Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander and sometimes Ivan Lendl, UEs are so rare that when one happens, I find myself rewinding to double check that everything's on the up and up about a routine miss. For Nadal in this match, it gets to the point that I did the same for obviously forced errors. Running full speed and sliding to reach a ball, if he doesn't put it back in play, it stands out the way a normal high consistent player missing a routine ball does
And Djokovic?
- he comes to net 58 time in the 203 point match or 29% of all points. To put that in perspective, Roger Federer came in 75 times in 353 points or 21% of all points in the '06 Rome final. Once there, he's faced with an avalanche of power passes (that's usual Nadal stuff too, contingent upon his opponent coming in) and while 55% points won doesn't look good, I thought his net play was good given what he was up against. Lots of low volleys, and volleys to dipping balls and reaction volleys and net to net points (sizable chunk of net points involve drop shots that he follows to net)
- toughness from the baseline is dictated by Nadal, who looks to breakdown his BH with a lot of FH cc's. Its a standard play, but one doesn't use against the strong of BH Djokovic too much, preferring instead to move Djoko around. The Nadal FH - Djoko BH rallies mostly go Nadal's way, but Djoko doesn't falter. His 17 BH UEs to 13 FH UEs for Nadal is a rough, but reasonable reflection of how Djoko copes... given its Nadal's principal play, that's an excellent outcome for Djoko. Gives as good as he gets and then some... significant part of Nadal's 23 FH FEs come from Djoko BH cc's (Djoko has just 2 BH FEs)
Note break points figures - Nadal 5/9 (6 games), Djoko 4/19 (9 games). And Nadal serving 17 extra points.
The relatively low first points won (Nadal 57%, Djoko 58%) is also surprising, given court is fairly quick. I would primarily credit Nadal's retuning for keeping Djoko's count down... Djoko not only doesn't win cheap points, but rarely is in a position to take charge of points with third ball. Nadal's serve is quite hard - while he holds back on it much of the time, when he lets go, he's about equal of strength with Djokovic's serve
6 Djoko break points are thwarted by serve (1 ace). Couple of good serves in there, but by far the discredit is mostly Djoko's returning here. Normal returns that he misses, that he's making all through rest of the match
I think its fair to call this a 50-50 match
Playing Dynamics
Its a fairly passive match from Nadal. Generally, he doesn't unduly go in for FH cc to break down BH against Djokovic. As he's forced to (counter) attack with passing shots so much, I suppose he felt he could afford to be passive in baseline rallies, assuming he'd have fancied his chances getting better of Djoko at net
He's also more content than normal staying cosily behind the baseline. Djoko almost always is the one to step up more, but Nadal remains in fall back position more than usual.
Relatively low number of runaround FHs an FH inside-out attacking shots too
As his typical of Nadal, 'passivity' is a relative term. His groundies are exceptionally heavy for regulation shots and tend to rise awkwardly for Djoko to hit regulation ones. And depth is particularly good. The odd short ball is generally common for him, but less so in this match
Djoko exploits Nadal's position with several drop shots. The play usually fails on hard courts (why he keeps at it, I don't know) but seems to be quite effective on clay. Just a couple of winners (1 of them at net), but works to manuver Nadal about. Just 1 winner against a drop shot by Nadal. If you can hit drop shots to Nadal without him running them down and ending points, your doing it well
From baseline, Djoko attacks the Nadal FH with FH inside-outs and BH cc's which is typical, but also FH dtl (which is less so). Its these FH dtl's that are most effective, though Djoko makes a fair few errors on the shot too and something worth persevering with
To attack Nadal's FH.... FH inside-out is standard attacking shot and its impossible not to attack with BH cc (assuming one can hit it well enough, which Djoko can), but FH dtl isn't a given. Nadal doesn't seem to like these dtl change-ups of either side
When confronted by BH longline to his BH, he likes to BH longline back rather than put the ball on right handers FH (at least, when dealing with Djokovic or Federer) with a BH cc. Its his comfort zone - holding steady with BH cc's, while making merry off FH with breakdown cc's or attacking inside-outs and inside-ins. Confronted by longline shots to either wing is where he appears least comfortable and with his tendency to lean on BH side of court, FH longline is the more dangerous for him
It was the last year that the event was played as a Masters 1000 event. Nadal would go onto win his first title at the event, beating Roger Federer in the final in a reverse of the previous years final. He had also beaten Andy Murray and Carlos Moya in earlier rounds. Djokovic would go onto win the next Masters event in Rome
Nadal won 104 points, Djokovic 99
Serve Stats
Nadal...
- 1st serve percentage (82/110) 75%
- 1st serve points won (47/82) 57%
- 2nd serve points won (14/28) 50%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (18/110) 16%
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (60/93) 65%
- 1st serve points won (35/60) 58%
- 2nd serve points won (15/33) 45%
- Service Winners 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (12/93) 13%
Serve Pattern
Nadal served...
- to FH 23%
- to BH 72%
- to Body 4%
Djokovic served...
- to FH 37%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 2%
Return Stats
Nadal made...
- 81 (40 FH, 41 BH), including 10 runaround FHs
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 8 Forced (3 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (81/93) 87%
Djokovic made...
- 90 (22 FH, 68 BH), including 4 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH), a runaround FH
- 15 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (2 FH, 3 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 10 Forced (4 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (90/108) 83%
Break Points
Nadal 5/9 (6 games)
Djokovic 4/19 (9 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Nadal 28 (15 FH, 5 BH, 4 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 OH)
Djokovic 29 (10 FH, 5 BH, 4 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 3 BHV, 6 OH)
Nadal's FHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 3 dtl (1 pass), 1 dtl/inside-out pass, 5 inside-out (1 pass), 1 inside-in, 2 lobs and 1 drop shot at net
- BHs - 3 cc passes, 1 cc net-to-net and 1 drop shot at net
- 1 FHV was swinging shot and 1 was played net-to-net
Djokovic's FHs - 6 dtl (1 runaround return), 2 inside-out and 2 inside-in
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 1 dtl net-to-net and 2 drop shots (1 at net)
- 1 first volley FHV from a serve-volley point
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Nadal 56
- 18 Unforced (13 FH, 5 BH)
- 38 Forced (23 FH, 12 BH, 1 FHV, 1 OH, 1 BHOH)… with 2 BH at net. The OH was baseline shot, a flagrantly forced attempt to cope with a smash
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 42.8
Djokovic 58
- 43 Unforced (23 FH, 17 BH, 2 BHV, 1 OH)… with 1 FH at net
- 15 Forced (7 FH, 2 BH, 2 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 2 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)… with 1 FH at net and 1 BH at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.8
(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 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...
- 16/27 (59%) at net, with...
- 1/3 (33%) forced back/retreated
Djokovic was...
- 32/58 (55%) at net, including...
- 4/6 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 3/4 (75%) off 1st serve and...
- 1/2 off 2nd serve
---
- 0/3 forced back/retreated
Match Report
A great match, the pair's best to that point on clay (and probably off it too). Nadal does his usual thing even better than usual, while Djokovic attacks the net while being tough from the baseline. Conditions seem quick for clay with stronger groundstrokes and serves going through so as to rush both players. The match is played under a roof
What is Nadal's "usual thing, even better than usual"?
- makes every return. Return rate of 87% and Djokovic kept to 0 aces. As conditions are fast enough for him to trouble Djoko with his serve (3 aces and some bona fide error forcing serves), you'd expect to Djoko to do the same. He can't because he's not allowed. Everything comes back. More than that, it comes back fairly deep. Not much scope for Djoko to look to finish point with big third ball either, unlike other matches between the two
- doesn't miss a ball. 18 unforced errors in play. Djoko has 23 off FH, 17 off BH and 43 in total. No freebies from Rafa… every point Djoko wins, he has to earn
- defends like the dickens. Djoko plays very well to force 38 errors out of him, and it feels like pulling a stubborn tooth. 2-3 point-ending looking shots needed to get him to miss. For certain very consistent players like Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander and sometimes Ivan Lendl, UEs are so rare that when one happens, I find myself rewinding to double check that everything's on the up and up about a routine miss. For Nadal in this match, it gets to the point that I did the same for obviously forced errors. Running full speed and sliding to reach a ball, if he doesn't put it back in play, it stands out the way a normal high consistent player missing a routine ball does
And Djokovic?
- he comes to net 58 time in the 203 point match or 29% of all points. To put that in perspective, Roger Federer came in 75 times in 353 points or 21% of all points in the '06 Rome final. Once there, he's faced with an avalanche of power passes (that's usual Nadal stuff too, contingent upon his opponent coming in) and while 55% points won doesn't look good, I thought his net play was good given what he was up against. Lots of low volleys, and volleys to dipping balls and reaction volleys and net to net points (sizable chunk of net points involve drop shots that he follows to net)
- toughness from the baseline is dictated by Nadal, who looks to breakdown his BH with a lot of FH cc's. Its a standard play, but one doesn't use against the strong of BH Djokovic too much, preferring instead to move Djoko around. The Nadal FH - Djoko BH rallies mostly go Nadal's way, but Djoko doesn't falter. His 17 BH UEs to 13 FH UEs for Nadal is a rough, but reasonable reflection of how Djoko copes... given its Nadal's principal play, that's an excellent outcome for Djoko. Gives as good as he gets and then some... significant part of Nadal's 23 FH FEs come from Djoko BH cc's (Djoko has just 2 BH FEs)
Note break points figures - Nadal 5/9 (6 games), Djoko 4/19 (9 games). And Nadal serving 17 extra points.
The relatively low first points won (Nadal 57%, Djoko 58%) is also surprising, given court is fairly quick. I would primarily credit Nadal's retuning for keeping Djoko's count down... Djoko not only doesn't win cheap points, but rarely is in a position to take charge of points with third ball. Nadal's serve is quite hard - while he holds back on it much of the time, when he lets go, he's about equal of strength with Djokovic's serve
6 Djoko break points are thwarted by serve (1 ace). Couple of good serves in there, but by far the discredit is mostly Djoko's returning here. Normal returns that he misses, that he's making all through rest of the match
I think its fair to call this a 50-50 match
Playing Dynamics
Its a fairly passive match from Nadal. Generally, he doesn't unduly go in for FH cc to break down BH against Djokovic. As he's forced to (counter) attack with passing shots so much, I suppose he felt he could afford to be passive in baseline rallies, assuming he'd have fancied his chances getting better of Djoko at net
He's also more content than normal staying cosily behind the baseline. Djoko almost always is the one to step up more, but Nadal remains in fall back position more than usual.
Relatively low number of runaround FHs an FH inside-out attacking shots too
As his typical of Nadal, 'passivity' is a relative term. His groundies are exceptionally heavy for regulation shots and tend to rise awkwardly for Djoko to hit regulation ones. And depth is particularly good. The odd short ball is generally common for him, but less so in this match
Djoko exploits Nadal's position with several drop shots. The play usually fails on hard courts (why he keeps at it, I don't know) but seems to be quite effective on clay. Just a couple of winners (1 of them at net), but works to manuver Nadal about. Just 1 winner against a drop shot by Nadal. If you can hit drop shots to Nadal without him running them down and ending points, your doing it well
From baseline, Djoko attacks the Nadal FH with FH inside-outs and BH cc's which is typical, but also FH dtl (which is less so). Its these FH dtl's that are most effective, though Djoko makes a fair few errors on the shot too and something worth persevering with
To attack Nadal's FH.... FH inside-out is standard attacking shot and its impossible not to attack with BH cc (assuming one can hit it well enough, which Djoko can), but FH dtl isn't a given. Nadal doesn't seem to like these dtl change-ups of either side
When confronted by BH longline to his BH, he likes to BH longline back rather than put the ball on right handers FH (at least, when dealing with Djokovic or Federer) with a BH cc. Its his comfort zone - holding steady with BH cc's, while making merry off FH with breakdown cc's or attacking inside-outs and inside-ins. Confronted by longline shots to either wing is where he appears least comfortable and with his tendency to lean on BH side of court, FH longline is the more dangerous for him
