Rafael Nadal beat Stan Wawrinka 6-2, 6-4 in the Madrid final, 2013 on clay
It was Nadal's 2nd title in the clay Madrid tournament. He'd also won on indoor hard courts in 2005. Wawrinka was seeded 15th and playing his 2nd Masters final. The two would go onto contest the next Australian Open final with Wawrinka winning
Nadal won 59 points, Wawrinka 39
Serve Stats
Nadal...
- 1st serve percentage (29/44) 66%
- 1st serve points won (26/29) 90%
- 2nd serve points won (11/15) 73%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (13/44) 30%
Wawrinka...
- 1st serve percentage (33/54) 61%
- 1st serve points won (22/33) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (10/21) 48%
- Aces 5
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (10/54) 19%
Serve Patterns
Nadal served...
- to FH 30%
- to BH 58%
- to Body 12%
Wawrinka served...
- to FH 38%
- to BH 62%
Return Stats
Nadal made...
- 40 (11 FH, 29 BH)
- 5 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 3 Forced (3 FH)
- Return Rate (40/50) 80%
Wawrinka made...
- 30 (13 FH, 17 BH), including 4 runaround FHs
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (3 FH, 1 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 6 Forced (6 BH)
- Return Rate (30/43) 70%
Break Points
Nadal 3/11 (4 games)
Wawrinka 0
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Nadal 13 (9 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 1 OH)
Wawrinka 10 (6 FH, 1 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)
Nadal's FHs - 3 cc (1 pass), 2 dtl, 3 inside-out and 1 inside-in
- BH passes - 2 cc
- the OH was on the bounce from the baseline
Wawrinka's FHs - 2 dtl, 2 inside-out and 2 inside-in
- BH - 1 cc
- 1 from a serve-volley point, a first volley FHV
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Nadal 18
- 13 Unforced (9 FH, 4 BH)
- 5 Forced (5 FH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 43.1
Wawrinka 29
- 20 Unforced (8 FH, 10 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 9 Forced (3 FH, 5 BH, 1 OH)... with BH running-down-drop-shot at net & the OH was a flagrantly forced baseline shot on the bounce against an at net smash by Nadal
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.5
(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 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...
- 6/6 (100%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 2nd serve
- 1/1 forced back
Wawrinka was...
- 4/10 (40%) at net, including...
- 2/5 (40%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
Match Report
Fast start by Nadal and slow start by Wawrinka decides first set and Wawrinka donates the only break in the second in an un-clay like match
Conditions are quick, more like a hard court then clay. And not necessarily a slow hard court either. Hefty (not powerful) and just slightly wide serves aren't easy to cope with. Hard hit balls that are just a bit wide rush both players. Both players indulge in high quality FH shotmaking, and there's high reward for such play. Neither player is able to defend particularly well - nor is there obvious scope to do so. This isn't the type of court where your likely to see a player, even Nadal, make running get after running defensive get
The match is best understood in that context, where a break is more critical than is usually the case on clay. 1 break and a player can likely rest easy on return and just look to keep holding serve to take sets
Nadal's fast out of the blocks (and Stan's the opposite) to go up 4-0. Thereafter, play is about even.
The 2 break early burst is of course good enough to see out the set. And in second set, Stan throws out a horror game, including back to back double faults from 15-30 down, in middle of set to give up the break... game, set, match Nadal
Unusual numbers include Nadal winning 90% first serve points, having 30% unreturned serves and winning 100% net points
Nadal's UEFI of 43.1 is exceptionally low. The combined 15 FH winners (Nadal 9, Stan 6) is on high side
Stand out points of play include Stan having little read on return, while Nadal does a particularly good job on the second shot. The FH shot making of both players. Stan's 20 UEs looks bad, but that's confined to small portion of match and not as significant as it would usually be in a typical clay match
Just hefty serving from Nadal, rarely too wide. Stan though, is unduly incapable of handling it, even making allowance for quick conditions. He returns from quite far back and is thus dragged particularly wide. Doesn't move swiftly, and is left to late slice returns. Doesn't seem to read the serve at all, and is slow to react to minority 30% serves to his FH and is jammed by average paced, body-ish serves
Its not easy court to return on, but a little blackmark against Stan's returning. More so then a check for Nadal's serve, which is just solidly normal.
By contrast, Stan has a big, damaging serve and throws out some powerful seconds too. 80% return rate against it even on a normal, slow clay court would be a good outcome for returner. Nadal manages that here. He doesn't return from full-on backward position and returns deep, whether looping ball back or hitting firmly. Stan's got 5 aces and Nadal has same number of return errors... usually a sign of very consistent returning, and this is no exception. Good job by Nadal to get himself into rallies
From baseline, there is scope to play effective clay court tennis as surface is highly receptive to top spin. When Nadal loops the with heavy spin, it climbs up high. He doesn't do it too much, preferring to hit firmly or go in for FH shot making, but whenever he does, the height causes problems for Stan, especially on the BH and particularly since Nadal's able to loop the ball deep
Nadal could probably bleed Stan out with heavy top spun, deep-ish balls, but chooses to go a different way. He plays sturdy FH cc's (not overly looped), draws weak BH replies and utilizes that to move Stan about a bit.
It doesn't take much to get an error out of Stan. He's got 18 groundstroke UEs, small number of them on the move and 9 FEs, that are mild in nature. Getting Stan moving a bit is likely to get errors and Nadal is able to do so. Throw in thrashing FH winners against particularly weak rejoinders. 9 FH winners from Nadal and in all directions - 2 cc, 2 dtl, 3 inside-out, 1 inside-in
After a slow start, Stan settles into thrashing powerful FHs too. He has a go with BH too, but isn't too effective and Nadal's able to defend when Stan gets the cc off cleanly and wide. 6, impressive FH winners from Stan. He also takes to coming to net. There are 5 serve-volleys. While looking good at net, and putting away a couple of pretty volley winners, he also misses a couple easy ones and Nadal as ever, is impressive on the pass and strikes 3 winners from defensive positions
Nadal with a surprise, 2nd serve volley too. He has to make 2 self-preservation volleys against slammed passes right at him before Stan hits the ball out. Nadal celebrates intensely
All that's in context of conditions being quick enough that match is '1 break will do' type deal. Nadal doesn't face break point at all. The initial burst (Nadal quick out of the block, Stan a bit slow) sees to first set and Stan gifts Nadal a break in the second set
Most everything else is server dominating. Nadal does it via -
- unreturned serves (healthy serving, but some discredit to Stan's returning)
- and bossing Stan around from the back (troubling him with deep, high rising balls, moving him around and thrashing winners of the FH)
Stan does it by
- powerful serves that draw not strong returns regularly enough
- thrashing groundstrokes, especially FHs
Summing up, unusual match for clay with conditions quick enough to favour server to unexpected extent. Nadal serves solidly, does well returning deep against a very good serve and bosses rallies from the back or hangs in best he can on return games. Wawrinka is denied cheap service points, is fairly loose of the ground, his BH is ineffective and apt to be bullied (Nadal prefers moving him around instead) and also makes hay attacking with the FH. Not a good showing from Wawrinka, but its enough to see him hold regularly enough
A dashing start from Nadal + a slow one from Wawrinka (more the former) decides first set and a horror service games does for the second
Stats for pair's '14 Australian Open final - (4) Match Stats/Report - Nadal vs Wawrinka, French Open final, 2017 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)
It was Nadal's 2nd title in the clay Madrid tournament. He'd also won on indoor hard courts in 2005. Wawrinka was seeded 15th and playing his 2nd Masters final. The two would go onto contest the next Australian Open final with Wawrinka winning
Nadal won 59 points, Wawrinka 39
Serve Stats
Nadal...
- 1st serve percentage (29/44) 66%
- 1st serve points won (26/29) 90%
- 2nd serve points won (11/15) 73%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (13/44) 30%
Wawrinka...
- 1st serve percentage (33/54) 61%
- 1st serve points won (22/33) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (10/21) 48%
- Aces 5
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (10/54) 19%
Serve Patterns
Nadal served...
- to FH 30%
- to BH 58%
- to Body 12%
Wawrinka served...
- to FH 38%
- to BH 62%
Return Stats
Nadal made...
- 40 (11 FH, 29 BH)
- 5 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 3 Forced (3 FH)
- Return Rate (40/50) 80%
Wawrinka made...
- 30 (13 FH, 17 BH), including 4 runaround FHs
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (3 FH, 1 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 6 Forced (6 BH)
- Return Rate (30/43) 70%
Break Points
Nadal 3/11 (4 games)
Wawrinka 0
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Nadal 13 (9 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 1 OH)
Wawrinka 10 (6 FH, 1 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)
Nadal's FHs - 3 cc (1 pass), 2 dtl, 3 inside-out and 1 inside-in
- BH passes - 2 cc
- the OH was on the bounce from the baseline
Wawrinka's FHs - 2 dtl, 2 inside-out and 2 inside-in
- BH - 1 cc
- 1 from a serve-volley point, a first volley FHV
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Nadal 18
- 13 Unforced (9 FH, 4 BH)
- 5 Forced (5 FH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 43.1
Wawrinka 29
- 20 Unforced (8 FH, 10 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 9 Forced (3 FH, 5 BH, 1 OH)... with BH running-down-drop-shot at net & the OH was a flagrantly forced baseline shot on the bounce against an at net smash by Nadal
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.5
(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 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...
- 6/6 (100%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 2nd serve
- 1/1 forced back
Wawrinka was...
- 4/10 (40%) at net, including...
- 2/5 (40%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
Match Report
Fast start by Nadal and slow start by Wawrinka decides first set and Wawrinka donates the only break in the second in an un-clay like match
Conditions are quick, more like a hard court then clay. And not necessarily a slow hard court either. Hefty (not powerful) and just slightly wide serves aren't easy to cope with. Hard hit balls that are just a bit wide rush both players. Both players indulge in high quality FH shotmaking, and there's high reward for such play. Neither player is able to defend particularly well - nor is there obvious scope to do so. This isn't the type of court where your likely to see a player, even Nadal, make running get after running defensive get
The match is best understood in that context, where a break is more critical than is usually the case on clay. 1 break and a player can likely rest easy on return and just look to keep holding serve to take sets
Nadal's fast out of the blocks (and Stan's the opposite) to go up 4-0. Thereafter, play is about even.
The 2 break early burst is of course good enough to see out the set. And in second set, Stan throws out a horror game, including back to back double faults from 15-30 down, in middle of set to give up the break... game, set, match Nadal
Unusual numbers include Nadal winning 90% first serve points, having 30% unreturned serves and winning 100% net points
Nadal's UEFI of 43.1 is exceptionally low. The combined 15 FH winners (Nadal 9, Stan 6) is on high side
Stand out points of play include Stan having little read on return, while Nadal does a particularly good job on the second shot. The FH shot making of both players. Stan's 20 UEs looks bad, but that's confined to small portion of match and not as significant as it would usually be in a typical clay match
Just hefty serving from Nadal, rarely too wide. Stan though, is unduly incapable of handling it, even making allowance for quick conditions. He returns from quite far back and is thus dragged particularly wide. Doesn't move swiftly, and is left to late slice returns. Doesn't seem to read the serve at all, and is slow to react to minority 30% serves to his FH and is jammed by average paced, body-ish serves
Its not easy court to return on, but a little blackmark against Stan's returning. More so then a check for Nadal's serve, which is just solidly normal.
By contrast, Stan has a big, damaging serve and throws out some powerful seconds too. 80% return rate against it even on a normal, slow clay court would be a good outcome for returner. Nadal manages that here. He doesn't return from full-on backward position and returns deep, whether looping ball back or hitting firmly. Stan's got 5 aces and Nadal has same number of return errors... usually a sign of very consistent returning, and this is no exception. Good job by Nadal to get himself into rallies
From baseline, there is scope to play effective clay court tennis as surface is highly receptive to top spin. When Nadal loops the with heavy spin, it climbs up high. He doesn't do it too much, preferring to hit firmly or go in for FH shot making, but whenever he does, the height causes problems for Stan, especially on the BH and particularly since Nadal's able to loop the ball deep
Nadal could probably bleed Stan out with heavy top spun, deep-ish balls, but chooses to go a different way. He plays sturdy FH cc's (not overly looped), draws weak BH replies and utilizes that to move Stan about a bit.
It doesn't take much to get an error out of Stan. He's got 18 groundstroke UEs, small number of them on the move and 9 FEs, that are mild in nature. Getting Stan moving a bit is likely to get errors and Nadal is able to do so. Throw in thrashing FH winners against particularly weak rejoinders. 9 FH winners from Nadal and in all directions - 2 cc, 2 dtl, 3 inside-out, 1 inside-in
After a slow start, Stan settles into thrashing powerful FHs too. He has a go with BH too, but isn't too effective and Nadal's able to defend when Stan gets the cc off cleanly and wide. 6, impressive FH winners from Stan. He also takes to coming to net. There are 5 serve-volleys. While looking good at net, and putting away a couple of pretty volley winners, he also misses a couple easy ones and Nadal as ever, is impressive on the pass and strikes 3 winners from defensive positions
Nadal with a surprise, 2nd serve volley too. He has to make 2 self-preservation volleys against slammed passes right at him before Stan hits the ball out. Nadal celebrates intensely
All that's in context of conditions being quick enough that match is '1 break will do' type deal. Nadal doesn't face break point at all. The initial burst (Nadal quick out of the block, Stan a bit slow) sees to first set and Stan gifts Nadal a break in the second set
Most everything else is server dominating. Nadal does it via -
- unreturned serves (healthy serving, but some discredit to Stan's returning)
- and bossing Stan around from the back (troubling him with deep, high rising balls, moving him around and thrashing winners of the FH)
Stan does it by
- powerful serves that draw not strong returns regularly enough
- thrashing groundstrokes, especially FHs
Summing up, unusual match for clay with conditions quick enough to favour server to unexpected extent. Nadal serves solidly, does well returning deep against a very good serve and bosses rallies from the back or hangs in best he can on return games. Wawrinka is denied cheap service points, is fairly loose of the ground, his BH is ineffective and apt to be bullied (Nadal prefers moving him around instead) and also makes hay attacking with the FH. Not a good showing from Wawrinka, but its enough to see him hold regularly enough
A dashing start from Nadal + a slow one from Wawrinka (more the former) decides first set and a horror service games does for the second
Stats for pair's '14 Australian Open final - (4) Match Stats/Report - Nadal vs Wawrinka, French Open final, 2017 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)
