Match Stats/Report - Tsitsipas vs Nadal, Madrid semi-final, 2019

[Waspsting]

Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Rafael Nadal 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in the Madrid semi-final, 2019 on clay

Tsitsipas would go onto lose the final to Novak Djokovic. This was his first win over Nadal, who would go onto win the French Open shortly afterwards

Tsitsipas won 87 points, Nadal 93

Serve Stats
Tsitsipas...
- 1st serve percentage (60/86) 70%
- 1st serve points won (34/60) 57%
- 2nd serve points won (11/26) 42%
- Aces 5
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (10/86) 12%

Nadal....
- 1st serve percentage (69/94) 73%
- 1st serve points won (41/69) 59%
- 2nd serve points won (11/25) 44%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (13/94) 14%

Serve Patterns
Tsitsipas served...
- to FH 33%
- to BH 64%
- to Body 4%

Nadal served...
- to FH 25%
- to BH 73%
- to Body 2%

Return Stats
Tsitsipas made...
- 80 (32 FH, 48 BH), including 13 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 10 Unforced (3 FH, 7 BH)
- 2 Forced (2 FH)
- Return Rate (80/93) 86%

Nadal made...
- 75 (31 FH, 44 BH), including 6 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 5 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (1 FH, 2 BH)
- 2 Forced (2 BH)
- Return Rate (75/85) 88%

Break Points
Tsitsipas 6/14 (8 games)
Nadal 5/16 (9 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Tsitsipas 27 (12 FH, 3 BH, 6 FHV, 3 BHV, 3 OH)
Nadal 28 (10 FH, 6 BH, 3 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 2 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 5 OH)

Tsitsipas' FHs - 3 cc (1 pass at net), 4 dtl (1 at net), 3 inside-out (1 return), 1 inside-out/longline, 1 inside-in
- BHs - 3 cc (1 slice, 1 pass)

- 3 from serve-volley points (3 FHV), all first volleys

- 1 other FHV was a swinging, non-net shot

Nadal's FHs - 2 dtl (1 pass), 4 inside-out, 1 inside-in, 1 inside-in/cc, 1 drop shot, 1 net chord dribbler
- BHs - 4 cc (1 return pass), 1 dtl, 1 longline (where Tsitsipas stopped playing, thinking previous ball had been out)

- 1 FHV can reasonably be called an OH

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Tsitsipas 51
- 41 Unforced (27 FH, 11 BH, 1 FHV, 2 OH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net & 1 non-net OH
- 10 Forced (6 FH, 3 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.6

Nadal 49
- 34 Unforced (18 FH, 13 BH, 3 BHV)
- 15 Forced (6 FH, 8 BH, 1 Tweener)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.8

(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
Tsitsipas was...
- 21/30 (70%) at net, including...
- 6/9 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 6/8 (75%) off 1st serve and...
- 0/1 off 2nd serve
---
- 0/1 forced back

Nadal was...
- 17/23 (74%) at net, including...
- 1/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves
---
- 0/1 forced back

Match Report
One of the weirdest matches I’ve seen. Sets 1 & 3 that Tsitsipas wins are choppy, up and down affairs, with plenty of sloppiness, but just enough good play to keep things engaging. And competitive, and in all, fun stuff. Sandwiched in between is an almost perfect set of tennis from Nadal, which makes his contribution to the choppy/sloppy seem all the more odd

And renders match long stats, if not meaningless, certainly needing a lot of explanation

Because of said flawless set by Nadal - he loses 1 service point in 4 games, while breaking twice - Nadal ends up leading in almost every match long stat

Nadal leads -
- 1st serve in by 3%
- 1st serve won by 2%
- 2nd serve won by 2%
- unreturned serves by 2% (return rate by same margin)
- Winners by 1
- UEs by 7
- net points winning rate by 4%

Tsis leads errors forced by 5. And that’s it (he also leads aces, but more importantly, trails unreturned rate)

I can’t think of a match where the loser ends up leading in so many areas. Its obviously very rare to lose a match while leading 1st serve in, 1st serve won and 2nd serve won but even in those blue moon cases, loser wouldn’t lead freebies, winners and UEs too

Compartmentalized, its not that strange. While Tsis is choppy throughout, Nadal is only so 2/3 of the time and perfect for the remainder. Tsis being a little less choppy for the 2/3s that both players are sees him take 2 sets… and Nadal’s 1/3 top drawer play elevates his overall stats to extent outlined (while Tsis is just as choppy as other times)

You could say Tsis plays a steady level, Nadal doesn’t. Said steady level not being particularly good, but better than Nadal’s majority lower still. The outlier is Nadal’s flawless phase, which is as neatly divided as can be. Soon as bell rings for second set, he’s flawless. Soon as bell rings for third, he’s back to choppy/sloppy. 0 overlap or slippage of high phase into the chop-slop

Serve & Return
Tsis with a big serve, Nadal average. The returning better than the serving and both returning well. Adjusting for expectations, Tsis’ return is the standout shot

Some huge serves for Tsis and he could expect weak returns and good lo of freebies with it, even on clay. Nadal though does what he does on the return and gets everything back, not much of it weakly

5 aces from Tsis and they have to be perfectly placed on top of powerful to get through. Other than that, draws just 5 return errors. Normal stuff for Nadal, great for anybody else. Serve like Tsis’ with luck could draw 25-30% freebies. On same court, Dominic Thiem and Roger Federer drew 35% and 40% respectively - and neither served better than Tsis does here. The joys of serving to Nadal

Nadal’s serve is average and placed in swing zone. Tsis returns at excellent 86% return rate and gets fair few nice and deep, and more still, deep-ish that Nadal can’t get too stuck into

Big part of sloppy play from Nadal lies in missing third ball groundies. Some credit for that to Tsis’ return

Return errors - Tsis 12, Nadal 5

This is more pointing to the ridiculous standard Nadal has set. Tsis returns well and its major reason he wins. Just a few errors (10 of them are UEs) due to law of averages, ‘you can’t make ‘em all’
And even then, he’s only about half as consistent as Nadal, whose facing a much bigger serve. Both with 2 FEs - Tsis because he barely faces a forceful serve, Nadal because he makes all the tough returns

Choppy Play - Sets 1 & 3
The first and last set. Action is strangely appealing

Both players play cc shots and both rallies are balanced. In context of match-up and expectations, Tsis’ BH holding up to Nadal’s FH is most important part of that

Tsis BH with match low 11 UEs (Nadal’s has 13, the FHs considerably more). Not just holding up, but not getting pushed around either. Not many weak balls coming out of Tsis BH against the heavy Nadal FH

Both players play back-away FH inside-outs to the others FH. Tsis’ lead shot is flatter, more powerful and draws weaker balls

The beauty of these sets is in the make-up of the large lot of UEs. There’s sloppiness and plenty of missed third ball groundies. Routine shots, just bad play. Nadal with more of that
There’s long, probing rallies. Grinds. That one would expect Nadal to get better off. If he does, its not by much (related to Tsis BH holding up). Rallies like this often end with UEs, but its good play

Neutral UEs - Tsis 21, Nadal 20… with more of Nadal’s being third ball routine shots (i.e. not part of the grinding rallies), that means Nadal wins bulk of the grindy ones, but that’s twisted by second set. Grindy rallies turn out about even - a win for Tsis and he does well to hold up with the master hit-1-more-ball-than-opponent

 

[Waspsting]

And the funniest part of these 2 sets. Despite all the errors, including the sloppy ones, there’s at least a point or 2 in virtually every game that’s aggressive and ends with great shots. No game stands out as horrendous, though most are dominated by UEs

Gist - some sloppy errors in short rallies - Nadal with more of them (small credit to Tsis return for hand in it)
- good, grinding rallies that last for awhile… Tsis holding even in them, with his BH staying steady

Nadal’s Flawless Play - Set 2
In between chops is Nadal barely putting a foot, hand or ball wrong in the second set. He indulges in moving Tsis side to side

Does it amusingly. Its almost as if he’s decided which wing he’ll use to do it for a given point. 1 point FH cc and inside-out combos, next point, BH cc and longline combos… rarely mixing FHs and BHs

Nadal’s movements are on slow side and he probably wouldn’t be able to take Tsis in a running game, but his shots are good enough that Tsis just plays them back down the middle on the move, before Nadal hits the next 1 the opposite way

Other points related to aggressive play (not necessarily from Set 2)

Both players very successful at net - Tsis winning 72% of his 29 approaches, Nadal 74% of his 23
Just rallying to net, 2 with almost identical figures - Tsis 15/21, Nadal 16/21

Tsis’ combo of big FHs and approaches and serve-volley for offence + a BH that holds up is something. FH has match high 12 winners (also, by far match high 18 UEs though), he wins 67% serve-volleying and even better 75% rallying to net. Comes in behind powerful FHs, with good instincts

Nadal mixes grinding play (Tsis at least holds up and maybe even edges these), moving Tsis around (works very well and its Nadal’s BH, taken early and in both directions that stands out) and attacking (as in, going for winners or forcing errors to well hit balls to corners). Tends to go with FH when indulging attacking play. Fair bit of messing up

And while he’s very successful at net, its crucial misses of easy volleys that prove critical in determining the final result

Match Progression
First set doesn’t have the best tennis, but as far as being competitive and keeping viewer on edge of seat, its hard to beat

5/10 games are break. 3 others have break points in them. The other 2 games go to deuce. Both players are prone to missing routine third ball groundies, but there are also good, long rallies. And some fine attacking play and shot-making from both players. Rare is the game that doesn’t have a bit of all of the above in it. Tsis looks to take net, both serve-volleying and rallying forward and does both very well

Match starts with a trade of breaks, with the server Nadal hitting the only winner, a FH dtl pass. Remaining 5 points all end with UEs, 3 of them neutral BHs by Nadal. He breaks back to love in an even poorer game by Tsis, who muffs a smash and a pair of FHs (including a third ball), before missing a difficult, low-ish volley

2 then trade 4 deuce holds, Nadal saving a break point in the first one. Terrible third ball FH inside-out miss from a lined up ball raises the break point, on which Tsis misses a running-down-drop-shot at net shot he was on in good time for

Tsis is down 0-40 at 2-3, missing a couple third ball BHs. Rare Nadal second return miss, and a pass miss that he had a good look at helps Tsis get out of the jam and he goes on to hold with powerful FHs

Then there are 3 breaks on the trot, with Tsis’ 2 being good ones (particularly the first). He lands a series of deep returns and takes charge of rallies from there to finish with 3 winners (FH dtl, FHV and FH cc). He’s broken back in a poor game where he double faults and misses a pair of FHs, with Nadal helping out with a nicely set FHV winner by a BH dtl

Another good game by Tsis to break again, including lobbing Nadal away from net and drawing a tweener error, another deep return (this time wide too) that he utilizes to take charge. On his second break point, he strikes with a FH inside-out return winner to the corner. A fine shot, but it also highlights where Nadal is off. Looks like the kind of ball he’d get back in play, much less not get a racquet on

Of course, the serve-out goes to deuce and Tsis faces break point in it. Muffing another OH and an easy FH inside-out gets him in trouble, with Nadal scoring with a lovely BH1/2V winner too. Big serve help him save break point and beyond that to hold and take the set

Break points for the set - Tsis 3/6 (4 games), Nadal 2/7 (4 games). Tsis escaping 0-40 looks crucial in the outcome, but he’s the one that’s broken in more impressive fashion. The first set he’s won from Nadal on his eight try

In second set, Nadal turns it on to top drawer, and Tsis eases up on serve-volleying and otherwise finding net. Nadal wins all but 1 service point in 4 games, including all 14 first serves. Runs Tsis around from side-to-side - 1 point using FHs, the next BHs, while relying on the FH more for the kill shots. Almost looks like he’s toying with him

Still, Tsis holds his first 2 games without much trouble either, and it takes a very poor miss by Tsis to open himself up to being broken the first time

Serving at 2-3, Tsis sees a Nadal FH pop up off the net chord and land in for a winner that he can’t run down. Surprise second serve-volley works in surprising Nadal, who returns the ball loopily to leave a putaway FHV, which Tsis misses, before Tsis misses a big FH dtl to give up the break

The second break wraps up the set, and this one is better one from Nadal. An explosive BH cc winner from a slightly stretched out position stands out and match is level
11 winners, 4 UEs from Nadal in the set, while running Tsis ragged. Top drawer set from him

Like a switch, he reverts back to first set form. The third is just like the first, with slightly less constant threat of breaking, and Tsis 6-3 win includes a two-break cushion
Just 1/9 games don’t go to deuce or aren’t breaks

In very first game, Nadal starts missing third ball FHs. Tsis isn’t any more convincing in his first hold, where he has to save 2 break points, which he does with an ace and a big FH cc approach shot. Nadal has to save 2 in the game after

Game 4 is a hold to 15 by Tsis (tells you something about the match that that’s worth mentioning), and Nadal’s comfily placed at 40-15 game after to bring some sense of normalcy to proceedings
Instead, he’s broken from there, with Tsis hanging tough in long rallies until Nadal gives up the errors

With Tsis up a break and 3-2, remaining 4 games all have break points in them, with Tsis managing to hold 1 of them. Action is as described earlier - some sloppy errors, some tough ones and some fine attacking play all meshed together

The crucial points feature Nadal missing 2 putaway easy BHVs in different games. He’s broken to go down 2-5 missing the first, after Tsis strikes consecutive BH cc winners (first a pass, the second a wonderful, corner to corner shot)

Some brilliant shots by both players in what turns out to be the last game of the match. Strong BHs from Tsis gets him to 30-30 and after Nadal misses third ball FH inside-out, he’s got break/match point

He needs 4 to close it out. Each of the first 3 are erased by good winners after good, lively rallies - first BH dtl, next a pick-up FH1/2V winner, the third a risky FH drop shot. Then Nadal misses an identical, easy BHV he’d set up perfectly with a FH and this time, Nadal gives up BH error after a medium length rally

Break points for the set - Tsis 3/8 (4 games), Nadal 1/5 (3 games). Nadal serves 44 points in it to Tsis 26 (or Nadal 8.8 per game, Tsis 6.5)

Summing up, one strange match. If the tennis isn’t always great, it is exciting with a break just around every corner. There’s sloppy ground errors in short rallies, there’s tough errors coming out of long rallies and there’s fine attacking points all stewing together game after game after game. Nadal is just a little sloppier to lose two sets where that’s the dynamic

In remaining set sandwiched between, Nadal’s superb in running Tsitsipas all over the court with both FHs and BHs but rarely the two together and waltz’ through it

Mature showing from Tsitsipas, who never hangs his head. His returning is consistent, with fair number of troublingly deep ones and his big serve draws weak returns from time to time, though they almost all come back. Otherwise, steadiness of his BH in standing up to his opponents party trick of breaking down that wing is good and he shows both good net instincts and volleying, with big FHs thrown in

Typical wall-like returning from Nadal, but he gets sloppy with his FH often enough and is quite slow in defence. Early taken BHs is highlight of his showing, and he goes both ways with it, without faltering, unlike the other wing

Stats for final between Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic - Match Stats/Report - Djokovic vs Tsitsipas, Madrid final, 2019 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

 

[AnOctorokForDinner]

Weird match indeed. Good mental showing from Tsitsipas I guess but his level wasn't all that and Djokovic duly exposed him in the final.

 

[MeatTornado]

That match feels like yesterday to me

 

[Sport]

That match feels like yesterday to me

It feels like a match from a decade ago to me. A lot has occurred since then. I guess time perception is subjective.

 

[StrongRule]

Nadal was completely awful during the 2019 clay season before Rome.

 

[Third Serve]

Pretty nice look at a match that I thought was also weird. I think I recall @Red Rick saying some time after the match that Roddick would have had a shot against that Nadal. Whether or not you agree, I guess that about sums up Nadal’s performance here.

 

[Dominic & Andrey]

Back when I genuinely liked Stefanos.

 

[Dominic & Andrey]

It feels like a match from a decade ago to me. A lot has occurred since then. I guess time perception is subjective.

For some unknown reason I vividly remember one morning when I was watching on my cellphone Thiem playing Zverev in the third round of the FO 2016, partly because of the black and white zebra kit from Adidas they were both wearing this tournament I suppose. I can't quite process it being already almost 8 years ago, despite acknowledging and remembering a lot of stuff that happened since. Time perception is a weird and fascinating thing indeed.

 

[Red Rick]

Pretty nice look at a match that I thought was also weird. I think I recall @Red Rick saying some time after the match that Roddick would have had a shot against that Nadal. Whether or not you agree, I guess that about sums up Nadal’s performance here.

That sounds like a hot take I would have said.

Good poster, this 2019 Red Rick fella

 

[nolefam_2024]

Tsitsipas has more weaknesses but he logically dictated with his strengths early on. That is his big serves and forehands.

This match was very interesting to me. And if tsitsipas ends up winning 1 RG, this match would be good anecdote to say he beat God of clay once.

 

[SpinWizard]

Tsitsipas has more weaknesses but he logically dictated with his strengths early on. That is his big serves and forehands.

This match was very interesting to me. And if tsitsipas ends up winning 1 RG, this match would be good anecdote to say he beat God of clay once.

He will be more remembered for choking 2:0 lead to Novak.

 

[nolefam_2024]

He will be more remembered for choking 2:0 lead to Novak.

Yes if he never wins a slam. Otherwise