My analysis of the final: How Federer beat Nadal. What's your take?

eliars

eliars

Hall of Fame
I posted this as a reply, but thought it'd be good to have a whole thread dedicated to analyzing this final in what made Federer beat Nadal for his 18th slam.

So here's my take. I think these were the most important key factors to Federer beating Nadal today:

There were so many key points you could point to from both Fed and Nadal. They both fended off a ton of BPs. So let's look at this from an overall standpoint.

What I saw from Federer today that I think ultimately made him beat Nadal were:

a) His backhand. That backhand today was crucial. I think Fed might have hit his topspin backhand about 85-90 % of the time today (don't know if there's stats to back that up and it'd be interesting to see a comparative metric of this in his former matches vs. Nadal). Both in the rallies but also off the returns. In the rallies Federer managed to take his backhand early and pulled it wide hitting into Nadal's forehand side. He also managed to neutralize the rallies a lot by going down the line in the same vein Dimitrov managed to do it. Federer ended up hitting a lot of backhand winners and that was gold today. That bigger frame definitely aided Federer to be capable of doing this. Remember this is only the second time they play head to head since Federer switched to a bigger racket I believe. As a side note, Nadal couldn't find that first serve from the deuce court to Fed's backhand today. He missed it countless times today. Also played a crucial factor.

b) His patterns of play. Besides the patterns of play with his backhand that I already alluded to, Federer did so well in constructing the points. When Federer wasn't withstanding the FH cc from Nadal, Federer played a lot of topspin forehands to Nadal's backhand side. Djokovic-esque stuff there. When he was in control of the rally, he kept Nadal on the backhand wing an extra time, before eventually extracting the error from Nadal, pressuring Nadal to slice it up high with Fed finishing it at the net or finally going into the open court (the latter didn't happen that often to be honest; the first two outcomes happened most often).
Federer's inside out was also great and it was even more effective today, as you could see Nadal was moving slowlier to his forehand side today, given he probably was feeling the Dimitrov match in his legs. Nadal didn't make those running forehand shots today. He was too late to be in the right positions to hit them.

c) His serve. Federer's first serve was in the mid sixties every single set (apart from the last actually, where it dropped to 52%; Nadal's first serve in the fifth was 85%! - all the more impressive that he won that fifth set)
We all know how much damage Federer can do when he serves well. He did that to Nadal too. Especially come crunch moments which leads to me to fourth key point.

d) Federer's mentality. He did not choke. Well, on his first match point he did. And maybe a few other times. But as a whole, he was rock solid mentally. Just incredible to watch how clutch Federer was. Obviously, considering that's where he often loses to Nadal - in the mental battle. That point that set up BP at 4-3 in the fifth I believe, was just out of this world. You know, the rally where Federer finished with the forehand down the line? Spectacular. This was the paramount question leading into this battle. Would the match up have the same dynamic as a Fedal slam match? It proved not to be the case. Federer was as clutch as Nadal. Even more so given he won. I think Federer's attitude coming into the open with no expectations really helped him. That and the fact that they havn't met in a Slam in three years (and only played one match since that AO SF). Must be amazing for you Fed fans to watch him come through like that.

I think these were the most important key factors to Federer beating Nadal today and taking that #18th slam.
 
Nadal's decline in speed was very clear to see here. He was guessing a lot more than he used to against Federer, and if Federer could hit winners with more margin in a lot of important spots. A decline in speed hurts the defending player the most. Federer made Nadal do the majority of the running.
 
Fed didn't seem to try to end points until he had a decent opening.
He rallied and just got the ball back and seemed comfortable to rally, that way he didn't go for high risk shots too much.
It's discouraging to start missing a lot with high risk shots, just getting the ball back gives some confidence.

Nadal looked thrown off a little as hitting to the backhand didn't work like usual.
 
agree w op.

MENTALITY. that' is whats biggest. he didn't fold. he didn't quit. he bel18ved.
(see what I did there? :P)

but yes, tactically...
backhand was money today. almost looked wawrinka like.
and his inside out backhand was a big weapon. you could see nadal mishit his forhand several times under heavy fire.
 
Nadal needs more free points on his serve to bail him out of tough positions when is down in his service game. He cannot rely on on his ground game as much as in the past anymore.

In the end it was really a close match, it could have gone either way. Federer won the important points in the 5th set.
 
agree w op.

MENTALITY. that' is whats biggest. he didn't fold. he didn't quit. he bel18ved.
(see what I did there?):p

but yes, tactically...
backhand was money today. almost looked wawrinka like.
and his inside out backhand was a big weapon. you could see nadal mishit his forhand several times under heavy fire.
 
agree w op.

MENTALITY. that' is whats biggest. he didn't fold. he didn't quit. he bel18ved.
(see what I did there?):p

but yes, tactically...
backhand was money today. almost looked wawrinka like.
and his inside out backhand was a big weapon. you could see nadal mishit his forhand several times under heavy fire.
 
Aretium said:
It was weird how Fed was doing damage CC with his backhand.

Forehand should be talked about, it won him the 5th set and many key points. HE FLATTENED IT OUT good lord, I haven't seen him flatten it out for ages.
Click to expand...

yea like i stated in another thread. fed turned into wawrinka today. that's how u beat nadal.
topspin backhand for days like he dont give a f#ck. and flattened out that forehand with some punishing poundage a la stanimal.

if i were him i'd take time off, rest the body, skip the clay and the french open and then get ready for Wimbledon. Grass needs to be made faster. i want some serve an volley.
 
He didn't slice and used forehand more than backhand. I think that sums it up. And he served good.
 
Breaking Nadal back at 2-3. That was most amazing. All said and done if you don't do that you can't win. And Fed is really bad at coming back from behind.

He did everything good..Except giving away the break at 4th set. Should have finished in 4 sets
 
Agree with OP.

Overall, I think Fed played great but his serve and FH went AWOL in patches of play. Backhand was good as gold. If he had played at the level he did against Berdych, this would've ended in straight sets.

No mistaking decline in Nadal's speed. SF 5 setter definitely affected him in the 5th set (in my opinion).
 
Agree with OP.

Overall, I think Fed played great but his serve and FH went AWOL in patches of play. Backhand was good as gold. If he had played at the level he did against Berdych, this would've ended in straight sets.

No mistaking decline in Nadal's speed. SF 5 setter definitely affected him in the 5th set (in my opinion).
 
I surely believe Rafa lacked in mental intensity. Federer wanted this win more than him and got it.

Throughout the game Nadal remained very passive. He never looked to take initiative and was always playing catch up game. Fed won first set, Nadal brought himself up to win second. I thought Nadal going to steamroll from there. But instead of going for kill he waited Fed to make mistake. Fed won third easily. Nadal again woke up and ensured he wins fourth. He was not giving any chance to Fed in any of his service games. I distinctly remember Nadal not letting Fed have any sniff to break his serve. He had to catch up with Fed so that can force fifth. He upped the ante.

He again failed to take initiative once he got a break lead in fifth. I remember two cracking forehand DTL from Nadal and both of them came when he was facing break points. Whenever he was facing break point, he had this steely resolve to not let break happen. He played some great shots and winners. But that steely resolve was completely missing on other points. I don't recall any of the rallies where he tried to pull the trigger other than the times where he was facing break point or was behind on his own service games. He was saving break points from stellar ground strokes not through aces like Fed. When he could have fought off those points from Federer, why not others.

In Raonic match, he was so aggressive, standing closer to baseline. He was super aggressive against Dimi in first set as well. But he was passive all over today. Don't remember much of FH DTL, Inside out CC forehands. Hell, not even much of passing shots.

Pretty sad to say the least. But if I was offered Nadal runner up finish at the start of the month, I would have just jumped on that. So overall good start. Just that against Fed it was very much winnable.

Credit to Fed for playing the way he did. He stuck to his strategy which was i'll go for my shots no matter what. He didn't change the strategy when there was deluge of errors coming from his racket. He went for his shots in all conditions and it paid off. He knew the only way he is going to top Nadal by being very aggressive and he did just that.
 
Red Rick said:
Nadal's decline in speed was very clear to see here. He was guessing a lot more than he used to against Federer, and if Federer could hit winners with more margin in a lot of important spots. A decline in speed hurts the defending player the most. Federer made Nadal do the majority of the running.
Click to expand...
I am sure some of that because of that 5 hours long battle he had with Dimi.
 
I wanted to add that Federer was right behind the baseline or even inside most of the match, even on Rafa's second serve return. While Nadal was far, far behind the baseline for most of the match, and especially on serve return, that tells you how powerful Federer was serving and how defensive Nadal was for part of the match.
 
Interesting thing with this was that Federer won the shorter and medium-length rallies, and they were dead even in longer rallies, with each player winning 50% of the 10+ shot rallies:

Roger Federer Rafael Nadal

1-3 shots 150/289 (52%) 139/289 (48%)
4-6 shots 34/66 (52%) 32/66 (48%)
7-9 shots 20/36 (56%) 16/36 (44%)
10+ 12/24 (50%) 12/24 (50%)
 
Krish872007 said:
Interesting thing with this was that Federer won the shorter and medium-length rallies, and they were dead even in longer rallies, with each player winning 50% of the 10+ shot rallies:

Roger Federer Rafael Nadal

1-3 shots 150/289 (52%) 139/289 (48%)
4-6 shots 34/66 (52%) 32/66 (48%)
7-9 shots 20/36 (56%) 16/36 (44%)
10+ 12/24 (50%) 12/24 (50%)
Click to expand...

Really ?
Apart from a couple of special points from fed, what I remember is Rafa winning the longer points.
 
Krish872007 said:
Interesting thing with this was that Federer won the shorter and medium-length rallies, and they were dead even in longer rallies, with each player winning 50% of the 10+ shot rallies:

Roger Federer Rafael Nadal

1-3 shots 150/289 (52%) 139/289 (48%)
4-6 shots 34/66 (52%) 32/66 (48%)
7-9 shots 20/36 (56%) 16/36 (44%)
10+ 12/24 (50%) 12/24 (50%)
Click to expand...

Really ?
Apart from a couple of special points from fed, what I remember is Rafa winning the longer points.
 
Agree with you eliars. Fed's backhand was great throughout the tournament, and clutch serving bailed him out quite a bit. One thing I notice on the backhand, but also on the forehand to some extent was that he was getting great angles and really pulling Nadal off the court instead of trying to hit through him. Nadal is usually the guy doing that to his opponent.

His return game was very good. He only blocked back returns when there was no other option. I think this is a big improvement in his game and part of why he was having good results in the year or so before his injury. Nadal was still able to run around and get some big forehands off Federer's return, but it was harder to do on a regular basis.

He also avoided the kamikaze net approaches that really hurt him against Nadal. He went 29/40. I don't know how that compares to his normal approaches per set or game against Nadal, but it rarely seemed forced. Federer knows he has to be aggressive against Nadal and I think he figured out that doesn't necessarily mean going forward. It might take one or two extra shots against Nadal to get a good opportunity to finish at the net.
 
I think the maybe most crucial was his mindset.

From 1:10
- Says he embraced the fact he is playing Rafa
- No baggage of multiple losses to Rafa in recent months
- Play the ball not the opponent
- Told himself he had to really really fight
- Ivan/Severin says at the end it is mental, not his game, his game is there
- Down a break in the 5th set, says he started to play more clear - only way to win is to play up the court, be offensive, take it early and believe the court will reward that kind of play
- At the end, he went to get victory and it paid off

Also in his presser:

Q. After the semifinal you touched upon the fact that you might have tensed up a little in the final set. How were you able to focus coming from a break down?
ROGER FEDERER: I told myself to play free. That's what we discussed with Ivan and Severin before the matches. You play the ball, you don't play the opponent. Be free in your head, be free in your shots, go for it. The brave will be rewarded here. I didn't want to go down just making shots, seeing forehands rain down on me from Rafa. I think it was the right decision at the right time.

I had opportunities early on in the fifth, as well, to get back on even terms. I could have been left disappointed there and accepted that fact. I kept on fighting. I kept on believing, like I did all match long today, that there was a possibility I could win this match.

I think that's what made me play my best tennis at the very end the match, which was actually surprising to me. I went through a little bit of a lull in the fourth and the beginning of the fifth set.
http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/news/interviews/2017-01-29/roger_federer_290117.html

So i think with this mindset, he didn't play as tentative as he usually does against Rafa (or Novak in the last 3 slam finals for that matter) and allowed him to execute his game plan better. BH was clicking - one of his best efforts on return against Rafa - committed to hugging the baseline and take balls early etc

As for Rafa, the Grigor match definitely hurt his movement this match especially out wide to the FH. Maybe didn't hit his spots that well or served too much at the body which contributed to Roger having a great return day. He was still ridiculously clutch on BPs though, so many good serves or one-two punches down BP.
 
@eliars
kudos for having the mind to write such a great OP at a day, where I suppose you aren't that happy with the result.

Agree very much in general. Backhand and mentality being the two most important key factors.
In general, I believe Federer played really, really well for the majority of the match. But he had a very odd lapse early in the second, where Rafa really didn't do much to get the double break. And then again in the fourth, Fed kind of had a lapse and made a string of errors and suddenly the set was gone.

I was particularly impressed with his fight in the fifth. Going down the early break with two UE + two Rafa winners from the start seemed like a death sentence. When Rafa then saved 8? (I believe it was eight) BP's in his next 3 service games, you could almost see the writing on the wall.

But on his 5th BP in that game, he broke right back (an inside-out Rafa forehand being an inch or two wide iirc) and he was so great in the return games in that 5th set and Rafa was just as marvelous finding yet another and yet another big forehand, whenever he was down. Very bold play from both those games.

To me, the pivotal part of the game plan was Fed's ability to stick to it. Play aggressive. Don't get bludgeoned on the backhand side. Don't hit tentatively and slice it, but hit with topspin and hit hard, whenever you get the chance. Don't be afraid to go flat and deep into the Rafa forehand. It can leak errors too as Novak has showed.

Here's what he said about the mind part:

"
. After the semifinal you touched upon the fact that you might have tensed up a little in the final set. How were you able to focus coming from a break down?
ROGER FEDERER: I told myself to play free. That's what we discussed with Ivan and Severin before the matches. You play the ball, you don't play the opponent. Be free in your head, be free in your shots, go for it. The brave will be rewarded here. I didn't want to go down just making shots, seeing forehands rain down on me from Rafa. I think it was the right decision at the right time.

I had opportunities early on in the fifth, as well, to get back on even terms. I could have been left disappointed there and accepted that fact. I kept on fighting. I kept on believing, like I did all match long today, that there was a possibility I could win this match.

I think that's what made me play my best tennis at the very end the match, which was actually surprising to me. I went through a little bit of a lull in the fourth and the beginning of the fifth set.
"
 
Gary Duane said:
One thing: topspin backhand that looked as good as any backhand I've seen for any player - ever. Still can't figure where that came from...
Click to expand...
Rafas predictability on the forehand side helped I believe. When he tries to pin the righty to backhand side, he uses spin and placement while sacrificing pace of the shot. This actually opens up the angles for the backhand reply. Nadal uses this play against Fed a lot. And he uses it almost exclusively on big points neutral rallies. Kudos to Fed for pulling the trigger on attackable ball.
 
abmk said:
Really ?
Apart from a couple of special points from fed, what I remember is Rafa winning the longer points.
Click to expand...

There were quite a few that won't show up on the highlight reels because they didn't end in an outrageous winner or anything like that. But I was impressed with the way Roger took the ball on with his BH and used it to attack Nadal's FH particularly in sets 3 and 5. Maybe Ljubicic had some input on this, because I remember him taking the ball early on that side and hitting through the ball whilst keeping the form
 
I was very impressed with Fed's backhand cross-court and backhand return. As Rafa started to go to the body more, he managed to anticipate it better, crucially late in the 5th.

Rafa's court coverage isn't as good as it was, which helped Fed obviously. Federer's as well, but it didn't effect him as much as it did Rafito. He played the running cross-court forehand rather well. Both guys mental resiliance in the 5th was unreal.

Just a great match.
 
Krish872007 said:
There were quite a few that won't show up on the highlight reels because they didn't end in an outrageous winner or anything like that. But I was impressed with the way Roger took the ball on with his BH and used it to attack Nadal's FH particularly in sets 3 and 5. Maybe Ljubicic had some input on this, because I remember him taking the ball early on that side and hitting through the ball whilst keeping the form
Click to expand...

yeah, he took the ball on the BH side very well.

Maybe its just what I "expected" to see -- nadal winning more of the long points due to federer's reduced mobility.

I just saw the highlights again and there were a couple more of long points that fed won.
 
Anyone talking court surface? I find it plausible that early exits of Murray and Joker could also be attributed to higher speed. Also interesting that on a faster configuration, 3 out of 4 semi finalists were OHBH.
 
Anyone talking court surface? I find it plausible that early exits of Murray and Joker could also be attributed to higher speed. Also interesting that on a faster configuration, 3 out of 4 semi finalists were OHBH.
 
Anyone talking court surface? I find it plausible that early exits of Murray and Joker could also be attributed to higher speed. Also interesting that on a faster configuration, 3 out of 4 semi finalists were OHBH.
 
Anyone talking court surface? I find it plausible that early exits of Murray and Joker could also be attributed to higher speed. Also interesting that on a faster configuration, 3 out of 4 semi finalists were OHBH.
 
Anyone talking court surface? I find it plausible that early exits of Murray and Joker could also be attributed to higher speed. Also interesting that on a faster configuration, 3 out of 4 semi finalists were OHBH.
 
Fed's BH won him the match. Both CC and DTL. Simple as that. We can probably start there and go backwards. He rarely used the slice which was a plus. He knows by now that the slice doesn't really work. It won him the 5th set 4-3 0-0 point to get to 0-15 in that game, but other than that it was pretty much abandoned.

Federer had his mental lapses unfortunately, especially in the 2nd set, but generally his serve and FH came up clutch when needed. And the other major thing that won him this match was his ability to time some of the BH returns on the AD side to perfection, like when he broke at 4-3 in the 5th. There was also another BP at 1-0 Federer in the 3rd where Federer moved over to cover his BH return and got a FH return instead. Nadal still should've won that point because he missed the next FH into the net, but at least it showed that Federer wasn't going to get caught playing into the same old patterns. Nadal still got him a fair few times with those patterns, but there were a few crucial points like that one that probably changed the outcome.

And obviously his mental game was stellar. I thought he was done early in the 5th when Nadal broke in the 1st game, but he never gave up. More than that he had to deal with losing BP's in the following game and the 1-2 game before finally breaking at 2-3. Then he broke again after losing a 0-40 lead, and saved 2 BP's while serving it out. I thought he was getting passive at exactly the wrong time in the clinching game, but the aforementioned serve and FH came up clutch.
 
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The look on the Fed's face was sheepish when he missed an easy smash in the 4th set. I thought that was it. I thought he was gonna choke in 5th.
But he showed the mental grit in the 5th and kept putting the pressure on Rafa's serve.
Not sure how many actually realized this. He won 5 games in a row to seal the deal.
 
Steve0904 said:
And just a note to anyone still posting double (or more) replies. Click the Post Reply button just once, and then refresh the page after the 3 "waves" in the top right hand corner of your screen disappear. It should work.
Click to expand...

What's even more annoying is multiple threads lol!
 
You nailed the backhand thing. It jumped out at me at times the way Roger was really dipping it with angles crosscourt. It felt like he hadn't done that for ten years.
 
The backhand is what won it for Fed. That's it.
Sure, he served well, hit many FH winners, some FH errors, etc. But that is all expected and par for the course.
The biggest difference between this match and previous encounters was Fed's BH: Taking it early, redirecting, and hitting TS / flat rather than chip / slice.
 
Talker said:
Fed didn't seem to try to end points until he had a decent opening.
He rallied and just got the ball back and seemed comfortable to rally, that way he didn't go for high risk shots too much.
It's discouraging to start missing a lot with high risk shots, just getting the ball back gives some confidence.

Nadal looked thrown off a little as hitting to the backhand didn't work like usual.
Click to expand...

of all the post-match opinions i've read, i think this might be the single most important observation on federer's win today. nadals game is so very much about making his opponent feel the need to press; and unless they're zoning, they start to miss, and the cycle of panic and despair starts to set in. what djokovic does so well against nadal is, quite simply, wait him out, and look for higher-margin opportunities to go on the offensive. federer definitely took the initiative today, but he also played well within himself and didn't necessarily force the issue. very composed performance.
 
SMILE - JUST SMILE

Yes to the backhand, aggressive serve return, standing tall on the baseline, ending points early, change in frame, and Nadal's ageing from his own peak.

Yes to all of this.

Federer plays his best relaxed, everyone does, but Federer needs to be less-stressed more than most on tour because he's playing very very early - on the rise, inside the goddamn baseline and flat - its insanely difficult. Go ahead any of you, try it against someone your level.

For me personally, as I was watching this match, when Nadal hit that amazing FH stretch slice winner and Federer looked to him with an applaud, and smile, in an important moment, it told me where his mind was at. He was relaxed. And then I was reassured, because as I continued to watch yet another Federer final it wasn't so much in dread or apprehension of another loss, win or lose this would feel different: He would do it on his terms. His post match speech was reflective of this new found inner zen.

The moment in the match where Fed applauded and smiled back at Nadal reminded me of another moment, this one in an old Jackie Chan movie. He's playing an older guy who's had his ass handed to him already. As he trains and recovers from the pasting, a friend tells him to "smile". Just that, to smile. In a rematch with a guy that pasted him before, at a critical moment, he remembers to smile.

Here it is - the smile bit occurs at about 5:30'ish.



PS
People might look at Dimitrov's strokes, form and fluidity and conclude he's another Fed but he can't be as "aggressive" as FedEx, or take away the "time" that Fed does from his opponents. I don't really see Dimitrov having that natural aggression to jam through the more tricky defenders [Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and anyone else that plays this style well] with early timing.
 
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SMILE - JUST SMILE

Yes to the backhand, aggressive serve return, standing tall on the baseline, ending points early, change in frame, and Nadal's ageing from his own peak.

Yes to all of this.

Federer plays his best relaxed, everyone does, but Federer needs to be less-stressed more than most on tour because he's playing very very early - on the rise, inside the goddamn baseline and flat - its insanely difficult. Go ahead any of you, try it against someone your level.

For me personally, as I was watching this match, when Nadal hit that amazing FH stretch slice winner and Federer looked to him with an applaud, and smile, in an important moment, it told me where his mind was at. He was relaxed. And then I was reassured, because as I continued to watch yet another Federer final it wasn't so much in dread or apprehension of another loss, win or lose this would feel different: He would do it on his terms. His post match speech was reflective of this new found inner zen.

The moment in the match where Fed applauded and smiled back at Nadal reminded me of another moment, this one in an old Jackie Chan movie. He's playing an older guy who's had his ass handed to him already. As he trains and recovers from the pasting, a friend tells him to "smile". Just that, to smile. In a rematch with a guy that pasted him before, at a critical moment, he remembers to smile.

Here it is - the smile bit occurs at about 5:20'ish.



PS
People might look at Dimitrov's strokes, form and fluidity and conclude he's another Fed but he can't be as "aggressive" as FedEx, or take away the "time" that Fed does from his opponents. I don't really see Dimitrov having that natural aggression to jam through the more tricky defenders [Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and anyone else that plays this style well] with early timing.
 
SMILE - JUST SMILE

Yes to the backhand, aggressive serve return, standing tall on the baseline, ending points early, change in frame, and Nadal's ageing from his own peak.

Yes to all of this.

Federer plays his best relaxed, everyone does, but Federer needs to be less-stressed more than most on tour because he's playing very very early - on the rise, inside the goddamn baseline and flat - its insanely difficult. Go ahead any of you, try it against someone your level.

For me personally, as I was watching this match, when Nadal hit that amazing FH stretch slice winner and Federer looked to him with an applaud, and smile, in an important moment, it told me where his mind was at. He was relaxed. And then I was reassured, because as I continued to watch yet another Federer final it wasn't so much in dread or apprehension of another loss, win or lose this would feel different: He would do it on his terms. His post match speech was reflective of this new found inner zen.

The moment in the match where Fed applauded and smiled back at Nadal reminded me of another moment, this one in an old Jackie Chan movie. He's playing an older guy who's had his ass handed to him already. As he trains and recovers from the pasting, a friend tells him to "smile". Just that, to smile. In a rematch with a guy that pasted him before, at a critical moment, he remembers to smile.

Here it is - the smile bit occurs at about 5:20'ish.



PS
People might look at Dimitrov's strokes, form and fluidity and conclude he's another Fed but he can't be as "aggressive" as FedEx, or take away the "time" that Fed does from his opponents. I don't really see Dimitrov having that natural aggression to jam through the more tricky defenders [Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and anyone else that plays this style well] with early timing.
 
I remember mentioning in another thread that Nadal's mileage during this tournament and the one less day of rest would catch up to him. I think we saw this visibly on display this match, especially in the fifth when Nadal suddenly lost a lot of speed on his forehand side and let federer either dictate from backhands cross-court or forehands down the line.
 
The shotmaker beat the pusher. Federer's 70+ winners overcame the guy trying to force errors with his loopy topspin. Good to see the superior and more talented player rewarded for his aggression.
 
Never a Fed fan, until recently. I have my favorites, but like my underdogs. BUT, the look in Feds eyes, in that 5th set told you who was going to win. He had that look of hunger, the look that he was not going to be denied. Admire that he didn't wait for something good to happen, or hope that it would. He had the guts to take it. Not always easy to do. But under the circumstances, quite remarkable.
 
his BH plain and simple. He wasn't spraying errors left and right and played a clean match. Imagine if he had adopted these tactics- i.e. flattening out the bh return, hitting CC backhands etc. earlier... Oh well, I'm happy :cool:
 
his BH plain and simple. He wasn't spraying errors left and right and played a clean match. Imagine if he had adopted these tactics- i.e. flattening out the bh return, hitting CC backhands etc. earlier... Oh well, I'm happy :cool:
 
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So if Nadal makes it to the final, has he effectively won the title?
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