Stan Exposed Rafa's weakness.

[monfed]

More importantly, Magnus has beefed up Stan's FH enough that he uses it as the kill shot from the BH alley. Those were frozen ropes when he ran around the BH to end points!

It was a joy to watch.

 

[monfed]

I might also add that a requirement for being effective vs Nadal is a higher comfort zone, whether due to size or technique. Rogi's semi-Western grip doesn't let him, at a moderate height, handle the high bouncer. Stan is shorter but his full Western FH and his more versatile BH can trade rallies with Nadal until an opening develops. The taller guys (JMDP, Soderling) hit closer to their comfort zones in typical rallies with him. Still, it takes a great day on court for anyone to beat a world #1, no matter who it is!

Truer words have never been spoken. Allez Swissmen! Allez BOTE!

 

[Day Tripper]

The other real positive to come out of this tournament was the victory of attacking tennis over the defensive retrieving style of Nadal and Djokovic.

I still can't believe Stan won but am incredibly happy that he did so. It is great for tennis - as is the style in which he did it.

 

[Lefty20]

Rafa has a clear strategy against big hitters. Run around like a bunny returning as many balls as possible and force them to hit 3-4 big shots just to earn one point. If they can sustain this for 3 out of 5 sets then simply shake their hands and say "well played". But should they falter, then engage gear 6 and overload them w/ heavy FHs. GG


PS. Yes I know this is Nadal's strat against everyone.

 

[wangs78]

As stated earlier Federer at 32 have more ability to handle 'Big Hitters' than any version of Rafa. That's why he dominated Blake,Gonzo,Davydenko in his peak and after peak also he is beating Potro (Twice After Uso ),Tsonga (AO 2014).

THe reason is Rafa have 1D game and Federer nice variety that imbalances his opponents which Rafa can dream for.

The reason Fed can overcome big hitters is that big hitters don't have the mobility to deal with Fed's mix of weapons - drop shots, volleys, sharpley angled cross court shots, occasional DTL shots. Nadal - and Djokovic for that matter, have such mobility that they are not fazed by Fed's mix of shots and they can then exploit their superior mobility by making Fed have to run and hit off balance more than he would like. At the highest levels where every player has strong ground strokes and strong serve and no major weaknesses, the game has come down to a game of mobility, fitness and endurance (and mental strength). I would argue that until the current generation, talent was a bigger part of the equation but players are so professional now that everyone is using every last ounce of their talent and so the differentiating factor is who can move the best. Watching Stan last night, the guy was moving extremely well. He may not have Fed's glory day elegance or Djokovic's ridiculous Gumby like flexibility, but he is in my view basically on par with Murray in being able to chase down balls effectively and being able to get back into position very quickly.

 

[winstonplum]

Nadal looked shaky from the very beginning. Perhaps he was already feeling something in his back, perhaps he was just nervous. I don't think Stan exposed anything. Stan is a world class player who has obviously taken it up a few notches lately.

The head to head was fools gold for Nadal fans. He had something like 9 set points that he's flubbed. One I remember at the WTF where he tripped on the sitter volley. It was going to
be a tough match with out without the injury.

 

[tennis_hack]

Rafa has a clear strategy against big hitters. Run around like a bunny returning as many balls as possible and force them to hit 3-4 big shots just to earn one point. If they can sustain this for 3 out of 5 sets then simply shake their hands and say "well played". But should they falter, then engage gear 6 and overload them w/ heavy FHs. GG


PS. Yes I know this is Nadal's strat against everyone.

Shake their hands and say well played? Don't you mean, run to the press and say "I was injured, no? Impossible to play like this, no?"

 

[MauricioDias]

Stan exposed Nadal's worst behaviour Just playing good tennis. Nadal os not prepared to lose like it was going to happen today. So he thought he had found a way to make things less embarasing, but everyone noticed.

 

[coloskier]

He didn't expose anything. Rafa was OBVIOUSLY injured after the 1st set and a half where he was already losing the match which resulted in taking all of his movement and reaction time away.

It reminded of the Del Potro match in 2009 when Nadal could barely move. So Delpo's grounds and serve looked unreturnable.


Nadal healthy, Nadal wins in straights. 7-6, 6-4-,6-2

Fixed it for you.

 

[Chanwan]

Didn't you get the press release? BP was injured in the warm-up, but, brave warrior that he is, brilliantly masked it until he got down a set and a break...

ROFL - but today is Stan's day, so no more talk about what I just said.

 

[Chanwan]

not taking off credit to Stan but put the video at 1:50 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EH9RFCnfv8M#t=110

When i watched that I found it strange how Nadal looks like he can hit this ball back with his BH but play the shot like he has no chance to put it back. Play and replay it... strange...

But in other rallies he doesn't look bothered, hard to tell exactly when he started feeling a pain.

he's playing two pretty big CC BH's in that rally and then he can't quite reach the last one and nets it with a defensive slice on the run. Can't see anything unusual here to be honest.

 

[Chanwan]

We basically know the point when Nadal tweaked his back. It was after Wawrinka had already won a set. What do you have against Wawrinka that you are trying to deny him his due credit? Or do you think that injuries work retroactively?

Not only a set - he was a break up to (it happened as Nadal was serving down from 0-2).

 

[Chanwan]

I think players know how to beat Nadal, but they fail to do it most of the time , it's the difference between theory and practise and that's why Federer can't defeat him anymore.
Actually when watching their match in Shanghai and at the WTF I found it VERY strange that Stan never won a set over Rafa because he didn't seem to be bothered on his BH side at all.

I think he just lacked belief at the time, and the win over Djokovic gave him this belief.

Also, I think a guy like Gasquet could perfectly beat Nadal on hardcourt, but his problem is his FH + his tendancy to play too passive. You can't beat Nadal by defending and pushing the ball.

How to beat Rafa on hardcourt: just watch Del Potro vs Nadal in shanghai.
Play on his BH and finish the point DTL on his FH side.

I pretty much agree. That said, sometimes Rafa's BH is rock solid and on fire. It certainly was for the semi, hitting numerous winners with it.

 

[ttbrowne]

I agree that Nadal's back had no trouble against Fed then all of a sudden...he's hurt when he's getting beat. Stan made him hurt if that was the case. He completely destroyed Rafa the first two sets.

 

[nctennis9]

I don't know that he exposed anything new, but that he was playing well enough at the right time to exploit the few known weaknesses. What Stan showed today is hard to replicate and even more difficult to maintain over the course of a best-of-5 match - it's a shame we didn't get to see how it played out with both men at full fitness.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

1st set full Nadal Wawrinka
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC5Mp2jbKGE