Why couldn't Nadal hit aces ?

Razer

G.O.A.T.
Number of matches with 10+ aces hit in a match ( matches with 20+ )

Isner - 665 (325)
Karlovic - 614 (308)
Lopez - 507 (73)
Ivanisevic - 503 (162)
Roddick - 460 (84)
Querrey - 452 (107)
Federer - 451 (34)
Sampras - 436 (72)
Ljubi - 426 (85)
Raonic - 409 (143)
Krajicec - 392 (87)
Anderson - 382 (99)
Rusedski - 371 (66)
Cilic - 358 (48)
Philippussis - 343 (96)
Tsonga - 331 (41)
Rosset - 295 (32)
Monfils - 288 (26)
Berdych - 282 (25)
Muller - 262 (72)
Safin - 259 (20)
Martin - 253 (39)
Fish - 242 (26)
Kyrgios - 228 (82)
Enqvist - 226 (15)
Wawrinka - 219 (19)
Almagro - 218 (25)
Arthurs - 212 (75)
Murray - 207 (12)
Johansson - 206 (21)
Ferreira - 204 (12)
Gambill - 203 (35)
Haas - 203 (15)
Becker - 199 (35)
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Djokovic - 160 (5)
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Agassi - 76 (1)
Chang - 64 (2)
Courier - 61 (2)
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Nadal - 39 (1)
 

Mediterranean Might

Professional
Nadal has arguably the weakest serve of any ATG. Aside from the legendary 2010 USO form (which hurt his shoulder), Nadal really only used his serve for set up. For example, the ad court wide was always anticipated by opponents, but it was still difficult to deal with and would let Nadal control most of those points

I’m shocked he even has a single 20 ace game lol
 

Cabeza del Demonio

Professional
Nadal has arguably the weakest serve of any ATG. Aside from the legendary 2010 USO form (which hurt his shoulder), Nadal really only used his serve for set up. For example, the ad court wide was always anticipated by opponents, but it was still difficult to deal with and would let Nadal control most of those points

I’m shocked he even has a single 20 ace game lol
Must've been US010 or AO11.
 

Razer

G.O.A.T.
Look at those Isner and Karlovic numbers, mmmm

Isner, Karlovic both 300+ times 20+ aces, even Goran would be 300 with modern racquets, Sampras would also be on 150 times 20+ aces.
Nadal with 1 match would love to have such serves.

Nadal has arguably the weakest serve of any ATG. Aside from the legendary 2010 USO form (which hurt his shoulder), Nadal really only used his serve for set up.

Why did it hurt his shoulder ? His arms are fine, only his legs are injured, right ? Infact his left hand is his greatest weapon.
 

Razer

G.O.A.T.
Why do ace when topspin to da backhand no?


Nadal has hit 10+ aces in a match against Federer 1 time and lost that match, he hit 1 time against Djokovic and lost that match too.

Djokovic has hit 10+ aces against Federer 6 times (won all 6 matches), he has hit 4 times against Nadal (won 3 of those and lost 1 time).

Federer has hit 10+ aces against Djokovic 20 times (won only 8 of those, lost 12 times), he has hit 12 times against Nadal (won 7 times, lost 5 times)
 

Razer

G.O.A.T.
Win% in matches after hitting 10+ aces


Djokovic - 91.25%
Sampras - 84.4%
Federer - 83.37%
Agassi - 80.2%
Murray - 80.19%
Roddick - 79.34%
Nadal - 76.92%
Becker - 76.38%
Tsonga - 75.83%
Raonic - 74%
Ivanisevic - 70.97%
Isner - 66.67%
Karlovic - 53.91%

Looks like Djokovic is the only person in the 90+ win percent after hitting 10+ aces? :censored: @NonP @Holmes
 
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Holmes

Hall of Fame
Win% in matches after hitting 10+ aces


Djokovic - 91.25%
Sampras - 84.4%
Federer - 83.37%
Agassi - 80.2%
Murray - 80.19%
Roddick - 79.34%
Nadal - 76.92%
Becker - 76.38%
Tsonga - 75.83%
Raonic - 74%
Ivanisevic - 70.97%
Isner - 66.67%
Karlovic - 53.91%

Looks like Djokovic is the only person in the 90+ win percent after hitting 10+ aces? :censored: @NonP @Holmes
He has far fewer matches hitting 10+ aces than Pete or Rog.
 

Razer

G.O.A.T.
He has far fewer matches hitting 10+ aces than Pete or Rog.

Just after AO 2010 win, Roger had 233 matches and his win% was still 84%, if you check before the Aus open 2008 then Roger still had 171 matches but only 83.6%

So Novak's 91.25% is only a testimony to the fact that if he had a better serve from the beginning like Roger then he would be winning more slams and win% would be 90% still.... that is a big deal.
 

acintya

Legend
I think it has something to do with the left not beeing his dominant arm. And he said once that he always had a bad serve. I always liked his serve - its maybe the most underrated stroke in tennis history. Forget the aces now. If his serve would be so bad he would lose more matches.
 

NeutralFan

G.O.A.T.
His serve was not easy to attack for most part of his career. Funny thing is Fed would return the likes of Isner and other servebot with ease but didn't find it easy to attack Rafa serve. Rafa should have worked on his serve to get more pace and aces but for whatever reason he didn't do. His height and body was good enough to get many aces and pace on his serve. Only Rafa can tell why he didn't work on his serve in the way we wanted him to.
 

Holmes

Hall of Fame
Just after AO 2010 win, Roger had 233 matches and his win% was still 84%, if you check before the Aus open 2008 then Roger still had 171 matches but only 83.6%

So Novak's 91.25% is only a testimony to the fact that if he had a better serve from the beginning like Roger then he would be winning more slams and win% would be 90% still.... that is a big deal.

You can't pick a point in a player's career from which to draw data from at random like that. The fact is Roger's serve is far superior to Nole's as is evidenced by the stats you posted, and you can't seriously compare their win percentages and come to meaningful conclusions when one has almost 3 times as many matches with the minimum required aces as the other.

Having said this, it would be interesting to see the rank of the players that Novak and Fed got their aces against. My uninformed theory is that Novak hit his aces against players he was mostly way better than and was going to beat handily anyways, whereas because Roger has an incredible serve he was more often hitting his aces against higher ranked players and better returners in matches he was not as sure to win, and that his serve often helped him win or stay in the match.
 

Holmes

Hall of Fame
His serve was not easy to attack for most part of his career. Funny thing is Fed would return the likes of Isner and other servebot with ease but didn't find it easy to attack Rafa serve. Rafa should have worked on his serve to get more pace and aces but for whatever reason he didn't do. His height and body was good enough to get many aces and pace on his serve. Only Rafa can tell why he didn't work on his serve in the way we wanted him to.
Federer didn't attack serves enough in general, particularly second serves. He started having success against Nadal when he changed that and got aggressive with the 1HBH return out wide.
 

Lefty50

New User
Isn’t he right handed , except for tennis? I recall that Uncle Toni taught him to play tennis left handed. I always thought his serve looked a little awkward
 

Razer

G.O.A.T.
You can't pick a point in a player's career from which to draw data from at random like that. The fact is Roger's serve is far superior to Nole's as is evidenced by the stats you posted, and you can't seriously compare their win percentages and come to meaningful conclusions when one has almost 3 times as many matches with the minimum required aces as the other.

Having said this, it would be interesting to see the rank of the players that Novak and Fed got their aces against. My uninformed theory is that Novak hit his aces against players he was mostly way better than and was going to beat handily anyways, whereas because Roger has an incredible serve he was more often hitting his aces against higher ranked players and better returners in matches he was not as sure to win, and that his serve often helped him win or stay in the match.

Vs Top 10

Fed has 66% win record when he hit 10+ aces
Djokovic has 88% win record when he hit 10+ aces


Another interesting stat is when they were Aced 10+ times in a Match by their opponents

Djokovic - 231 (won 74% of them)
Federer - 180 (won 68.89% of them)
Sampras - 205 (won 67.8% of them)
Nadal - 226 (won 66.7% of them)
Agassi - 271 (won 62.36% of them)
Murray - 141 (won 60.99% of them)
Roddick - 241 (won 58.92% of them)
Becker - 77 (won 57.14% of them)
Ivanisevic - 182 (won 56.59% of them)
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Isner - 230 (won 53% of them)
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Karlovic - 143 (won 41.95% of them)
 

Tennisbg

Professional
He has a very mascular hands, if you notice all big servers are first long and second have thin hands with minimal muscle. Nadal is long but he is built heavily.
 
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