Why Nadal lost the match : He approached the match tactically wrong and opposite to his usual approach.

[junior74]

Am I the only one who felt like Nadal's legs were not with him yesterday? Especially towards the end of that third set and beyond he looked heavy. I believe that's mostly why he went for uncharacteristically impatient solutions. Novak is one of the few players that can actually beat Rafa physically. And there's no doubt in my mind that was a huge factor yesterday as well, along with other things that you guys already pointed out.

Agreed. For me, that's the same as "didn't believe". He even walked like a beaten man long before the match was over. No strut.

 

[ForehandCross]

Agreed. For me, that's the same as "didn't believe". He even walked like a beaten man long before the match was over. No strut.

Hmm maybe the Diego Match took something out of him and he knew going in he needed to be more aggressive ?

 

[JackGates]

I only watched till 3rd set 3-3.

But as much as I could understand the reason for Nadal's loss seemed clear by then:

The biggest reason is definitely Novak Djokovic without a doubt. But I believe Nadal was tactically wrong on many levels.

1. He tried to be overly aggressive from the back, trying to blow Novak away. Big mistake, he became just another attacker for Novak to keep defending against.

I said this in live thread and I am saying it again, Nadal was more aggressive then needed. Nadal is usually a mix of strong defense and counter punch with strong sense of when to end the point.

This wasn't really visible yesterday.

The shots he hit to get broken in 2nd set were highly uncharacteristic.

He made errors going for shots that he never goes for usually, but most importantly Djokovic wasn't even defending that well at that point.

Since when has Nadal tried to hit winners off of within 1-3 shots on clay?


There were some amazing points and shots.

Still, **you don't win matches by flashy points and shots, even a spectacular shot wins you a single point only**

That was the VINTAGE Nadal philosophy, but he tried to do something OPPOSITE of it.


2. Serving riskier than normal:

He thought of thumping serves rather than making them less attackable as is the usual Nadal way. In important moments he couldn't find a first serve after set 1.

Again it seemed he wanted to blow Djokovic away rather than directly confront him in rallies.

3. Trying to rip it way too often from the BH : Nadal's BH is a point ending weapon these days. But there was no reason to try it that often when it already hadn't worked out in many points.

4.Keep serving to Djokovic BH:

I mean I know there's a high probability you get a FH for the return shot but still, you are getting burned doing that why not change?


5.Letting first set become the road map for the match:


Since he still was hitting so many good shots and still hitting some good serves, and he had won the 1st set emphatically,he didn't see the writing on the wall. He didn't try to change it up even when Djokovic keep creeping back and even started to overwhelm him.






From what I saw, Nadal played extremely opposite to his philosophy. He wasn't the won winning every point by the good tennis, rather he was trying to blast Djokovic off the court.

Djokovic just didn't allow it.

Champions don't usually make tactical errors. I would say conditions and execution was the main problem. I mean those players know themselves well and adapt well to tactics. Even Nadal said that his main problem was conditions and him not playing well.

 

[Mahut]

I am not sure if he is more aggressive than usual, but your point about his second serve going to Djokovic's BH is valid...
Stats showed that he almost never hit to Djokovic's FH. This is way to predictable for Djokovic to move in advance

 

[aman92]

Conditions coupled with serve having an off day... Nadal did admit in the presser that as the evening wore on, conditions became slightly faster and low bouncing.. In short, heavily favouring Djokovic. Nothing more, Nadal isn't superhuman that he can keep pulling out victories at RG again inspired opponents at 35

 

[SonnyT]

Nadal and Djokovic played a great first 3 sets. But Nadal used up too much energy, and had nothing left in the 4th; Djokovic won the last 6 games of the set.

It reminds me of the '11 USO final they played, which Djokovic won 62 64 67 61. The whole match they went at each other like Ali-Frazier and Leonard-Hearns. It was a decade ago, yet Nadal also ran out of energy: 6-2 yesterday, 6-1 a decade ago.

It's Rafa's nature to go all out on most points, and it costs him! And during a match, Rafa is tense all the time, important because tension drains away energy. Unlike Novak, who knows how to relax in order to keep the muscles loose. Yesterday, he smiled throughout the match, beginning in the 2nd set. I've never seen Nadal or Federer smile in a tight match situation. Whenever Djokovic smiles in a match, it means he's comfortable and relaxed, so his opponent is in trouble!

 

[Keizer]

I saw a Djokovic who stepped up, decided to play on the baseline instead of 3 metres behind it. I said the same about Schwartzman, when he stepped up and did the same. Suddenly he won a set. Nadal fans always laugh when you post about this, saying "do you know how difficult it is to play on the baseline against Nadal's shots?". Of course it is. It is also the only way to beat him, because it's the only way to create angles in tennis. When you take Nadal out of his comport zone, he shows over and over that his confidence is not what it used to be. Brilliant match by Djokovic, who also won most of the cat-mouse play, surprisingly... And he is also the better server, by far.

100% correct analysis, especially on the BH. It is also how Nadal has lost several matches convincingly in the past to great backhand artists like Davydenko and Nalbandian. However, for Djokovic to have accomplished this tactic on clay against Nadal takes this to a whole new level.

 

[heninfan99]

If he sticks the volley at 3-4, 3rd set tie break it changes everything

 

[SonnyT]

If he sticks the volley at 3-4, 3rd set tie break it changes everything

Both Djokovic and Nadal made mistakes. Near the end, Djokovic had the energy left to overcome his mistakes; Nadal didn't.

Nadal ran out of energy in the 4th, he would've been totally out of it for the 5th, against the best 5-set player ever!

Nadal made a lot more UFE's yesterday, probably because he was redlining, and felt he had to go for too much.

 

[JackGates]

Both Djokovic and Nadal made mistakes. Near the end, Djokovic had the energy left to overcome his mistakes; Nadal didn't.

Nadal ran out of energy in the 4th, he would've been totally out of it for the 5th, against the best 5-set player ever!

Nadal made a lot more UFE's yesterday, probably because he was redlining, and felt he had to go for too much.

I agree. It's hard for me to believe suddenly after 12 RG wins Nadal suddenly doesn't know the correct tactis. Yeah, surface was fast, Nadal wasn't at his best plus Nadal is old, executions problems. I don't agree it was tactics.

 

[Phenomenal]

Since the end of the first set Djokovic played superbly this match and he deserved. Since second set He defended incredibly well in third he almost didn't make any UE like someone pointed out he control the rallies with attacking CC forehands to Nadal's backhand. Nadal fighted very well in third he still got set point while despite he was making many UE. Looks like he tired again in 4th after that brutal third set. I'm mostly upset about 4th set and his DF cost him...

One thing i want to mention Conditions i think it really matters. Yes Novak defended well but in day conditions it could be different maybe we know that Rafa's shots specially Forehand would be better with more spin.
He was unfortunate about that. Still he had his chances in the game but Novak was clearly better player. Rafa should solve his annoying DF problem and his stamina.

 

[sredna42]

MasturB was good at dissecting matches, would be interesting to read his views, it looked to me though that novak took a step or two closer to the baseline, and pushed nadal kinda wide before hitting left to right.

 

[stingstang]

1. Nadal would have beaten anyone else on that court, possible ever, with that performance. Djokovic was frikking incredible, like a computer game character at times.

2.This might sound crazy but I don’t think Nadal is in his best possible shape. Theres room for him to lean down a few %, lose 5-10lbs to gain marginal cardio and speed. By Nadal standards he is dad bod right now.

 

[Beckerserve]

I only watched till 3rd set 3-3.

But as much as I could understand the reason for Nadal's loss seemed clear by then:

The biggest reason is definitely Novak Djokovic without a doubt. But I believe Nadal was tactically wrong on many levels.

1. He tried to be overly aggressive from the back, trying to blow Novak away. Big mistake, he became just another attacker for Novak to keep defending against.

I said this in live thread and I am saying it again, Nadal was more aggressive then needed. Nadal is usually a mix of strong defense and counter punch with strong sense of when to end the point.

This wasn't really visible yesterday.

The shots he hit to get broken in 2nd set were highly uncharacteristic.

He made errors going for shots that he never goes for usually, but most importantly Djokovic wasn't even defending that well at that point.

Since when has Nadal tried to hit winners off of within 1-3 shots on clay?


There were some amazing points and shots.

Still, **you don't win matches by flashy points and shots, even a spectacular shot wins you a single point only**

That was the VINTAGE Nadal philosophy, but he tried to do something OPPOSITE of it.


2. Serving riskier than normal:

He thought of thumping serves rather than making them less attackable as is the usual Nadal way. In important moments he couldn't find a first serve after set 1.

Again it seemed he wanted to blow Djokovic away rather than directly confront him in rallies.

3. Trying to rip it way too often from the BH : Nadal's BH is a point ending weapon these days. But there was no reason to try it that often when it already hadn't worked out in many points.

4.Keep serving to Djokovic BH:

I mean I know there's a high probability you get a FH for the return shot but still, you are getting burned doing that why not change?


5.Letting first set become the road map for the match:


Since he still was hitting so many good shots and still hitting some good serves, and he had won the 1st set emphatically,he didn't see the writing on the wall. He didn't try to change it up even when Djokovic keep creeping back and even started to overwhelm him.






From what I saw, Nadal played extremely opposite to his philosophy. He wasn't the won winning every point by the good tennis, rather he was trying to blast Djokovic off the court.

Djokovic just didn't allow it.

All because his legs have gone as i have been telling everyone since popyrn match.

 

[Beckerserve]

1. Nadal would have beaten anyone else on that court, possible ever, with that performance. Djokovic was frikking incredible, like a computer game character at times.

2.This might sound crazy but I don’t think Nadal is in his best possible shape. Theres room for him to lean down a few %, lose 5-10lbs to gain marginal cardio and speed. By Nadal standards he is dad bod right now.

No way Nadal would have beat Tsitsipas Zverev or even an in form Thiem on that display. 10 double faults. He has won RG serving less than that.
He was hopeless lets be honest.

 

[Beckerserve]

Ok. I saw Djokovic winning a surprising amount of those points, in which Nadal is normally a lot better. Djokovic installed doubt in Nadal, so Nadal became more tentative in his decisions and didn't really believe. Djokovic started using the dropshot with more success towards the end of the match. He had a messy start.

But hey, this is just how I saw the match. I can assure you, though, that I am pretty neutral, as I am not a fan

Actually swartzman also dominated Nadal

 

[vex]

I only watched till 3rd set 3-3.

But as much as I could understand the reason for Nadal's loss seemed clear by then:

The biggest reason is definitely Novak Djokovic without a doubt. But I believe Nadal was tactically wrong on many levels.

1. He tried to be overly aggressive from the back, trying to blow Novak away. Big mistake, he became just another attacker for Novak to keep defending against.

I said this in live thread and I am saying it again, Nadal was more aggressive then needed. Nadal is usually a mix of strong defense and counter punch with strong sense of when to end the point.

This wasn't really visible yesterday.

The shots he hit to get broken in 2nd set were highly uncharacteristic.

He made errors going for shots that he never goes for usually, but most importantly Djokovic wasn't even defending that well at that point.

Since when has Nadal tried to hit winners off of within 1-3 shots on clay?


There were some amazing points and shots.

Still, **you don't win matches by flashy points and shots, even a spectacular shot wins you a single point only**

That was the VINTAGE Nadal philosophy, but he tried to do something OPPOSITE of it.


2. Serving riskier than normal:

He thought of thumping serves rather than making them less attackable as is the usual Nadal way. In important moments he couldn't find a first serve after set 1.

Again it seemed he wanted to blow Djokovic away rather than directly confront him in rallies.

3. Trying to rip it way too often from the BH : Nadal's BH is a point ending weapon these days. But there was no reason to try it that often when it already hadn't worked out in many points.

4.Keep serving to Djokovic BH:

I mean I know there's a high probability you get a FH for the return shot but still, you are getting burned doing that why not change?


5.Letting first set become the road map for the match:


Since he still was hitting so many good shots and still hitting some good serves, and he had won the 1st set emphatically,he didn't see the writing on the wall. He didn't try to change it up even when Djokovic keep creeping back and even started to overwhelm him.






From what I saw, Nadal played extremely opposite to his philosophy. He wasn't the won winning every point by the good tennis, rather he was trying to blast Djokovic off the court.

Djokovic just didn't allow it.

Lot of good points. I suspect that answer is that Rafa did that because playing his default game was no longer an option against Djokovic. He could not physically keep up with him. Even looking at RG’20 you could see Rafa hitting lines left and right, not content to play defense. As another Rafa fan noted yesterday there is growing evidence that Rafa only have 2-3 good sets in his body at this stage. He played the way he had to. Funny enough, Djokovic normally plays that way against Rafa, trying to boss him off the court, sometimes it works, on clay it usually doesn’t.

 

[stingstang]

No way Nadal would have beat Tsitsipas Zverev or even an in form Thiem on that display. 10 double faults. He has won RG serving less than that.
He was hopeless lets be honest.

Did you watch the zverev tsitsi semi? The standard of Djoker V Nadal was almost a different sport in terms of quality!

Thiem in the form of year or two ago might have beaten him, that is true.

 

[Beckerserve]

Did you watch the zverev tsitsi semi? The standard of Djoker V Nadal was almost a different sport in terms of quality!

Thiem in the form of year or two ago might have beaten him, that is true.

I did watch yes and there were less UFEs in their match. Zverev served less DFs than Nadal did.
Both have far bigger serves than Djokovic. Nadal was returning short all event so both would have feasted with their plus one. Way Nadal was serving both would have broken him at least once or twice a set.
Signs have been there all clay court season.
In hindsight the AO qf was hugely significant.

 

[thomasferrett]

There is no such thing as tactics in tennis. Do you really think tennis 'coaches' say anything to their player before any match other than: "Hit everything as hard as you can, run everything down, don't get tired, win the match."?

 

[Djoker11]

There is no such thing as tactics in tennis. Do you really think tennis 'coaches' say anything to their player before any match other than: "Hit everything as hard as you can, run everything down, don't get tired, win the match."?

I mean surely yes they do talk about tactics? I mean even I myself use tactics when I play tennis against my different friends. Against my friend the pusher I hit angles more often and try and get to the net. When I play my hard hitting mate I try and move him back to front more often etc etc so surely the best of the best have tactics. I mean look at the difference in Djokovic, this match he abused the crap out of nadals backhand from both his own wings, that's a tactic because he knows the Nadal backhand is not as good as the forehand or as damaging, while last year he tried to attack the rafa forehand

 

[Chanwan]

OP, has it occurred to you that Nadal cannot grind anymore in a BO5 against top level competition due to age constraints, and has to go very aggressive to compenasate for his reduced stamina and speed?

Fact is: Djokovic is one year younger, has less mileage on his body, and is closer to his peak years. Nadal is slowly losing that double battle: from the younger generational rival and from Father Time.

This. The entire premise of OP is that Rafa could outlast Djoko physically as he could way back when and as he's been able to do to every opponent throughout his career - safe for Djoko the past 10 years, who's been his equal and now his superior in terms of physical endurance.

OP/@ForehandCross - Rafa faded in the 4th. Didn't have anything left. Longer points would have him fade earlier than that.

Am I the only one who felt like Nadal's legs were not with him yesterday? Especially towards the end of that third set and beyond he looked heavy. I believe that's mostly why he went for uncharacteristically impatient solutions. Novak is one of the few players that can actually beat Rafa physically. And there's no doubt in my mind that was a huge factor yesterday as well, along with other things that you guys already pointed out.

This

 

[The Blond Blur]

If anything, I thought he was too passive. I lost count of how many times he could have used the FHDTL to finish a point, but instead decided to go CC and extend the rally. He also tried to wrong foot Joker too much instead of hitting big to the open court. Joker picked up on this and stayed home more often which led to winning those types of points more frequently. He also went much bigger with his BH in last year’s F. This year he eased off of it and it was much more attackable. The longer the match went on, the more Joker forced him into his BH corner. When RAFA did decide to go big off that side he was usually in a bad position that resulted in an error.

 

[Chanwan]

No, the right tactic is to become fit enough to implement his fundamental tactic - i.e. fit enough that he can blast 10,000 RPM, 150mph forehands at Djokovic's backhand non-stop for 10 hours straight if he needs to.

you sound like a great tennis coach and analyst - as per usual

 

[Jay_The_Nomad]

I think Rafa’s game plan of ultra aggressiveness isn’t wrong per se. The idea was right but he just couldn’t execute particularly on the first serves. He got quite a few aces but undid the good work with the double faults.

Unfortusntely this was simply a clear case of one player playing better on the day.

Djokovic’s performance was just better across the board. He served better and returned better. Hit more winner last and hit less unforced errors. He was also more successful at the net.

I think if Rafa had dialed back in the ultra aggressive approach he might have reduced the errors. But it might not have been enough.

Sometimes you just gotta say the better player on the day one.

Hipefully Rafa can somehow summon number 21 from somewhere.

Back to the drawing board I think. I do like the ultra aggression. But the 1 serve percentage was way way too low.

 

[dapchai]

If anything, I thought he was too passive. I lost count of how many times he could have used the FHDTL to finish a point, but instead decided to go CC and extend the rally. He also tried to wrong foot Joker too much instead of hitting big to the open court. Joker picked up on this and stayed home more often which led to winning those types of points more frequently. He also went much bigger with his BH in last year’s F. This year he eased off of it and it was much more attackable. The longer the match went on, the more Joker forced him into his BH corner. When RAFA did decide to go big off that side he was usually in a bad position that resulted in an error.

This. In last year's final his BH was really good which avoided the silly UEs, but since that match it has become crappy. Going FHDTL was his only way to make Djokovic uncomfortable, but he wasn't using it much. Another problem is his serve; too many DFs. Low confidence and bad form for the whole clay season.

 

[DJ-]

Why Djokovic won the match : He approached the match tactically right and opposite to his usual approach against Nadal on clay

 

[ForehandCross]

Why Djokovic won the match : He approached the match tactically right and opposite to his usual approach against Nadal on clay

Did you even read the first line of second paragraph?

 

[beltsman]

I only watched till 3rd set 3-3.

But as much as I could understand the reason for Nadal's loss seemed clear by then:

The biggest reason is definitely Novak Djokovic without a doubt. But I believe Nadal was tactically wrong on many levels.

1. He tried to be overly aggressive from the back, trying to blow Novak away. Big mistake, he became just another attacker for Novak to keep defending against.

I said this in live thread and I am saying it again, Nadal was more aggressive then needed. Nadal is usually a mix of strong defense and counter punch with strong sense of when to end the point.

This wasn't really visible yesterday.

The shots he hit to get broken in 2nd set were highly uncharacteristic.

He made errors going for shots that he never goes for usually, but most importantly Djokovic wasn't even defending that well at that point.

Since when has Nadal tried to hit winners off of within 1-3 shots on clay?


There were some amazing points and shots.

Still, **you don't win matches by flashy points and shots, even a spectacular shot wins you a single point only**

That was the VINTAGE Nadal philosophy, but he tried to do something OPPOSITE of it.


2. Serving riskier than normal:

He thought of thumping serves rather than making them less attackable as is the usual Nadal way. In important moments he couldn't find a first serve after set 1.

Again it seemed he wanted to blow Djokovic away rather than directly confront him in rallies.

3. Trying to rip it way too often from the BH : Nadal's BH is a point ending weapon these days. But there was no reason to try it that often when it already hadn't worked out in many points.

4.Keep serving to Djokovic BH:

I mean I know there's a high probability you get a FH for the return shot but still, you are getting burned doing that why not change?


5.Letting first set become the road map for the match:


Since he still was hitting so many good shots and still hitting some good serves, and he had won the 1st set emphatically,he didn't see the writing on the wall. He didn't try to change it up even when Djokovic keep creeping back and even started to overwhelm him.






From what I saw, Nadal played extremely opposite to his philosophy. He wasn't the won winning every point by the good tennis, rather he was trying to blast Djokovic off the court.

Djokovic just didn't allow it.

His fitness let him down. After years of injuries his body is giving out. He can't play 4-5 sets of high intensity anymore. So he has to try and blitz his opponent. But he also couldn't hit his BH properly due to injury, so it was hopeless.

 

[RF-18]

I really disagree that Nadals tactics were wrong. I said it before the match, a long match with long rallies will favour Djokovic. Djokovic is physically a freak of nature and why I was confident in his physical state was what he went through in Rome. If anything, Nadal had to rip FH and BHs as much as he could and I felt he went for it as soon as he had the chance. Sometimes it didn't work, sometimes it did. His BH last night really did fail him.

Djokovic though, was so confident, not only in his grinding ability, but his gameplan. He was moving the ball around so beautifully and I can't remember how many times he was stretching Nadal out wide over and over again. It's no wonder Nadal gassed out in the end considering how much he had to run, sometimes even way outside the lines, and he got ball after ball back into the court. Djokovic didn't allow himself to be put into such situations. He wanted to own the middle of the court, and he did. Nadals failure is that he couldn't fend him off of there.

 

[SonnyT]

In '20, Djokovic got down 0-5 in 1st set, and couldn't rally. Yesterday, Djokovic got down 0-5 in 1st set, and rallied.

You know what was a key difference? The crowd, they got behind him, and helped him find his rhythm. In '20, there was no crowd, so he couldn't find any energy and rhythm, until the 3rd set, but by then it was too late!

 

[mwym]

OP, has it occurred to you that Nadal cannot grind anymore in a BO5 against top level competition due to age constraints, and has to go very aggressive to compenasate for his reduced stamina and speed?

Fact is: Djokovic is one year younger, has less mileage on his body, and is closer to his peak years. Nadal is slowly losing that double battle: from the younger generational rival and from Father Time.

One year age difference is not the cause.

Matts Wilander warned Rafael Nadal publicly at AO09 or AO10 that his self grueling playing style is plain wrong and will diminish his total carier achievements. Rafa was 23 or 24 at the time.

It was more than 10 years ahead of this moment. It was before Djokovic started to prove Nadal is not unbeatable on clay. It was before Djokovic ounadaled him at AO12. It was before many injuries and 'injuries' happened.

Nadal had enough time to accept good advice telling him he is doing it wrong in a longest run. He did not accept it and did not alter his playing style enough. This is the effect of the cause his decision to do the same is.

Again, he was told this will happen. The fact he did not prevènt this from happening is on him and no one else. He was the one who made sure it happens this way.

It makes an absolute zero difference if he or anyone else is able to grasp this trivial cause and effect.

Facts are simple, but too many human minds are even simpler. They will invent whichever proves their cognitive ability is sufficient. It is always fun to witness it.

 

[myth]

I mean both players are close on clay when they play well. A double fault here and there+ the volley he missed in the tie break + the over head he missed and Nadal would have won the match.

As Nadal said sometimes you win like he did in 2013 and other times it's your opponent's day.

 

[myth]

That loss doesn't take anything away from Nadal. He's the king of clay bas won 13 FO 12 MC 5 Madrid 10 Rome 12 Barcelona.

Novak has mainly be losing to Nadal on clay and still was able to win 1 FO 5 Rome 2 Madrid 2 MC

 

[Stan111]

In my opinion the biggest reason Nadal lost is his serve. From the start of this years gravel season his serve wasn't working. Low first serve percentage and many double faults. That had effect on his confidence. Novak's serve on the other hand has been very sollid at RG this year.

For most of the match - for the first three sets in fact, Djokovic serve wasn't working as well. He started to serve like he served throughout the tournament only in the 4th set when he started to feel more comfortable. That's the pressure effect for both I guess.

 

[mike danny]

I get your point, but it's not about trashing him, it's just aknowledging his weaknesses.Even with that bad matchup, it's not like it was not possible for him to score a win at the French, even if it's a mammoth task to hit shoulder height backhands consistently for hours.2006 Rome F showed that he has the game to do it.

Well, Fred was also closing in on 30 against a 25 year old Nadal. The latter wasn't 35, but 25.

 

[NoleFam]

I did watch yes and there were less UFEs in their match. Zverev served less DFs than Nadal did.
Both have far bigger serves than Djokovic. Nadal was returning short all event so both would have feasted with their plus one. Way Nadal was serving both would have broken him at least once or twice a set.
Signs have been there all clay court season.
In hindsight the AO qf was hugely significant.

There were only 2 less ues in the Zverev/Tsits match. You act like it was a lot. It was a lot more winners in the Djokovic/Nadal match though, something you have ommited. And no, neither Tsits or Zverev would have stood a chance against Nadal based on yesterday.

 

[chjtennis]

Djokovic was just better on the day. They know how to play against each other and they did pretty much everything like they have before - trying to overpower, outsmart, outlast and impose their will on the other. Djokovic was the better one this time, but it can change in their next match, especially on clay.

 

[myth]

Will Novak recover from his match with Nadal? Tsitsipas won't be easy to beat.

 

[TheFifthSet]

It really was a tale of two matches. Djokovic bizarrely had no shot tolerance the first 7-8 or so games…it’s as if he couldn’t handle the weight of shot from Nadal, while also being unable to generate his own pace

 

[ABCD]

It really was a tale of two matches. Djokovic bizarrely had no shot tolerance the first 7-8 or so games…it’s as if he couldn’t handle the weight of shot from Nadal, while also being unable to generate his own pace

Well spotted. Djokovic explained that he needed to adjust to Nadal's spin, which was tremendous. New thing Djokovic invented was short forehand cross-court, which was, of course, extremely difficult to execute.

 

[MadariKatu]

I don't think it was tactics. He had a somewhat off day with too many unforced errors. I think he wasn't feeling the ball, and wanted to finish points early because the longer the point went, the worse he fell. On one side because his shots weren't hurting Djokovic, on the other side, because Novak played a fantastic match, and the more shots a rally had, the more unconfortable he'd be.

For those mentioning conditions... if he played like he did at the end of the match vs Schwarzman, even with this conditions he would have beaten Djokovic, probably. And I say probably, because, even if Nadal made too many mistakes, he did not lose the match. Djokovic won it. He played superb, went for the match and earned it.
The fact that Djokovic was playing so good and Nadal had so many unforced error, yet he was so close to getting that 3rd set, speaks volumes about how good Nadal is at RG.

What makes it not that hard to digest is, that Djokovic played much better and deserved to win, and that for most of the match he kept his composure (same with Wimbledon 2019). What I hate about him is how he sometimes behaves oncourt, which makes me dislike him very much. But, he behaved very good in the match (even though he yelled a couple of times at his box) and brought such high level tennis to the match. Props to him. I hope he doesn't win the tournament, but as a Nadal fan, I'm at peace with the result.

 

[BeatlesFan]

People can dissect the match all they want, but the reason Rafa lost is that he is OLD. He doesn't have the stamina anymore and hasn't had it since 2016. He is slower than he used to be and he got dog tired after three sets yesterday. No shame in that considering he's 35. Same thing happened to him at the AO where he lost in five.

 

[MadariKatu]

People can dissect the match all they want, but the reason Rafa lost is that he is OLD. He doesn't have the stamina anymore and hasn't had it since 2016. He is slower than he used to be and he got dog tired after three sets yesterday. No shame in that considering he's 35. Same thing happened to him at the AO where he lost in five.

Do you think that if Nadal won the 3rd set, he wouldn't have been able to stand in the fight for the rest of the match due to tiredness? Agree that he's declined because he's getting older, but I think the 4th set was so because he put much effort in the 3rd "for nothing".
He could still lose the match, since Novak's level was being too much for him on the day, but I think that physically he'd be able to put more of an effort with the boost of the 3rd set (had he won it).

 

[Third Serve]

1. Nadal was leaking errors far more than usual on clay. There were plenty of bad misses that he should be regretting like that volley miss in the tiebreak (he played that TB poorly anyways). And even if his aggressive shotmaking was off, he couldn’t retreat to the old attrition strategy he was quite fond of employing in his younger days: his legs just can’t do that anymore

2. Djokovic played a clean match (at least after the first five games). Few errors on his end.

3. Djokovic served well, Nadal not so much aside from a few break points.

4. Djokovic employed a great strategy of hitting cross-court to the Nadal BH and breaking it down. Didn’t help that Nadal’s BH was relatively weak yesterday. Smart play on Novak’s end.

5. Nadal simply did not have the stamina, while Djokovic did. He looked straight-up gassed in the fourth set which should be quite concerning for his future Slam chances.

 

[bjsnider]

Nadal cannot win in a circuit where he's playing very frequently sitting back and defending for hours anymore. This has not been his strategy for years, because his body is too banged up after all the mileage, and he gets tired like a typical 35 year old. You can complain that he doesn't play like he's 22 anymore, but he's not 22, and he has to finish points within 5 shots or the pain and fatigue becomes overwhelming. That's just the reality. Most Nadal fans seem to understand this, but some are still living in the past. He's got a bad back, bad wrist, bad knees, and apparently now bad ankles too. He can't hang around for hours banging away from 10 feet behind the baseline because it's no longer 2007. He's still great, but his game has necessarily changed.

 

[Start da Game]

There's basically no such thing as tactics in tennis other than 'hit it to the opponent's backhand'. Oh, what's that - the opponent has a better backhand than they do forehand? Who cares, just break down the backhand anyway. Don't overcomplicate.

If Nadal lost, it's simply because execution wasn't happening, not because of any 'tactical error'. If Nadal is not getting the ball high enough with enough RPM and MPH to Djokovic's backhand, the answer is not to change tactics, but to just hit his forehand better. If forehands at 80mph and 3500rpm kicking up at 6ft are not doing enough damage, Nadal should simply hit forehands at 150mph average, and 10,000rpm and kicking up 15ft over Djokovic's head; do you really think Djokovic would be able to cope with that ball if Nadal's execution became that good?

this is actually a pretty accurate assessment........there are no secrets to beating djokovic.........rafa had to up the ante and put more rpm's on the ball, he himself said in the presser that he couldn't put much spin due to cooler, slow and heavy conditions.........

 

[Beckerserve]

There were only 2 less ues in the Zverev/Tsits match. You act like it was a lot. It was a lot more winners in the Djokovic/Nadal match though, something you have ommited. And no, neither Tsits or Zverev would have stood a chance against Nadal based on yesterday.

Nadal was woeful. He was better in Barcelona and Tsitsipas had MP didnt he?

 

[SonnyT]

Nadal was lucky in 2020, the stands were empty, there was no energy in the building. What happened yesterday, could've happened one year earlier, if there were energy in the building, and Djokovic could get into rhythm.

What others tactics could Nadal have adopted? He always charges ahead, and bull-dozes his way to victory!

 

[T007]

I only watched till 3rd set 3-3.

But as much as I could understand the reason for Nadal's loss seemed clear by then:

The biggest reason is definitely Novak Djokovic without a doubt. But I believe Nadal was tactically wrong on many levels.

1. He tried to be overly aggressive from the back, trying to blow Novak away. Big mistake, he became just another attacker for Novak to keep defending against.

I said this in live thread and I am saying it again, Nadal was more aggressive then needed. Nadal is usually a mix of strong defense and counter punch with strong sense of when to end the point.

This wasn't really visible yesterday.

The shots he hit to get broken in 2nd set were highly uncharacteristic.

He made errors going for shots that he never goes for usually, but most importantly Djokovic wasn't even defending that well at that point.

Since when has Nadal tried to hit winners off of within 1-3 shots on clay?


There were some amazing points and shots.

Still, **you don't win matches by flashy points and shots, even a spectacular shot wins you a single point only**

That was the VINTAGE Nadal philosophy, but he tried to do something OPPOSITE of it.


2. Serving riskier than normal:

He thought of thumping serves rather than making them less attackable as is the usual Nadal way. In important moments he couldn't find a first serve after set 1.

Again it seemed he wanted to blow Djokovic away rather than directly confront him in rallies.

3. Trying to rip it way too often from the BH : Nadal's BH is a point ending weapon these days. But there was no reason to try it that often when it already hadn't worked out in many points.

4.Keep serving to Djokovic BH:

I mean I know there's a high probability you get a FH for the return shot but still, you are getting burned doing that why not change?


5.Letting first set become the road map for the match:


Since he still was hitting so many good shots and still hitting some good serves, and he had won the 1st set emphatically,he didn't see the writing on the wall. He didn't try to change it up even when Djokovic keep creeping back and even started to overwhelm him.






From what I saw, Nadal played extremely opposite to his philosophy. He wasn't the won winning every point by the good tennis, rather he was trying to blast Djokovic off the court.

Djokovic just didn't allow it.

Nadal came up with a game plan and that worked well for 1st set and till then djokovic was not at his best. When djokovic started playing better dominating long rallies from the baseline Nadal was tentative of his tactic wether to play defensive and agressive. He was not decisive in making his winning shot.. sometimes he pulled the trigger earlier and sometimes he just was too passive to play it.

Nadal is bulkier in shape so he will fade away in a physical battle. He needed to play smart without running behind every ball and losing most of them. He spent himself too much in the 3rd that he was barely moving in 4th and djokovic tank was still intact may be because of the extra motivation to win it for 2nd time.

At the end of the its about battle of will and mentality and Nadal just gave after being broken down in the 4th set.

Losing a physical match like this is a omnious sign for him cause outside clay he will be pushed more in earlier rounds.