Breaking It Down: Nadal vs. Federer

 Rafael Nadal would make an excellent stone cutter. He is incredibly gifted at first finding a crack and then unceasingly hammering away at it until he finally breaks the stone in victory.

This was essentially the story line of Nadal’s 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-4 victory over Roger Federer in the semifinals of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Friday night.

It was close early, but the monotonous, repetitive nature of Nadal’s game plan opened holes all over the court in Federer’s flashy but inconsistent game. Nadal pounded away at Federer’s backhand with his serve and extracted an avalanche of errors from Federer’s forehand.

 RELATED COVERAGE

Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrated after his win on Friday.Rafael Nadal Dismantles Roger Federer Once Again to Advance to FinalJAN. 24, 2014

Holes that other players fail to find in Federer’s game have always seemed easy for Nadal to expose. Surprisingly, Nadal’s dominance over Federer is built from running fewer patterns of play, not more. Time and time again we all knew, including Federer, where Nadal was going to hit the ball, but there was nothing Federer could do from slipping further behind in the rally. When Federer is going for winners early in the point, which started around the middle of the second set, then the noose is tightening.

The most obvious of Nadal’s simple strategies is his serve direction.

He made 56 first serves for the match and pinpointed 52 (92 percent) to Federer’s backhand. Nadal has been doing that for years, and it is remarkable Federer has not figured out a way to counter this tactic.

 You could almost imagine Nadal yelling over the net on Rod Laver Arena, telling Federer where the serve was going to go, but Federer still managing to lose the point. Federer won only 28 percent (15 of 52) of points beginning with a backhand return off a first serve, and none of four directed to his forehand.

What leaves you shaking your head is that Federer coughed up a 19 backhand return errors for the match, even though it was obvious where the serve was going to go. Nadal committed 11 backhand return errors.

Nadal and Federer last played each other on an outdoor hard court last summer in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters. Nadal won, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. He directed a healthy 87 percent (57 of 65) of first serves to Federer’s backhand in that match, with Federer winning 24 percent (14 of 57) but only committing 6 backhand return errors.

In Cincinnati, Federer sliced 43 percent of his backhand returns (25of 57), in Melbourne he sliced only 11 percent (6 of 51) in an apparent effort to be more offensive to begin the point. But Federer is missing the point: it’s not how he hits it, but where that matter more.

Nadal is always prowling for a forehand as his first shot after the serve, and Friday’s semifinal was true to form. Nadal hit a forehand after a serve 72 percent of the time, winning 73 percent of those points. It’s the most lethal one-two combination in the sport, and Federer can’t stop it. In Cincinnati Nadal hit a serve and a forehand 75 percent of the time, winning 70 percent of those points.

Those kinds of numbers define a career and create a legend.

Federer’s second major hole in the semifinal was his forehand. He needed it to be his biggest weapon, but it was his biggest weakness. Federer had 30 forehand errors, the most of groundstroke on either side of the net. Federer hit 13 forehand winners to Nadal’s 9, but only two came in the opening set, seven in the second set and four in the last set.

The horse had already bolted.

Twenty of Federer’s forehand errors were committed in the deuce court, where Nadal often had Federer running hard to hit his forehand defensively under great pressure.

Federer’s third big hole for the match was approaching; he won only 16 of 35 net points. His determination to attack was commendable, but the strategy behind it was doomed from the beginning.

Federer dominated approaching to Nadal’s backhand as expected, but was repeatedly crushed when approaching to Nadal’s wicked heavy topspin forehand. Federer won 14 of 19 points approaching to Nadal’s backhand, so why didn’t he do it more?

While the match looked close at the beginning, the pressure was silently building as Federer searched in vain for holes in Nadal’s game. For Federer to beat Nadal in such an important occasion, he needed to win the first set and apply scoreboard pressure, hit rock-solid backhand returns back to Nadal’s backhand, and stop approaching to Nadal’s forehand. That will at least get him on a level playing field.

Stefan Edberg, Federer’s new coach, will be pleased with an inform run to the semifinals, but Nadal is simply a different animal, who exposes all the current warts in Federer’s game.

Craig O’Shannessy directs a tennis strategy analysis company called the Brain Game and runs the Brain Game Tennis Academy at the Polo Tennis Club in Austin, Tex. He can be followed on Twitter at @braingametennis.

You have read this articlesport / Sports with the title Breaking It Down: Nadal vs. Federer. You can bookmark this page URL http://88-celebrity.blogspot.com/2014/01/breaking-it-down-nadal-vs-federer.html. Thanks!

Write by: Unknown - Saturday, January 25, 2014