2013 Monte Carlo F: Nadal vs. Djokovic
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Sundaymorningguy
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Kieran
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Excellent display by Novak, winning 11 of the last 12 points. I missed the start of it but it got interesting, until the crucial points, which Novak seemed to win them all.
Anyone who had a vested interest in saying Nadal was back to his best has the proof today. He's still working hard and he played well at times, but really, he's a long way off the pace. But this match will help and he shouldn't be discouraged. I doubt he will be.
As for the 9 in a row, it's a pity isn't it? I doubt we'll ever see such a thing, but if you're going to lose, better to lose to the best in the world, and him playing like that.
Oh, and congratulations to Novak's fans...*
* for sitting on your hole watching telly!
Anyone who had a vested interest in saying Nadal was back to his best has the proof today. He's still working hard and he played well at times, but really, he's a long way off the pace. But this match will help and he shouldn't be discouraged. I doubt he will be.
As for the 9 in a row, it's a pity isn't it? I doubt we'll ever see such a thing, but if you're going to lose, better to lose to the best in the world, and him playing like that.
Oh, and congratulations to Novak's fans...*
* for sitting on your hole watching telly!
Kieran
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nehmeth said:
I think it's kind of like last year here. The win meant more to Nadal than the loss did to Novak, and I think Nadal will take pride in the fact that his comeback so far has been to see him compete at the very highest levels...
Murat Baslamisli
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Huge win for Nole. Feels weird seeing someone other than Rafa winning this.
I am not sure if this will affect Rafa too much in the negative sense though. He can still tell himself he is coming back, he is not %100, he has room to improve, and he might not be totally wrong.
Huge kudos to Nole though. This match always felt like it was on his racket.
I am not sure if this will affect Rafa too much in the negative sense though. He can still tell himself he is coming back, he is not %100, he has room to improve, and he might not be totally wrong.
Huge kudos to Nole though. This match always felt like it was on his racket.
Kieran
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nehmeth said:
Well, he was aided and abetted by Nadal in the second set, to be fair. He could have closed that set and earlier versions of him would have. But Nole played great when it mattered and I think it bodes well for his own clay season...
Correspondent Kiu
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Final Stats for the match:
First serve Rafa 71%--Nole 62%
Aces Rafa 2-- Nole 2
DF Rafa 3--Nole 0
Breaks Rafa 3/6--Nole 5/12
Points Rafa 61--Nole 78
First serve Rafa 71%--Nole 62%
Aces Rafa 2-- Nole 2
DF Rafa 3--Nole 0
Breaks Rafa 3/6--Nole 5/12
Points Rafa 61--Nole 78
brokenshoelace
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Re: previous discussion about how much the weather can affect the outcome:
Look at what Novak was doing to Nadal in the first set before the courts dried up. That's how much tennis is affected by little things. The king of clay almost got bagelled on a court he hadn't lost on in 8 years. The ball was staying so low, Rafa's forehand had no action, and Novak's flat shots were so penetrating. Some of his DTL forehands had to be picked up by Rafa off of his shoelaces. When the courts dried up, Rafa made it more competitive, but ultimately, despite some lapses, Novak was too in the zone.
I feel after such a slow start, it was always going to be an uphill battle for Nadal. Some tactical adjustments like hitting his forehand a little more up the line, and using the backhand slice down the line to Novak's backhand were fruitful and almost won him the 2nd set, but with so many errors off of the backhand side, and a relatively tame service day was always going to make it difficult. Novak was putting so much pressure with his returning, and pinned Rafa behind his backhand, who despite hitting it well as off late, just couldn't hit with enough consistency off of that side (at least he tried to hit through it as opposed to dropping it short and getting killed).
Nadal's forehand not firing (especially his hesitancy to pull the trigger on the inside out forehand) didn't help matters. Because it's clay, Rafa just wouldn't pull the trigger early because that's not how he plays on this surface (by contrast, he was willing to make that adjustment at the US Open and AO when they played). I can't blame him to be honest, and I don't think he should have necessarily pulled the trigger early, but ultimately, there were too many instances in the second set where he worked himself into a position to hit the winner and just didn't have the confidence to go for it.
It was obvious that he wasn't defending as well as he did against Novak in say, Rome of last year, and Novak wasn't giving him nearly as many unforced errors, so Rafa had to get more aggressive with the forehand. He wasn't playing good enough to do that, and his opponent was playing too good to give him many chances at an adjustment.
As far as Novak is concerned, it was the typical winning strategy against Rafa, and it often boils down to execution (he wasn't executing that well last year, and lost 3 in a row). He was much sharper this year, and won. Serve out wide on both sides, open up the court, and dominate from there. He makes it look quite simple actually, when he's playing that well.
When they inevitably play again on clay this year, Rafa needs to play more to the middle, give Novak less angles, and get that inside out forehand going. More importantly, he needs better placement on his serving. Every service game is going to be a struggle otherwise.
Look at what Novak was doing to Nadal in the first set before the courts dried up. That's how much tennis is affected by little things. The king of clay almost got bagelled on a court he hadn't lost on in 8 years. The ball was staying so low, Rafa's forehand had no action, and Novak's flat shots were so penetrating. Some of his DTL forehands had to be picked up by Rafa off of his shoelaces. When the courts dried up, Rafa made it more competitive, but ultimately, despite some lapses, Novak was too in the zone.
I feel after such a slow start, it was always going to be an uphill battle for Nadal. Some tactical adjustments like hitting his forehand a little more up the line, and using the backhand slice down the line to Novak's backhand were fruitful and almost won him the 2nd set, but with so many errors off of the backhand side, and a relatively tame service day was always going to make it difficult. Novak was putting so much pressure with his returning, and pinned Rafa behind his backhand, who despite hitting it well as off late, just couldn't hit with enough consistency off of that side (at least he tried to hit through it as opposed to dropping it short and getting killed).
Nadal's forehand not firing (especially his hesitancy to pull the trigger on the inside out forehand) didn't help matters. Because it's clay, Rafa just wouldn't pull the trigger early because that's not how he plays on this surface (by contrast, he was willing to make that adjustment at the US Open and AO when they played). I can't blame him to be honest, and I don't think he should have necessarily pulled the trigger early, but ultimately, there were too many instances in the second set where he worked himself into a position to hit the winner and just didn't have the confidence to go for it.
It was obvious that he wasn't defending as well as he did against Novak in say, Rome of last year, and Novak wasn't giving him nearly as many unforced errors, so Rafa had to get more aggressive with the forehand. He wasn't playing good enough to do that, and his opponent was playing too good to give him many chances at an adjustment.
As far as Novak is concerned, it was the typical winning strategy against Rafa, and it often boils down to execution (he wasn't executing that well last year, and lost 3 in a row). He was much sharper this year, and won. Serve out wide on both sides, open up the court, and dominate from there. He makes it look quite simple actually, when he's playing that well.
When they inevitably play again on clay this year, Rafa needs to play more to the middle, give Novak less angles, and get that inside out forehand going. More importantly, he needs better placement on his serving. Every service game is going to be a struggle otherwise.
Kieran
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Denisovich said:
That's the thing. We're lucky to have this, right now. It seems that Rafa's role since he was young is that of spoiler, the guy who keeps tennis from being dominated by one man. But THIS is Novak's best chance to win Paris, because Nadal might not be up to speed by then, and Novak has found his old swagger.
Anyway, it's a bit disappointing just from the historical context: 9 in a row would have been insane...
herios
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1972Murat said:
This might nt mean as much for Rafa in the big scheme of things, but means a huge lift in boosting Nole's confdence as far as his chances at RG. That one is the next goal and he knows he has the tools to do it.
brokenshoelace
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nehmeth said:
I'd take Nole's 62% service quality over Rafa's any day of the week. Novak's placement, and his ability to take Rafa off the court on both sides was uncanny. Nadal's serving in the first set was extremely predictable. It improved in the second (which in part helped make matters more competitive), but it was still pretty sub-standard stuff at this level. Nadal is almost always going to have a high service percentage. That's never really the issue. I'd actually rather see it lower against Novak, as it means he's going after his serve more, even on clay.
I understand where you're coming from, and he was put on his heels, but that doesn't mean he didn't serve relatively poorly, as far as quality is concerned. I don't see how these things are mutually exclusive.
