Nadal's net game has looked surprisingly shaky since coming back. The one thing that stood out to me today is that for the most part, he was dictating, but actually grew frustrated when Dimitrov was tracking down some shots, which is unusual for Nadal. The main issue was indecision. Whenever he attacked the net, he do did so late. His positioning in the forecourt was verging on awful, and his volleys were pretty terrible as well.
His actual ground strokes were looking fine though, and he's moving well enough. I continue to be very impressed with his backhand since the comeback. I think the conditions actually didn't suit him, and his forehand wasn't getting as much work off the courts as it normally does on this surface. If the sun is out in the semis and final, don't be surprised to see him look much sharper.
The main aspect he needs to work on is the serve, as right now, it's really a non factor, and he's having to work extra hard.
Dimitrov actually played a very smart match, and playing the slice to Rafa's forehand is a damn smart strategy. Slicing to Rafa's backhand is suicide since his footwork allows him to run around it and basically do whatever he wants with the ball (nobody punishes slices like Nadal), but when you slice to his forehand, he usually doesn't have much to work with beyond hitting a relatively tame cross court forehand (he especially hates changing directions and going up the line off of low cross court slices to his forehand).
