1972Murat said:
Just watched the match. Rafa was sharp and forehand was solid. Backhands are still falling short. The score makes it look like a straight forward win as usual against Bird, and it kinda was, but there were serious turning points: Bird leading 0-30 on Rafa's serve, has an easy shot, makes the wrong choice, Rafa holds, goes on to break...etc. Had Bird broken there, the psychology of the match changes. Seemed like Rafa won every point that mattered, Bird folded when he needed to step up.
Very positive from Rafa though. Some forehands were vintage.
After 3-2 in the opening set (which is pretty early in the match), it was straightforward. Nadal came off a bit shaky and you're right, those were turning points as he may not have had the confidence to go for the shots the way he did had he gotten broken and found himself down 4-2 in the opener.
Nevertheless, and I'm not being a detractor or anything here, I'll wait to see Nadal in a match-up that gives him a bit more trouble. There are a lot of things he can do against Berdych that allow him to settle down and feel confident that he may not otherwise enjoy in a different match-up (including someone like Ferrer). Namely, just slowly taking him out of position with angled CC forehand without going for depth, until feeling confident enough with the margins to go up the line (without going too close to the line too. It's a safe-ish shot, one that's probably not going to be good enough against others).
With that said, as his confidence grew, he started letting rip on the forehand and it was a thing of beauty. I remember making a thread a while ago called "players who look good against certain opponents" or something like that, and one of the first match-ups that I named was Nadal-Berdych. Rafa always looks on fire against him.
Better serving from Rafa too, which is a huge plus.
