I will say what no one else will. The key difference in the match was Nadal's gamesmanship in the fifth set. While Nadal has bullied his way to getting proper time to plan his serve and the point. And all the mainstream outlets were faulting the umpire for enforcing the time violation rules. Nadal doesnt care about the viewers.
Nadal repeatedly threw off Medvedev's serve by putting his hand up. Repeatedly stealing aces from Medvedev. Danil was deprived of serving when he felt right. Deprived of being able to focus on his point construction, and visualization of his muscles working perfectly in his service motion. Nadal succeeded in getting inside his head via his return routine of getting a towel, giving himself an enema, and holding up his hand. Nadal gets away with not playing to the servers pace. This cost Medvedev being broken early in the fifth. This made a difference. Dont fall for Nadals fake humility.
Credible point of view and most likely a key factor of the fifth set. Ivan Ljubicic said in my book Facing Nadal that Rafa's slow tactics throw off the big hitters rhythm and at 4-4 30-all the big hitters, like Ivan himself, will miss their shots by an inch or two because of Nadal's stall tactics. Nadal is still a great player and a smart one to exploit the rules to his advantage.
ReplyDeleteI gotta get that book of yours sounds like a good read. Nadal is absolutely a valid champion. Personally, though, i dislike him because he represents those players that never miss whom ive lost to. And also his game is incomplete. Id love to see a player respecting the history of the game by having shot in the book. Many shots and styles have been forgotten. And with Djokovic and Nadal at the top i feel tennis is reduced to a fitness competition instead of a shot making competition.
ReplyDeleteFew corrections
ReplyDeleteEvery shot in the book
I fear . . . not i feel