About this article on “How Nadal Humbled Federer”…
There is a little voice at the back of the class asking a couple of questions: Sir, if Nadal’s so good – what about Del Potro – not exactly a vintage giant-killer – humbling Nadal recently? Or Murray humbling Nadal back in spring sometime? Or – as I write, Verdasco humbling Nadal in a large portion of the second set of today’s Madrid Open quarter final. Yes, all players have bad days, injuries, and OK, as is the routine with Nadal – a caveat underlines each of his losses – “I played really badly”/injured, etc.
I think I agree with the writer that Nadal’s single biggest advantage over Federer is his left-handedness. That’s therefore the case against almost all the players on tour. Like the article says, that massive, highly spun forehand high into any righty’s backhand region is a killer.
So the cherry on top of this advantage against Federer is his successful step into the mind of Federer.
Against Verdasco, a left-hander, Nadal struggles. I would be surprised if he could put his finger on what he did to beat Verdasco on any given day. My feeling is that he just stays his course, stays focussed, and lets Verdasco self-implode. Just like he did against Nalbandian – who had Nadal in dire straits until he performed a black-hole routine.
Against Verdsasco, Nadal loses the natural advantage and the playing field is quite clearly levelled. In the bits I saw today, Verdasco smacked Nadal around the court en-route to a 4-0 lead in the second set, and almost pulled off a second come back later on in the set despite the pressure (that time). In the second set, Verdasco was controlling almost all the points – win or lose. Unfortunately for him, from 4-0 on he lost a ridiculous amount of them!
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I would say Verdasco is almost as skilled a tennis player as Nadal from all quarters, good shot selection, game plan, and slightly more aggressive. And interestingly considering the grunt that goes into Nadal’s shots, Verdasco’s average ground stroke speed is actually faster than Nadal’s (mind you Nadal’s spin counts for a lot). In their match Verdasco hit more winners than Nadal, making pretty shots, playing more stylishly than Nadal. (Nadal, as always, appears totally unimpressed.)
The difference between Verdasco and Nadal – confidence. Nadal’s history. The legend, the “Clay King” aura. Consequently, at 4-0 up in the second set, Verdasco folded and overcooked absolutely everything, his serve, groundstrokes, walking, breathing. Nadal did not have to do a thing but one thing he also did not do was do too much. So, while there was no apparent pressure coming from Nadal, it was almost as if Verdasco’s own conceit made him give it away because of this! While Nadal was hitting easy balls out it looked just like Verdasco’s mind was screaming “this cannot go on, I have to play even better otherwise he will suddenly fight back”. Yep – he will certainly try – but you don’t have to hand him your serve and then some! At 4-0 up Verdasco suddenly freaked and handed the next three games to Nadal. Of course, Nadal, being Nadal, only needed a sniff, and after the gift of three games he took it from there. But just to help Nadal along, Verdasco continued to overcook everything – good job.
The Eurosport commentary team say Nadal’s performance “underlines in huge thick lines precisely why Nadal is essentially unbeatable on this service [sic]“. Nope. what it underlined was “how to beat Nadal on this surface”. Be left-handed, but also – keep your cool, for God’s sakes. It’s a ridiculous assertion to say Nadal won that match. Had Verdasco’s mind not completely deserted him at 4-0 up, he would’ve thrashed Nadal in that second set. Coulda shoulda woulda.
As I continue to be unimpressed by many of Nadal’s wins [tennis-wise] – I just think that much as many tennis fans would like to say that the true greatest may actually now have arrived – no, really this time – the wishful thinking from Nadal’s fans is a bit premature, and the general regard given to Nadal’s game needs a little more balance. There is too little between him and the rest of the field.
[Footnote: and by the way, Del Potro is also currently showing why there is now so little difference between the world's top four players and the rest, as he displays the benefits of being aggressive against supposedly the most in-form player this year - Murray]
