Roger Federer broke down Rafael Nadal’s much-vaunted return game during his 6-4, 6-3 victory in the Shanghai Rolex Masters final by hitting the corners of the service boxes at will, and by staying a step ahead in the guessing game of which corner he was aiming at next. Federer’s serve was completely dialed in, leaving Nadal to continuously play catch-up on the quick indoor court. The pair has now played 38 times, with the Spaniard holding a 23-15 advantage. The following metrics show how dominant Federer was on serve and how Nadal was unable to make an impact on return. Nadal Return Statistics v Federer Lowest: 2nd Serve Return Points Won = 21% (3/14) It was the lowest percentage of...
Sweet 16. Rafael Nadal won a perfect 16 of 16 points at the net in claiming his 16th Grand Slam singles title at the US Open on Sunday. Everywhere you looked, there was a storyline, but his superiority in finishing points at the front of the court shone bright on the big stage. Nadal defeated Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-3, 6-4 in the final, putting a stamp on his recent resurgence back to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. There were six focal points for the Spaniard that highlighted his dominance in the past fortnight in the Big Apple. 1. Tournament Net Points Won 80% (96/120) Nadal finished tied for fourth-best in points won at the net during the tournament and was...
Fast feet and slow backhands. That was the mercurial mix that engineered Grigor Dimitrov's maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title over Nick Kyrgios at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Sunday. Dimitrov won 6-3, 7-5, saving both break points faced while winning a dominant 69 per cent (18/26) of second serves, which was far superior to Kyrgios’ 44 per cent (8/18). Dimitrov showed exemplary footwork and speed on defence, many times sliding on the hard court well behind the baseline, miraculously putting one more ball back in play. It had a cumulative effect on Kyrgios, who had no answer for his quicker opponent when rally lengths reached double digits. There were 16 rallies in the match that...
Alexander Zverev put the writing on the wall early. Then he blew the wall over. Zverev powered to a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Roger Federer in the final of the Coupe Rogers in Montreal Sunday with a stunning display of power tennis that constantly had the Swiss star under immense baseline pressure. Zverev hit through Federer on the quicker Canadian court, upping his power level right from the beginning of the match to force forehand and backhand errors and capture the all-important first break of serve. When Zverev broke for 3-1 in the opening set, it proved to be a pivotal moment that Federer never recovered from. Zverev's forehand was the battering ram. He was averaging hitting his topspin, driving...
It was 22 minutes of mayhem. The match lasted two hours and five minutes, but the torturous time the ball was in play was just 21 minutes and 59 seconds. It must have felt like an eternity for Stan Wawrinka. Rafael Nadal defeated Wawrinka 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 on Sunday afternoon at Roland Garros. From 2-2 in the first set, it was basically game over. Overall, Nadal won 94 points to 57 (62%). The average point duration for the match was just eight seconds. Eight seconds of side-to-side, lactic acid domination. Eight seconds of Nadal running Wawrinka to whatever arrondissement of Paris he wanted him to go. Wawrinka is so dangerous when he gets to step into a ball, but he...