Coaches Corner, Part 1: How do you play successfully against Rafael Nadal?
Professional tennis coaches see more - which is why we simply ask how to play against the big players in the industry. In part 1 of our series, the head coach of the German Tennis Federation Michael Kohlmann analyzes the twelve-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal .
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Apr 06, 2020, 10:54 am
Michael Kohlmann, German Davis Cup captain, would like to say the following with regard to Rafael Nadal, also from his own experience: "It is actually impossible to hit him on sand." As a coach, Kohlmann knows from his own experience: With the German national team it went against the Spaniards in Valencia in 2018, Nadal first defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber , then Alexander Zverev in the top singles . A few weeks later, Nadal won in Roland Garros against Maximilian Marterer, who was then looked after by Kohlmann.
The characteristics in the game by Rafael Nadal
When he opened his game, Nadal served over 66 percent in the backhand of a right-hander and then continued to play with the forehand. When returning, he is extremely far behind the line, to show the opponent a few gaps to make the field smaller. This is especially true of ashes. On hard court Nadal cannot stand so far back because you can hurt him there with the short slice serve.
From the baseline, he is much more active with the forehand, but he also makes more mistakes with it, including the return. Backhand is more solid, but also ensures fewer points. Nadal is extremely good when the opponent plays too evenly, i.e. too often in a corner. You have to give him tasks, otherwise he will eventually take over with the forehand and play so aggressively that you can no longer get out of the defensive. And if you play Nadal in the backhand, but leave too much time, he really goes for it and plays a lot of backhand longline, especially with balls in the ascent. Then he waited a few balls until he chose the right one.
How do you have to play against Rafael Nadal?
The most important thing is, and now I call Novak Djokovic and also Robin Söderling, who will be forgotten with pleasure - they managed or managed to stay on the line, taking Nadal's time away. Time is the deciding factor, even if we walk away from the ashes. You can see that in the last matches against Roger Federer on hard court, which Federer won because he stayed on the line and took the balls extremely early. You have to push Rafa off the baseline with long, punchy balls. Djokovic takes advantage of this on hard court time and again by playing the ball backhand quickly into Nadal's forehand - and then having the field open for the next stroke. Djokovic then either plays in the opposite foot or moves up the net. Playing long over the middle is also an option before the hard ball hits the forehand. At Federer it has recently been the same against Nadal.
When returning against Nadal, it is also important to play the first ball quickly and hard. Again the time factor. You have to be aggressive on the second serve anyway. Yannick Hanfmann achieved this in Paris 2019 in the first two service games. Then Rafa switched over, served the first a lot in the forehand.
Interesting by the way: If Rafa plays out of the barrel, then mostly cross. Passing balls are an exception, as he sometimes uses the longline.
But of course: Getting Rafa off the baseline on ashes, putting pressure on him so that his spin doesn't work is extremely difficult. And very few people have managed that. Djokovic, Söderling, Thiem and Fognini have done this from time to time. But if you saw how Sascha Zverev played against him at the Davis Cup - Rafa gave him too much time, played too defensively and kept dropping the ball. And leave Rafa in control. If you compare that with London 2019, Sascha was much closer to the line, also played a lot of longline and thus gained quick points.