The "new" Rafael Nadal
The fact that Rafael Nadal has tried to shorten rallies and move his match position closer to the baseline in recent years has been known for a long time.
by Armin Leiter
last edit: Feb 01, 2022, 08:30 pm
Gone are the days when he lurked several meters behind the baseline on hard courts and involved his opponents in endless rallies. Unforgettable is the 2012 final in which he lost to Djokovic, with its endless baseline rallies. Ten years later, Nadal, probably due to his advanced age, has adopted a slightly different, more aggressive style of play. But the Spaniard has rarely been seen as offensively as on the courts in Melbourne, on average Nadal's rallies lasted only 4.05 strokes until the final against Mevedev.
Medvedevs had a plan
And that's exactly what Daniil Medvedev tried to prevent from the first moment, his plan was to involve Nadal in long rallies, which he did in the first two sets. Especially in the second set there were an incredible 28 rallies with more than 9 shots, his tactics seemed to work and the Spaniard seemed a little at a loss. But the word give up is not in Nadal's vocabulary, with the courage of desperation he now risked more, and after the breakballs were saved at 2 to 3 in the third set, the game slowly but surely tipped over. By the end of the spectacular race to catch up, Nadal had reduced the length of the rallies to five strokes in set four and even to 4.31 strokes in the fifth set. Although Medvedev fought selflessly up to the last point, he could no longer prevent the defeat against Rafael Nadal, who was enthusiastically celebrated by the Australian fans.
Nadal by far the most successful athlete in the first 20 Grand Slams
For Daniil Medvedev, the final in Australia was his fourth in 20 appearances in the main draw at the majors. An impressive record, in this statistic he overtook no less than Kuerten, Safin, Ferrero and Roddick, who made it three times. In front of Medvedev by far the first place in this list of Mallorcan Nadal with fabulous 8 finals, of which he left the place as Grand Slam Champion 6 times.