Matt - Do you think this was Djokovic's planned strategy for the match or was it a second set adjustment. Watching the match, it felt like an adjustment but perhaps he simply couldn't do it in the first set. The other factor was Nadal's serve, which was very strong in first set and then was very very weak in the next three sets. Against Djokovic, that's death as he was able to return to the backhand hard. The other thing was that Nadal was unable or unwilling to use the aggressive flatter cross-court backhand that's he's developed in the last four years, perhaps because Djokovic's shots were too good. In the first game of the third set, he ripped one of those backhands for the first time and (as a Nadal fan) I breathed a sigh of relief as he need that shot but it disappeared again after that and he kept hitting those loopy knuckleballish backhands with side spin almost off the fists and those did nothing for him. In any case, a great win for Djokovic and certainly well-deserved. As a Nadal fan, I've been scared of Novak coming into the French since 2011 and surprised he hasn't won before this, especially in 2014. (2015 doesn't count for Nadal fans, as he wasn't himself that year).
I think Nadal has shown enough times that if he'a able to play his best tennis, or close to it, on that court it doesn't really matter what the opponent does. In Friday's semi, his serve and return dropped off pretty significantly from set 2 onwards, likely a mix of conditions changing and Novak growing in confidence and playing stunning tennis. Nadal's 2nd serve returns in particular were especially and unusually tame, most of all considering Novak was not hitting his 2nd serve hard in that match. There were multiple mid service box deliveries which Nadal would usually put deep in the court that ended up with Novak having a pretty routine 2nd shot post-serve. Think it was really just a perfect storm of rafa having a slightly off day compounded by conditions, and Novak playing one of his best clay matches ever.
Hi Matt, I am following you for a long time and I really enjoy your tweets and your analysis as well. As Novak would say - you have your authentic way of analyzing a tennis match.
I thought to ask you couple of questions if you don't mind.
1) I know most of the people that follow the sport would be rooting for (or support) one particular player. Do you have your fav player? Also, when you watch a big match do you watch them supporting a player or stay neutral. Just curious to know :)
2) GOAT - I know you are not a big fan of this debate. And we cannot come up with one due to various factors. But if one were to list the criteria and give points/marks for each of the criteria what your criteria list would look like?
Not on point, but I got curious when the last time someone won a major after being down 2 sets in 2 different matches (Tsitsipas and Mussetti). If I didn't miss anything, it turns out the answer is a long time. It's never happened in the Open Era. Being down 2 sets once and recovering to win a major is not unusual. It's happened 23 times in open era. But Djokovic is only person to do it 3 times (also US Open 2011 down 2 sets to Federer in SF and Wimbledon 2015 down 2 sets to Anderson). Only Federer and Laver did it twice in Open Era. Laver did it four times in his career. There have been 6 open era finals comebacks from 0-2. Five of them in the French (Gaudio in 2004; Agassi in 1999; Lendl in 1984; Borg in 1974). Only non-French was last year's US Open. Nadal was never down two sets in a major that he won.
Final fun fact. Djokovic lost first set three times this French Open. Only two players in open era have dropped first set four times and won tournament. Agassi in 1992 Wimbledon and McEnroe in 1981 Wimbledon.
Matt - Do you think this was Djokovic's planned strategy for the match or was it a second set adjustment. Watching the match, it felt like an adjustment but perhaps he simply couldn't do it in the first set. The other factor was Nadal's serve, which was very strong in first set and then was very very weak in the next three sets. Against Djokovic, that's death as he was able to return to the backhand hard. The other thing was that Nadal was unable or unwilling to use the aggressive flatter cross-court backhand that's he's developed in the last four years, perhaps because Djokovic's shots were too good. In the first game of the third set, he ripped one of those backhands for the first time and (as a Nadal fan) I breathed a sigh of relief as he need that shot but it disappeared again after that and he kept hitting those loopy knuckleballish backhands with side spin almost off the fists and those did nothing for him. In any case, a great win for Djokovic and certainly well-deserved. As a Nadal fan, I've been scared of Novak coming into the French since 2011 and surprised he hasn't won before this, especially in 2014. (2015 doesn't count for Nadal fans, as he wasn't himself that year).
I think Nadal has shown enough times that if he'a able to play his best tennis, or close to it, on that court it doesn't really matter what the opponent does. In Friday's semi, his serve and return dropped off pretty significantly from set 2 onwards, likely a mix of conditions changing and Novak growing in confidence and playing stunning tennis. Nadal's 2nd serve returns in particular were especially and unusually tame, most of all considering Novak was not hitting his 2nd serve hard in that match. There were multiple mid service box deliveries which Nadal would usually put deep in the court that ended up with Novak having a pretty routine 2nd shot post-serve. Think it was really just a perfect storm of rafa having a slightly off day compounded by conditions, and Novak playing one of his best clay matches ever.
And yes, definitely a planned strategy. Not the first or the last time Novak uses that cross court forehand to try to exploit Nadal's backhand.
Hi Matt, I am following you for a long time and I really enjoy your tweets and your analysis as well. As Novak would say - you have your authentic way of analyzing a tennis match.
I thought to ask you couple of questions if you don't mind.
1) I know most of the people that follow the sport would be rooting for (or support) one particular player. Do you have your fav player? Also, when you watch a big match do you watch them supporting a player or stay neutral. Just curious to know :)
2) GOAT - I know you are not a big fan of this debate. And we cannot come up with one due to various factors. But if one were to list the criteria and give points/marks for each of the criteria what your criteria list would look like?
Thank you for your time, Matt.
Not on point, but I got curious when the last time someone won a major after being down 2 sets in 2 different matches (Tsitsipas and Mussetti). If I didn't miss anything, it turns out the answer is a long time. It's never happened in the Open Era. Being down 2 sets once and recovering to win a major is not unusual. It's happened 23 times in open era. But Djokovic is only person to do it 3 times (also US Open 2011 down 2 sets to Federer in SF and Wimbledon 2015 down 2 sets to Anderson). Only Federer and Laver did it twice in Open Era. Laver did it four times in his career. There have been 6 open era finals comebacks from 0-2. Five of them in the French (Gaudio in 2004; Agassi in 1999; Lendl in 1984; Borg in 1974). Only non-French was last year's US Open. Nadal was never down two sets in a major that he won.
Final fun fact. Djokovic lost first set three times this French Open. Only two players in open era have dropped first set four times and won tournament. Agassi in 1992 Wimbledon and McEnroe in 1981 Wimbledon.