Compare it to the Wimbledon Final of 2006 and you can see that Nadal has closed the gap with Federer on grass. This was an even match.
Both guys have played each other enough and adjusted enough that the matches between them are no longer about patterns. No one is clamoring that Federer should slice more or hit down the line backhands.
It came down to pure tennis execution.
The one area where Federer is clearly superior to Nadal is in hitting aces and unreturnable first serves. Notice that I didn't say his serve is better.
Look at how often Nadal holds serve and you can begin to appreciate his serving strategy. He hits his lefty slice most of the time and makes righthanders block back a weak return into midcourt.
From there, Nadal dominates points with his forehand.
The problem with this strategy is that it's not that effective in tiebreaks where getting free points on your serve is key.
And, if Nadal had been able to split the 2 tiebreaks with Fed, we'd be looking at a new Wimbledon champion.
Let's hope the Wimbledon Final of 2008 is just as good.
Next time I'll talk about Nadal's serve from a technical point of view.
Until next time,
Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Ideas To Help You Win More Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.
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