10sChiro on Djokovic vs Nadal, Australian Open Final, 2012

Written by: Tennischiro on 31st January 2012

10sChiro on Djokovic vs Nadal, Australian Open Final, 2012

epa03084254 Rafael Nadal of Spain in action against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their men's singles final match at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 29 January 2012. EPA/BARBARA WALTON |

There’s not much more I can say about this match that hasn’t already been said. I thought it was absolutely amazing. I stayed up all night and they never once lost my attention. The suspense and drama built as the match went on and the level of play actually improved when it seemed they should barely have been able to stand.

I took some notes as the match went on and charted first serves and how the points were determined. You may find it interesting to go back and look at where just the slightest change (just one point) could have made a huge difference in the outcome of the match. Nadal was up a set and within a point of coming back from 2-5 down to 5-5 in the second set and he Djokovic forced an error off his forehand. In the fifth set, Nadal was up 4-2, 30/15 and he made his first serve only to see that point and the next two go against him. It’s also interesting to see how many more points Nadal was having to play on his service games, where the first serve seemed to make a difference and where it didn’t. The links to my charts are listed at the end of these notes.

10sChiro

1st Set
Both working wide serves and in/out Fh winner, Nadal to Ad court, Djokovic to the Deuce court

Great get and recovery led to 1st break for Nadal at 2-2

A lot of unforced errors…4-3, 60/70, Forehand unforced error for break

Nadal hitting deeper forehands and some serves in 120’s

5-5, 30/30: Nadal forehand DTL to force forehand error; 30/40: Backhand error for Djokovic for the break

6-5: 2 error for Nole after getting back from 40/15 to deuce.

Set to Nadal, 7-5.

2nd Set
good point @0-1, 30/40 to get to deuce

1-1. 1st point is a great point for Djokovic
1-1, 30/15: Forehand error for Nole is a sign of fatigue
Nadal’s avg serve so far is 114mph which is 5MPH faster than last 2 matches

1-2, 0/0: Nole commands point, but Rafa rules next 2 for 30/15
1-2, 30/40: Nole just 1/7 on break points, but breaks at 30/40 with forehand volley winner for 3-1

3-1: Backhand winner Nadal @30/15, but Forehand winner Djokovic at 30/30

Routine back and forth to 2-5

2-5, 30/30: Wide serve from Nadal and short slice takes it to 40/30
50/40: Backhand return winner from Djokovic
50/50: Forehand return forces forehand error from Nadal, but he eventually holds

5-3, 40/15: Nadal attacks and wins 4 points in a row to get back on serve. Novak must be tired!

4-5, 40/40: Novak got to deuce on 3 Nadal forehand errors. Djokovic guesses and passes for break point with a Backhand winner. Nadal double faults the set away! He had 40/15 to take the set to 5-5. Once Nadal gave him the chance with those forehand errors, Djokovic stepped up and took his chances to pressure Nadal at this critical juncture.

3rd Set
Energy appears up for both players as 3rd set begins. Djokovic starts off with love game and 4 first serves.

0=1: Djokovic looking tougher now, but Nadal holds him off in a long game. Both hitting bigger now.

1-1: Game starts off with a big rally and Djokovic ends it with a backhand winner down the line. Play is now much more aggressive from both.

1-2: Djokovic wrests break from Nadal with persistent attack. Nadal made 3 of 6 first serves but lost all three of those points!

3-1: Djokovic holds at love with 4 first serves.

1-4, 0/0: Novak approaches and makes Forehand winner. Nadal plays two aggressive points, making 1st serves for 30/15.
30/15: Djokovic attacks 2nd serve again and forces forehand error from Nadal.
Forehand drop shot winner for Djokovic at 30/30 but Nadal pulls out game for 4-2 with three Djokovic errors.

Nadal only winning 20% of backcourt rally points!!

Djokovic holds at love again and at 2-5, Nadal makes 2 unforced errors to get to 0/30; then another backhand error to 0/40. Djokovic goes for the forehand winner for the set and makes it.

Winners/errors: Djokovic – 11/7, Nadal 2/10. Djokovic serve % up to 72%.

4th Set
0-0, 0/15: Djokovic serving – huge point won by Nadal with drop shot winner
40/30: Good point for Nadal takes it back to deuce. Level of play is rising.
Djokovic makes 7/8 first serves to get to second deuce. Ends up making 7/10 in game, losing 4/7 on 1st serve but winning all 2nd serve points for hold.

0-1, 0/0: Long rally and backhand winner for Nadal.
30/15: backhand overhit error for Nadal
40/40: overhead winner for Nadal and then an Ace for the hold

1-1; Novak holds at love with 2 aces and a service winner.

1-2: 5/5 1st serves and Nadal holds at 15

2-2: 5/6 first serves and holds with no errors despite two forehand winners by Nadal

2-3, 30/30: Great forehand for Nadal after double fault and backhand error to get the ad and hold with a backhand winner

3-4: Nadal fights back from 0-40 down with two service winners, backhand winner down the line, another service winner, an ace and another service winner

4-4: 15 minute rain delay to close the roof. Djokovic comes back and misses 3/4 first serves but still holds at love!

4-5: Nadal holds making 3/6 first serves

5-5: Djokovic holds making 3/6 first serves

5-6: Nadal holds at love

TieBreaker
Traded minibreaks on 5th and 6th points, and 7th and 9th points to get to 5-5. Nadal got a service winner for the first set point and returned the first serve and drew an error from Djokovic to make it 2 sets apiece. Djokovic looking pretty tired.

5th Set
(My comments got reduced here, so I’m going by my chart. I was struggling to keep the streaming video working as it was fritzing on one computer and then the other and I was jumping back and forth between feeds on LiveScoreHunter.com)

Nadal started off strong making 5/6 first serves although he did double at 40/15. Finisthe game with an ace.

Djokovic answered with hold at 15.

At 2-2 I noted again that Djokovic was looking really tired. Although he made 4/6 first serves at 2-3, he got broken at 30 making a lot of errors.

4-2: Novak breaks back successfully attacking 2nd serves on 3 of 4 points he won; so back on serve, 3-4 in the fifth.

3-4: Novak misses a backhand on the first point, but still manages to hold at 15 as Nadal misses a forehand, then a 2nd serve backhand return, another backhand and another 2nd serve backhand return.

4-4: Nadal makes 8/10 first serves and survives Djokovic’s forehand return winner at 40/30 followed by Nadal’s backhand error at deuce. Nadal makes a service winner at ad out and then a forehand volley drop shot winner for game point. Djokovic misses the 1st serve return with his backhand.

4-5: Djokovic served a strong game to get to 5-5.

5-5: Nadal made just half of his 8 first serves and none in the last three points. Nadal gave Djokovic two points with forehand errors on points where he did make the first serve and three of the four second serve points to get the break.

5-6: Nadal got a forehand error from Djokovic at 30/0 and then two more second serve points including an adventurous move up to the net for an overhead at 30/15 to get one break point chance. Djokovic forced a forehand error and finished the Spaniard off.

If you want to see my point by point charting of the match, you can find those charts here. If you scroll over the image, you’ll get the option to rotate it so you can see it correctly and also to magnify it. You can also page back and forth through the different charts right there on imageshack. I hope you enjoy it!

1st Set:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/9/rafanoleoz2012set1.jpg/

2nd Set:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/406/rafanoleoz2012set2.jpg/

3rd Set:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/526/rafanoleoz2012set3.jpg/

4th Set:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/6/rafanoleoz2012set4.jpg/

5th Set:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/580/rafanoleoz2012set5.jpg/