Match of the Tournament: Rafael Nadal d. Nalbandian 4-6 7-5 6-4

Written by: Staff on 17th March 2012

Match of the Tournament: Rafael Nadal d. Nalbandian 4-6 7-5 6-4 |

Indian Wells, CA – Rafael Nadal was two points away from losing his quarterfinal match against David Nalbandian. Up until that moment, Nalbandian was playing inspiring tennis that the Spaniard didn’t have many answers for. But Nadal characteristically fought back, dug in, and played his heart out in front of the largest stadium 1 crowd so far at the BNP Paribas Open. The points were hypnotic, back and forth, side to side, spin on top of more spin, leaving the crowd gasping, “Ooo’s and Ahh’s”, shouting, cheering, and completely mesmerized. It was sensational tennis and you had to appreciate both player’s strengths and fiery passion for the grinding battle.

Nalbandian was a tough opponent for Nadal today because of his ability to absorb Rafa’s forehand and go down the line off of both wings. Everyone involved with tennis knows that Nalbandian is one of the cleanest ball strikers in the world; when he hits the ball, the contact is so solid, smooth, and rhythmic (almost Federer like but in a baseline grinder fashion instead of all-court attacker). It was incredible how he stood on the baseline, moving Nadal around, fighting off his spin, and finding ways to attack the Nadal armor. Nadal was very concerned the entire first two sets, glancing over to his box with intense looks of uncertainty every change over. Nadal fell victim to the pressure in the first set. Serving down 4-5 30all, hit a second serve to the Nalbandian forehand that set up a sweet backhand up the line followed by an unbelievable forehand drop shot winner. On set point (for Nalbandian), Nalbandian saw another forehand return and ended up going for a forehand down the line winner during the ensuing rally. His risk paid off and he was rewarded with the first set. Nadal’s costly mistake was going to the forehand too much and not having enough power on his shots.

The match continued and the tension grew all throughout the second set. Nadal was so nervous early on in the set that he slipped and fell on his own account because of his jumpy nerves – he won the point however because Nalbandian saw him slip. Nadal’s camp did not cease their support, constantly yelling: “Vamos Rafa”, “Va! Va!”, and other Spanish words of encouragement, support, and coaching. Nalbandian had a chance at 4-3 30-0 on Rafa’s serve to go up 5-3, and somehow let Rafa get away with spinning his first serves in around 100mph. Rafa’s balls were tentative, unforced errors spinning aimlessly into the net. But Rafa hung in there. Nalbandian was calm, confident, stoic at times, and had a disposition like that of a fighter that loves to fight. He loved battling Nadal, loved exciting the crowd by his ability to hang with Nadal, it was clear. In the most critical game of the match, 5all second set, Nalbandian serving at 30all, a long baseline rally took place and at the end of it, Nalbandian picked a great opportunity to play a drop shot. Unfortunately for him it clipped the tape and didn’t go over. Nalbandian was furious with himself and prepared himself for the ad point, Nadal finally had an opening. And Nadal didn’t even have to do anything to widen the opening further, Nalbandian did it all on his accord, double faulting his service game away.

From there, things became uphill for Nalbandian. With Nadal serving at 6-5 30-15, Nalbandian thought he hit a perfect passing shot. But Nadal came up with a drop volley winner that barely cleared the net chord for a spectacular play. The crowd hungered for a third set, and they got exactly what they wanted. Nadal raced to a 5-2 lead, not looking tired for a single point of his run. Nalbandian looked like he lost a step, wasn’t able to chase down Rafa’s spin, and was stretched on every point. Down 5-2, he gave up hope in grinding with Nadal and started hitting out on all of his shots. For a period of time it worked and Nadal got tight trying to serve for the match. Nadal was broken at 5-2 and played tentatively, giving Nalbandian plenty of short balls. Nalbandian’s strategy worked, and Nadal got even tighter at 5-4, donating three unforced errors to Nalbandian to give him two chances to break. Somehow, somewhat, Rafa held his nerve, stepped into the court bashed winners, finishing points off at the net with easy overheads. Nalbandian’s little comeback came to an end as Nadal finished the match with his classic whipping forehand.

Nadal believes that the pressure is now off of him and he can play better tennis. He recognized he played a lot of short balls and admitted to having doubts in his head. When he faces Roger Federer tomorrow in the 2nd men’s semifinal, he says “I don’t want to go to bed tonight thinking I gonna win the match of tomorrow. I gonna go to bed tonight thinking that hopefully I will play a fantastic match and hopefully I will have my chances to win the match”

He goes even further with the thought: “But that’s part of the game, and that’s the beautiful things about the sport, in my opinion. I gonna go there. I gonna fight every ball and try to play my best tennis and I hope that’s gonna happen, but I don’t know.”

Everyone is looking forward to this semifinal as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal rekindle their already historic rivalry and face each other in the desert at Indian Wells!

Topics: BNP Paribas Indian Wells, David Nalbandian, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer