The key to the match was that Federer came out with a strategy to neutralize Nadal's lefty slice serves. He did this by returning with a slice backhand as opposed to topspin as he tried in the French Open final. He also may have adjusted his return position slighty to stand further to the backhand side to protect against the Nadal slice.
By protecting against the slice serve Federer was betting that Nadal could not completely change his serving pattern and serve effectively to the Federer forehand.
Federer's bet payed off but it's interesting to analyze exactly what happened. In the ad court Nadal started serving very effectivley down the middle to Federer's forehand. He won 80% of the points when he served to the forehand and ended up hitting about 50% of his serves in the ad court to the forehand.
In the deuce court it was a different story, and this is what won Federer the match in my opinion. Nadal only served 10% of the time to Federer's forehand in the deuce court. When he did go there he had good success but his relucatance to serve to the forehand in the deuce court is a deficiency which Federer capitalized on.
Look for Nadal to work on his serve wide in the deuce court and , if he gets it going, I'd be worried if I was Federer.
Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.
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Federer Nadal
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