If you've been reading this blog, you know that I consider Nadal an extremely difficult matchup for Federer.
And, I predicted that Hamburg was an aberration. I felt that as soon as Nadal got to Paris and got serious at Roland Garros, he'd mow people down. Especially using his inside out and down the line forehands to a righthander's forehand.
And, that's what happened. Federer was actually hitting his backhand beautifully in the first set. But, if your backhand is on, then Nadal starts to punish you on the other side. Eventually, the legs go and you see a beaten player as you saw in Federer in the last 2 sets.
What was particularly striking to me though was that Nadal hardly varied his service placement at all. He hit almost every serve to the Federer backhand. And, he won 18 out of his last 20 service points.
This to me points out Federer's unwillingness to go outside the box in his tactical choice.
What could Federer have tried?
Well, he could have returned from way back and favoring the backhand side. This is typically how clay courters return. You get the ball in play but are vulnerable to the serve and volley and a big first shot.
This is how Nadal returns against Federer and you can see that Federer was often able to serve and volley easily to the open court.
Here's the key though. Nadal gets every return in play and says - "Beat me if you can with a second shot."
Federer wasn't even getting returns in play on the big points.
I'll say it again -- Federer should hire a clay court coach for the next French Open. Then maybe we'll see a different result in the French Open Final.
Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Smarter Tennis Tactics Might Have Helped Federer In The French Open Final 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
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