Tsitsipas is going to need to sort his return of serve if he’s to win slams. Too often he looks like he’s can’t get into service games at all.
Tennis 2021
- Thread starter Sean_RedDevil
- Start date
Yep, he's often had issues against servebots and I think he clearly still finds it difficult returning Nadal's serve, as in their previous matches.
Nadal repeatedly going to the Greek kid's backhand and breaking it down. Shades of the old Nadal-Federer duels in the mid naughties.
His tennis IQ is not great. Or hasn't been here.
Constantly going into the strength of Nadal's forehand and trying to take it on and Nadal just keeps peppering the backhand. Doesn't change anything, but expects different results.
Tsitsipas is awful returner, I mean he’s not takimg any points on Nadal’s serve so why not begin gambling a bit with picking his side?
23 consecutive points on serve for Nadal.
Nadal completely dropped off. Returning far behind the baseline again as well.
Is it right that if Nadal had won that set he’d have the record for most consecutive sets in a slam? Not that it matters.
Nadal loves beating himself in tiebreaks.
Will only prolongue things a bit, there`s no way Tsitsipas will win this. Nadal just needs to play half decent again and this is done.
Will only prolongue things a bit, there`s no way Tsitsipas will win this. Nadal just needs to play half decent again and this is done.
I think he would have tied Federer going by what I heard the other day, 36 in a row it would have been.
He would have tired Federer. As it is, he stopped one short, at 35 compared to Federer's 36 consecutive sets.
Nadal's serve speed has completely dropped off.
Nadal struggling to get into Tsitsipas' service games.
Tsitipas is in control. Nadal let him gain too much confidence in the third set by not doing much in the return games.
This has got seriously poor from Nadal. Tsitsipas raising his game, but Nadal reverting to playing as if he's on clay.
Nadal is gradually playing slower
Tsitsipas fully deserved that set. He has all the momentum.
Wait wot, I tuned out after the 2nd set thinking it'd be over..
Nadal just never is good enough in Australia. Even if he makes it through this, just no way he beats Tsitsipas.
Bit of a choke.
Wow
Looks like Rafa wont get it done in the end. Oh well, Nadal and Federer retiring on the same amount of slams would be sort of poetic I suppose.
My two year old is absolutely insistent that Tsitsipas is a “GIRL!!!!” notwithstanding that I’ve told her he is a man and he has a beard.
I dunno. An omen, maybe.
I dunno. An omen, maybe.
I genuinely find it quite amusing when people still talk of Nadal's mental strength. It's absolutely fallen off a cliff in the last 3 years.
Or not..
Bit harsh really... it's quite hard to continually be a killer when you still play a pretty physically demanding game. Here's your proof right now..... he's as knackered as I've ever seen him, yet he's gruelling this out.
That smash into the net just sums up Nadal in big moments now. Nervy and error strewn.
Hat off to Tsitsipas. Only the 2nd time Nadal loses after going 2-0 up.
Had Nadal played the whole set like that last game, he would’ve won.
Tsitsipas-Medvedev is going to be spicy.
Tsitsipas-Medvedev is going to be spicy.
It's really not harsh. He's really struggled to close out matches for the last 3 years. There are countless examples of it. You just know when he's serving for a set/match/championship he's going to suddenly forget the basics. That smash he put into the was prime Rafa these days. A shot he'd make 100 times out of 100 if not in a high pressure moment. He's lost that mental strength he was so known for.
Nadal. Wow oh wow. Makes you think what would have happened if Novak won that third set at RG.
The mental collapses are becoming a bit much now.
Thiem at AO, Medvedev at WTF, now Tsitsipas here, signs of it against Djokovic at RG.
Imperious From Tsitsipas, but again Nadal has to be questioned. Surely by now, you've worked out a way to play your game after the temperature drops.
Seriously disappointed.
The mental collapses are becoming a bit much now.
Thiem at AO, Medvedev at WTF, now Tsitsipas here, signs of it against Djokovic at RG.
Imperious From Tsitsipas, but again Nadal has to be questioned. Surely by now, you've worked out a way to play your game after the temperature drops.
Seriously disappointed.
3rd*
It's become a regular feature of his game and yet you have people and commentators continue to comment like he's still some sort of mental giant. You only have to look at Novak to know what mental strength really is. Would Nadal have won the matches Djoko has managed this week when looking out of it? Not this version of Nadal.
That Berrettini walk over paid dividends for Tsitipas even though Nadal should have wrapped it up in the third when he was serving great.
With reference to how he saves break points, you could say he's something of a mental giant. His ability to clutch is right up there with Novak.
In fact, the problem seems to have become more routine points that he keeps missing. The overheads which you'd trust him to make, the forehand, etc. His game completely deserted him.
Its not just that today, though.
Nadal for two whole sets attacked the Tsitsipas serve and dominated him, never really allowing him to play.
For reasons I don't think anybody understands, he completely took his foot off in the third.
Suddenly, he starts the first service game of the third 2 meters behind the baseline and returns the second serve even further back.
He stops attacking with the backhand and let's Tsitsipas run through his service games.
Lots of things after those first two sets frankly baffle me about why Nadal changed a winning strategy.
Of course, his choke is what was most prevalent, but him allowing Tsitsipas to ease himself into the match just makes no sense.
uhm yeah about that.Didn`t expect that. I knew that Nadals mental game isnt as strong anymore as it was years ago but he looked comfortably the better player in the first 3 sets. Hats off to to Tsitsipas, from all the young players I feel he has the best nerves in important moments. Its his overall game that is fluctuating too strong.
yeah I jinxed him pretty badly there 
This, sadly, is something that happens all too often with Nadal in a third set which is why you see him do things like this in big games a lot more now than he had some years ago. I agree he's still fairly decent at saving Break Points because he can serve bot his way out of it but he's not clutch anymore when it really matters. It was showing its signs earlier but it's a feature of his game that has really come to the fore since the Medvedev final at the USO. Like I'd said earlier, that shot that he put into the net at deuce at the very end of the match is a shot he would make all the time if it was earlier in a set.
I think you guys need to cut Nadal some slack.
Yeah he should have won today, and that smash in the third set tie break was a big blow. But you guys need to look at the circumstances. He came in the tournament undercooked with no warm up tournament due to injury. Just look at Thiem it was the exact same situation with him and Thiem didn’t have his coach there just like Nadal didn’t have Moya.
You could see physically he was fading in the fourth set. The power in his shots was going and he was losing the long rallies, which he was dominating in the first three sets. Then you consider that Tsitipas had a walk over and is the
younger man by 10 years, so the longer the match went it favoured him. I honestly think Nadal has a better chance of winning Wimbledon than AO. The tournament has never suited him and he struggles more when the games are played at night.
Tsitipas did well. He hung in there just like against Djokovic at the French and this time he won.
Yeah he should have won today, and that smash in the third set tie break was a big blow. But you guys need to look at the circumstances. He came in the tournament undercooked with no warm up tournament due to injury. Just look at Thiem it was the exact same situation with him and Thiem didn’t have his coach there just like Nadal didn’t have Moya.
You could see physically he was fading in the fourth set. The power in his shots was going and he was losing the long rallies, which he was dominating in the first three sets. Then you consider that Tsitipas had a walk over and is the
younger man by 10 years, so the longer the match went it favoured him. I honestly think Nadal has a better chance of winning Wimbledon than AO. The tournament has never suited him and he struggles more when the games are played at night.
Tsitipas did well. He hung in there just like against Djokovic at the French and this time he won.
Its more to do with the repetitive pattern that is becoming commonplace with him.
As a Nadal fan, it's concerning.
He's constantly collapsed mentally in third sets since the US Open win over Medvedev.
Doesn't bode well for the future.
I for one would like to see him win one more Wimbledon and AO, but every time he gets near the end he just dials down his level.
Its disappointing.