U.S. Open 2010: Breaking Down Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: September 7, 2010

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There is a lot to rejoice about today. Roger Federer is still on track to meet Rafael Nadal after his straight three set win over the No. 12 seed Jurgen Melzer. The match showcased a number of significant aspects of Federer's game, none bigger than his hands.

The games played by Nadal have also shown numerous aspects about his improved game. Particularly his serve.

So what will the Finals bring, if indeed both reach the Finals. Leaving aside the relatively tougher draw for Federer, which could mean more sets than Nadal will have and consequently more energy expended, let's assume that both players reach the Finals in about the same shape. What factors will affect the play, whose game will be better, and what do we see as the match up for the two players when considering their games?

To review these points, we could study largely the categories used in most player evaluations. Instead, let's study the following aspects of the two players' games: hands, footwork, court coverage, serve, net play, and intangibles.

Hands

Perhaps the least observed and most important part of Federer's play has been his hands. While footwork is excellent too, Federer's hands were showcased in one point yesterday when he moved his hands in both directions seemingly effortlessly, and then placed a perfect drop shot from a fair distance from the net. The drop shot is largely due to a tennis player's hands. And Federer has become one of the better drop shot players in the game. Whether called "touch" or as here "hands," Federer has wonderful play in this, perhaps the most important of all aspects of the tennis game.



Nadal has weaker hands play, particularly due to the fact that he changes his grip continually as he moves from backhand to forehand. Indeed, perhaps because he is largely still a backcourt player, his hands are perhaps the weakest part of his game, even though he can and does use the drop shot eff...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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