G’day From Rome,
I watched Rafael Nadal and Francisco Cerundolo play a couple of practice sets two days ago and really enjoyed watching Rafa working to elevate his game for one last push on the Roman clay in 2024.
The following point exemplifies how smart Rafa is with his strategy. He played a very simple pattern and dominated it while taking on almost no risk.
This point represents a highly repeatable pattern that players at all levels of our game can run. Yes, please copy and paste at home!!
This one point also serves as a lesson on taking advantage of small errors that your opponent may make. It’s all about opponent awareness, court position, climbing the ladder, and finishing at the front of the court.
Let’s get to it!
SHOT 1: FRANCISCO’S RETURN POSITION
Look at where Francisco is standing to return serve in the picture below. It’s the beginning of the end.
His left foot is in the middle of the alley, but his right foot is on the other side of the extended singles line, still in singles court.
Rafa sees this. Rafa sees everything.
Francisco should be standing with two feet in the alley AT LEAST! Possibly even his left foot outside the extended doubles line to counter Rafa’s extreme slice.
Here’s the KEY. You can’t cover everything, so the default is to cover the server’s primary pattern, which, for Rafa, is absolutely, positively out wide in the Ad court. Francisco is hedging his bets with this court position. He is a little wide but will still have to move to his left if the serve is good. He is trying to cover everything, which will ultimately come back to hurt him.
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SHOT 2: RAFA’S CAN OPENER
Francisco’s court position is begging to be compromised – on his first shot of the rally.
Look where he is making contact: with two feet standing in the extended alley. That’s where he is going to make contact with the serve almost all the time against Rafa returning in the Ad court.
It begs the question of why he didn’t stand here in the first place?
Now, Francsico has his weight and balance leaning out of the court instead of into it, which is going to take away precious tenths of seconds as he tries to recover for his Return +1 shot. It’s also not going to allow him to put his full weight behind the ball and hit a penetrating return. It’s not an ideal way to start the point against The King Of Clay.
Francisco’s solution is to stand wider to begin the point. That way, his energy will go forward to the ball, his return will have more purchase, and he can easily flow back into the middle of the court for his next shot.
SHOT 3: RAFA’S SERVE +1 FOREHAND
Francisco is now poorly positioned and balanced to counter this brutal Serve +1 forehand from Rafa.
Francsico’s return is far from ideal. It’s right down the middle of the court but is not hurting Rafa with depth, time, or power.
Rafa will have his way with this shot, and Francisco will slip further behind in the point. Look at Francisco’s balance and energy. He should have his body facing completely forward and his feet wide to quickly push off to his left or right. Instead, his feet are too close together, and he is not executing shuffle steps, which would enable him to be as fast as possible for the next shot.
SHOT 4: FRANCISCO’S DEFENSIVE FOREHAND
Trouble has landed right in Francisco’s lap.
Because he gambled and didn’t stand wide enough, Francisco had to move to his left to hit the ball. Therefore, he wasn’t able to do much with it, and Rafa immediately made him pay.
Now, look at Francisco deep in Deuce court. He is on the run, sliding, and forced to hit a defensive forehand slice. And he also feels Rafa charging the net like a Spanish bull. The world is closing in fast on Francsico and he has very few options to climb out of this immediate hole.
SHOT 5: RAFA’S EASY BACKHAND VOLLEY
Francisco’s goose is cooked.
Francisco is about as far back as you can be, and Rafa is slightly inside the service box with a gift of a backhand volley.
You can see that it will be a miracle for Francisco to turn the tables and win the point. Rafa has “climbed the ladder” successfully to this moment in time, but Francisco dug his own hole by not standing wide enough in the Ad court so he could move forward to the return instead of just sideways.
SHOT 6: FRANCISCO’S BACKHAND ERROR
Francisco ran hard, barely got to the ball, and missed his backhand well wide cross court. He really had no chance to get it back in the court.
Rafa hit a normal serve, a powerful Serve +1 forehand, and a simple volley to win the point. EVERYTHING was high percentage. Everything was repeatable. Everything was about “climbing the ladder” and slightly increasing the win percentages instead of attempting an all-or-nothing shot at any stage during the point.
SUMMARY
Court position matters.
I am also a lefty and love to see my opponent not stand wide enough in the Ad court to cover my slider. And to add to that – when an opponent DOES stand very wide and visually takes it away, it affects my serve locations. I tend to serve more down the T and miss more first serves as a result. I give my opponent too many looks at second serves in the Ad court, which is really putting me in a hole.
Here are the five big takeaways.
- Where you stand matters; you can visually get into the opponent’s head and make them switch to their secondary serve locations.
- You can’t cover everything. Look to take away the opponent’s strengths first.
- Getting pulled off the court can really hurt for the next shot. It opens up holes on the other side of the court and also behind you as you run hard to cover your earlier mistake.
- Once you fall behind in the point, it’s tough to get back to even. Do everything you can to avoid falling behind in the first place.
- Once you are standing closer to the fence than the baseline when defending, your chance of winning the point is incredibly low. Once you yield court position, it’s often best to throw up a lob as high as you can to buy time to get back into the court and into the point. Trying to hit a “regular” ball from the back fence is not going to end well.
All the best from Rome!
Craig