Thursday, 16 May 2024 / Published in Rafael Nadal, Rally Length, Roland Garros

Rafa’s Recipe For Clay Court Carnage

2022 ROLAND GARROS FINAL ANALYSIS

What happened when Rafael Nadal hit three – and only three – balls in the court against Casper Ruud?

Calculated clay-court carnage.

Nadal defeated Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in the Roland Garros final on Sunday on the back of dominating points where he hit exactly three balls in the court when serving and receiving. In a one-sided final that saw the Spaniard win the last 11 games of the match in a row, Nadal and Ruud surprisingly played very even in the 0-4 shot rally length, with Nadal winning 28 points and Ruud 27.

And then the fifth shot of the rally arrived, and it acted like a proverbial line in the Parisian dirt.

Five Shot Rallies = Nadal Serving

Rally length in tennis is dictated by the ball landing in the court, not hitting the strings, which means the server can only win odd-numbered rallies, and the returner can only win even-numbered rallies. A five-shot rally is an ideal rally length for Nadal’s chess-like strategy, giving him two more strategic moves after the serve to either construct a winner or force an error. This is where his dominance in the final blossomed in all its glory.

Points Won In Five-Shot Rallies

Nadal = 11 points won (3 winners / 8 errors extracted from Ruud)
Ruud = 3 points won (1 winner / 2 errors extracted from Nadal)

Ruud won four-shot rallies 9-6, but things dramatically changed when one more shot was hit in the court. Nadal forged an impressive 11-3 advantage in five-shot rallies. Getting to hit two more shots after the serve is a sweet spot for Nadal to initially gain a positional advantage and then extract errors from his scrambling opponent.

IMPROVE YOUR GAME FROM THE BACK OF THE COURT

Webinar 7: Baseline Patterns & Strategy

Webinar 14: Forehand Playbook

Webinar 15: Backhand Playbook

Webinar 26: ABCD Baseline Patterns

Webinar 28: Dynamic Defense

Six Shot Rallies = Nadal Receiving

The returner is typically on defense to start the point in six-shot rallies, weathering the storm of an aggressive serve and then playing defense with a Return +1 groundstroke. Getting to neutral on the third shot is typically considered a minor victory for the returner. Those rules simply didn’t apply to Nadal in the final.

Points Won In Six-Shot Rallies

Nadal = 13 points (10 winners / 3 errors extracted from Ruud)
Ruud = 3 points (0 winners / 3 errors extracted from Nadal)

Nadal forged an eight-point advantage in five-shot rallies (11-3) and was even more dominant in six-shot rallies, creating a 10-point advantage (13-3). Of all the rally lengths played in the final, Nadal hit the most winners (10) in six-shot rallies. You can picture in your mind the Spaniard rolling back a high return from deep in the court, then moving quickly to the baseline to attack the next shot to Ruud’s backhand and then hitting a run-around forehand winner through the vacant deuce court, out of reach of Ruud’s running forehand.

Nadal forged a dominant 24-6 point advantage when you combine five and six-shot rallies. It’s important to note that in both five and six shot rallies, Nadal hits exactly three shots in the court.

What’s fascinating is that seven and eight-shot rallies had far less bearing on the outcome. Ruud won seven-shot rallies 5-4, and Nadal won eight shot rallies 6-3. There were a sizable 30 points played in five and six-shot rallies and just 18 points played in seven and eight-shot rallies.

You May Also Like: Rafa’s Rome Strategy. How To Open The Court

Nadal’s Rally Advantage

0-4 Shot Rallies = 1 point advantage (28-27)
5-6 Shot Rallies = 18 point advantage (24-6)
7-8 Shot Rallies = 2 point advantage (10-8)

Hitting three balls in the court, whether serving or receiving, was the sweet spot of Nadal’s lopsided victory. He did well to survive the initial onslaught of the 0-4 rally length and then went straight to work hitting 13 winners and extracting 11 errors from his third shot of the rally.

Three shots in the court is an ideal strategic blend of defending first, outmaneuvering second, and dropping the hammer on the third shot. The Parisian mid-length master plan was hidden in plain sight.

MENTAL / EMOTIONAL ASPECTS OF TENNIS. MAKE THEM A STRENGTH.

Webinar 8: The Mental Game

Webinar 45: How To Build A Point

Webinar 41: Opponent Awareness

Webinar 29: Match Rituals

Webinar 36: Make Better Decisions

The practice court is clearly broken. Here’s the proof.

Points are "front loaded". By far the majority of the action, and the winning, takes place in THE FIRST 4 SHOTS. The practice court is full of long rallies. Matches are dominated by short rallies. There is a massive disconnect occurring.

We spend too much time grinding, banging balls up and down the middle of the court – that have no real benefit to winning tennis matches.

There are 3 specific rally lengths in tennis. Here is their percentage breakdown of total points.

0-4 Shots = 70%
5-8 Shots = 20%
9+ Shots = 10%

The First 4 Shots is specifically the serve, return, Serve +1 groundstroke and Return +1 groundstroke. Those are normally the shots that get practiced the least, but matter the most to winning tennis matches.

The net is an extremely high percentage place to be!

If you love playing tennis for fun, spend as much time at the baseline as you like. But if you compete – if the score matters – then you must turn your attention to the net to maximize your potential.

The “herd mentality” in tennis thinks it’s too tough to approach the net in today’s game. The conversation starts with improved string technology, more powerful rackets, and finishes with stronger, faster athletes. The herd think approaching is a relic of the past. The herd is WRONG!

AVERAGE WIN %
Baseline = 46%
Net = 66%

Data from ALL Grand Slams provides the facts about approach and volley, and the data is crystal clear – it’s immensely better than staying back at the baseline, grinding for a living.

The baseline is a tough place to create separation. Here's how to do it.

At the 2012 US Open, only 7 men and 14 women had a winning percentage from the baseline. At Wimbledon 2016, Andy Murray won the title only winning 52% of his baseline points - and he is one of the very best at it in the world!

Num3ers deeply explores the data that rules points, especially from the back of the court. Take a "deep dive" into all three rally lengths (0-4, 5-8, 9+), and winner and errors totals from the elite level of our game. The numbers will shock you!

All 4 Grand Slams

Forcing Errors = 41% Men / 37% Women
Winners = 32% Men / 29% Women
Unforced Errors = 27% Men / 34% Women

Num3ers is very much like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. It's about bringing together different data sets together to create the big picture.

Every recorded match from the 2015 Australian Open - Rd2 to the final.

There is a lot happening on a doubles court. Situations and strategies are constantly being adjusted to create mis-matches with court position. It's hard to keep track of - until now. Dou8les Num3ers is the most comprehensive analysis of doubles data in our sport. The focus is on how a point ends, and it's broken down eight ways to Sunday. Specifically, you find critical information on:

Winners rise to the #1 way a point ends (over forced & unforced errors)

- The last shot of the rally is overwhelmingly struck at the net.
- Center Window: the most important part of a doubles court to control.
- Stephen Huss: an in-depth interview on Wimbledon's Centre Court with the 2005 Wimbledon Doubles Champion.

Dou8les Num3ers leaves no stone unturned. Percentage breakdowns of how often the server or receiver hits the last shot highlight the dramatic influence of the serve. The last shot of the rally is significant, and is broken down into the following categories: volleys, overheads, passing shots, lobs and groundstrokes.

When you play a match, you actually play two matches.

When you walk out onto a tennis court, there are two matches that you are about to play. The first is during the point - a part of the match that you have spent a lot of time preparing for on the practice court. But there is a second match, that takes place in the 20 seconds between the points. This is where the mental and emotional aspects of our sport kick in.

Let's face it, there will be adversity in almost every tennis match that you play. The storm clouds are coming. How bug they are, and how long they last for, are up to you.

Between the points is very tennis specific. It provides a roadmap for the 20 seconds between the points, teaching how to handle the adversity that will surely come, and how to build on the successes that will also be present. Your mind is your biggest asset in a match, and Between the Points takes your hand off the self destruct button and stops you beating yourself.

You don't have to be good at everything, but you have got to be good at something.

You can break tennis down into four key elements - serving, returning, rallying and approaching. Each part has specific patterns of play that consistently deliver higher winning percentages than the others. No more guessing. No more opinions. All facets of our sport are covered in this exceptional product, clearly outlining what patterns to gravitate to, and how to best construct the practice court. Data comes primarily from the 2015 Australian Open.

Building Blocks

MEN = 70% errors / 30% winners
WOMEN = 74% errors / 26% winners

Forcing errors is the best way to construct a point.
You can simply break tennis down into primary and secondary patterns of play - and they are all covered here. Primary patterns include serve and return direction, forehands v backhands, and the best way to approach the net. Secondary patterns include drop shots, serve & volley and 1st volley options. If you play tournaments, this product will greatly help you simplify the singles court.

The conversation starts & ends with the Center Window.

The doubles court is like an hourglass. There are two big ends, but a small neck in the middle where all the action happens. Once you learn the power of the Center Window, where you stand to start the point will take on a lot more significance.

Doubles is a lot more about situations, with four people on the court all "dancing" with one another. Learn all the best doubles patterns, broken down for the server, returner, server's partner and the returner's partner.

Doubles Situations

The "J" - the most ideal movement for the returner's partner to attack the net.

The "V" - a better way of understanding where the server's partner should move to.

Volley Targets - there are four main areas to attack. Know which ones are higher percentage. Beach Volleyball - the idea of a "setter" and "spiker" is ideal for the doubles court.

There are certain parts of the court that the ball travels to a lot, and other low percentage areas that you really don't want to cover at all - like the alley! In general, the serving team wants to keep the ball in the middle of the court as much as possible (to help the server's partner), while the returning team benefits from hitting wider and creating more chaos in the point.

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Rafa’s Recipe For Clay Court Carnage