Match Key Points Nadal vs Anderson US Open Final 2017
Nadal (1) defeated Anderson (32) 6-3 6-3 6-4
First Key of the Match
Nadal Global Backhand Effectiveness
This is with the backhand that Nadal mainly made the difference against Anderson in the US Open Final. Many factors explain this advantage. Although Anderson took more risks with the backhand, Nadal managed to win more points than him with that shot in the end (13 versus 10). This is by counterpunching (5), passing (4) and even drop shotting (2) that the Spaniard won points with the backhand. Then, Nadal made 12 errors less with the backhand than Anderson (2 versus 14). The South African made mistakes because he was taking risks but also because Nadal wore him down with his forehand cross (one of his favourite game plan). Eventually, Nadal took an edge of 15 points with the backhand and that explains his victory at
48%
Second Key of the Match
Nadal Retrieving Forehand
Then, this is with the forehand that Nadal dominated Anderson. But this time the Spaniard didn’t win more points than his rivals with this shot (14 versus 16). The South African managed many times to get the better of Nadal attacking the forehand, especially when he followed that shot to the net; 56% of Anderson’s forehand points were forehand approaches. If Nadal beat Anderson in this US Open final, this is because of the number of unforced errors : 5 for Nadal against 18 for Anderson. The South African had to force with this shot to outpower Nadal meanwhile the Spaniard playing with heavy topspin got much more margin above the net. Another factor which helped Nadal to take an edge with the forehand comparison is the backhand slice that he often played on Anderson’s forehand. When the Spaniard played a backhand slice in this match, he won 71% of the points. Eventually, Nadal took an edge of 11 points with the forehand and this shot explains the victory at:
35%
Third Key of the Match
Anderson's failure at the net
It was part of Anderson’s game plan to charge the net. This is also a game plan that the South African often uses. However, Anderson won only 52% of the points at the net (22 out of 42) meanwhile Nadal couldn’t get a better results : 100% (15 out of 15). In terms of points/errors ratio with the volley, Anderson got a score of 0 (6 points for 6 errors) and Nadal 5 (5 points for 0 error). In the end, Nadal took an edge of 5 points with the volley and this explain the victory at:
17%
Fourth Key of the Match
The small edge taken by Anderson with the serve
If Anderson had to win this match, he would have taken a much bigger edge with his serve. In the end, he dominated Nadal by winning only 8 points more : 30 aces/service winners for 4 double faults against 19 aces/service winners for 1 double fault for the Spaniard. Two factors explain such a result. Firstly, Nadal’s return position (more than 5 meters behind the baseline) which made decrease Anderson’s first serve effectiveness. In addition to that, Nadal also served much better than usual. In this match, when Nadal put his first serve in, he had 37% of chances to make an ace or a service winner. Anderson’s first serve effectiveness was only 7% higher than Nadal (44%).
The match explained by rally lengths
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