Originally posted on 09/09/2013:

Here is a preview, I bolded some of the key stats and info which I think is important.



US OPEN 2013
STATISTICAL PREVIEW: DJOKOVIC VS NADAL
New York, U.S.A.

Nadal has been broken just once this tournament
IBM provides a statistical preview of Monday's US Open final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.


Match-up: Nadal leads the FedEx ATP Head2Head 21-15 having won five of their last six meetings. Djokovic won seven straight from March 2011 through January 2012 including the 2012 Australian Open final which lasted five hours 53 minutes. Nadal won their last Grand Slam match earlier this year in Paris, 9-7 in the 5th set, in a relatively quick four hours 37 minutes.


Nadal held serve 73 straight games before getting broken in the second set of his semi-final here and has done it with placement and variety rather than sheer power. He's been moving his serves around the box to both the Deuce and Ad courts, going at the body quite a bit, and has used his lethal forehand to finish what his serve sets up.


When Djokovic was dominating Rafa in 2011, it was his two handed backhand crosscourt to the Nadal forehand that keyed his victories. Novak would use that shot to get Rafa deep and wide to his forehand side and that would open up the rest of the court. If Nadal answered back crosscourt, Djokovic had the down the line two hander (one of his favourite shots) and if Nadal hit his forehand down the line, Djokovic had a crosscourt forehand to make Nadal hit his backhand on the run. The challenge for Djokovic here is his backhand has not been as reliable as usual (32 backhand winners - 70 backhand unforced errors).




Djokovic Highlights:
• Solid consistent 1st serve - 69 per cent in play - 74 per cent 1st serve points won - won 61 per cent of 2nd serves
• Dominating return of serve - generated 86 break points in 21 sets played - broke serve 38 times - broke serve 7 or more times in 4 of 6 matches
• Forehand has been his weapon from the backcourt - 73 forehand winners (also had 77 forehand unforced errors)


Nadal Highlights:
• Amazing serving - broken just once in the tournament - faced only 12 break points in 19 sets played
• Dominating forehand from the baseline - 113 forehand winners
• Great play at net - won 108 of 133 net approaches (81 per cent)


Novak Djokovic Rafael Nadal
42 Aces 17
12 Double Faults 8
28% Unreturned Serves 24%
69% 1st Serve % 67%
74% 1st Serve Points 80%
61% 2nd Serve Points 64%
10 Broken 1
31 Break Points Faced 12
88 Games Served 82
89% Service Games Held 99%
128mph Fastest Serve 125mph
78% Returns In Play 75%
41% 1st Return Points Won 35%
58% 2nd Return Points Won 59%
38 Breaks Of Serve 33
86 Break Points 63
44% Pct. Converted 52%
86 Return Games Played 83
44% Return Games Won % 40%
73 Forehand Winners 113
77 Forehand Unforced Errors 80
32 Backhand Winners 28
70 Backhand Unforced Errors 39
206 Winners 206
167 Unforced Errors 130
136 of 184 Net Points Won 108 of 133
74% Net Points Won % 81%
57% Baseline Points Won 58%
58 Games Lost 52
3 Sets Lost 1
12:55 Time On Court 12:59


Nadal is playing with a more agressive attack this year. Defense is his strong suit, but I like how he's going for more winners instead of getting the ball back in play.