Australian Open 2022

[stotty]

Meddy breaks for 5-5. Never saw that coming.

[stroke]

#21 maybe his most impressive win yet, at age 35 vs a very tough Medvedev. And we all know who is the favorite at RG.

Medvedev won more total points in the match, and had better looking stats winners to errors.

[jimlosaltos]

#21 maybe his most impressive win yet, at age 35 vs a very tough Medvedev. And we all know who is the favorite at RG.

Medvedev won more total points in the match, and had better looking stats winners to errors.

Your comment prompted me to check the stats and this is one of those odd ones where the loser not only led for most of the match, but led in seemingly every stat.

If I told you ahead of time that Medvedev would hit 76 winners and far, far fewer UFEs than Rafa would you have thought Rafa won the match?

Meddy led in:
.
* Total points won 189-182
* Winners 76-69
* Plus-minus points won less UFEs: 24 to 1 (yes, one for Nadal ) That' 76-69 vs 69-68
* First serve won and percent (71% to 6%, 89 points to 78 )
* Receiving points won 38% to 36% (72 vs65)
* Aces 23-3

Nadal led in:

* Break points won 7 out of 22 vs 6 out of 22
* Second serve percentage 47 to 41%
* Net its 60% to 56% (30/50 vs 78/50 )

Curious that in two of the areas that Rafa won both had identical opportunities 22 BPs and 50 net points.

[stotty]

Interesting looking at those stats as they certainly do not reflect the last two sets when I entered the room. I imagine many of Meddy's superior stats were gathered in the first three sets.

When I walked in, Meddy was getting battered from the baseline and was struggling to win ANY rallies. His serve kept him in it, and it was only in the latter half of the fifth set when Meddy started to win baseline exchanges.

By 5-5 in the fifth we learn a lot.

1) Meddy cannot stand up to Nadal from the baseline quite like Novak can.

2) Despite hitting hoofing great serves at 5-5, which Nadal could only poke back 10 feet high over the net, Meddy was reluctant to move in to put what would have been a gimme volley away. What a waste of a good serve. It makes me despair.

3) Those poked back balls gave Meddy a dead ball on his forehand to hit which he couldn't do all that much with. A pure type 3 would come in real handy there.

4) Rafa was amazing. Emotionally, it's the calmest I have ever seen him in a tennis match

[stroke]

The Rafa forehand vs Medvedev's is day and night, could not be much more different. The Nadal forehand, same ol same ol. And Stotty, you bring up a great point. I did not see a breakdown on the stats set by set, but I agree, there would probably be a significant change trend wise as this match progressed. The Nadal forehand seemed to be looming larger as the match progressed. As BG might say, a very clean partition going on there, probably even more so than Roger.

[stotty]

The Rafa forehand vs Medvedev's is day and night, could not be much more different. The Nadal forehand, same ol same ol. And Stotty, you bring up a great point. I did not see a breakdown on the stats set by set, but I agree, there would probably be a significant change trend wise as this match progressed. The Nadal forehand seemed to be looming larger as the match progressed. As BG might say, a very clean partition going on there, probably even more so than Roger.

The tactic when I walked into the room was Rafa, as soon as the angle became available, hooking his forehand and taking Meddy's off the court on his backhand wing. Once Meddy was off the court it was as good as over rally after rally. Rafa then hit into the open space and seized virtually all the rallies from thereon in. Now he can't do that to Novak in quite the same way because Novak is tighter to his baseline and Rafa can never establish himself inside his own baseline and dominate in quite the same way as he did today.

I haven't yet seen the first three sets so have no idea of the pattern that took place there.

I have now seen Meddy's groundies start to look tatty under extreme pressure twice. Last year against Novak in the AO final and today versus Nadal. It's very marginal but there is a lot to be said for having cleaner, better, and more efficient technique, which both Novak and Rafa, in their own different ways, have above Meddy.

[stroke]

The tactic when I walked into the room was Rafa, as soon as the angle became available, hooking his forehand and taking Meddy's off the court on his backhand wing. Once Meddy was off the court it was as good as over rally after rally. Rafa then hit into the open space and seized virtually all the rallies from thereon in. Now he can't do that to Novak in quite the same way because Novak is tighter to his baseline and Rafa can never establish himself inside his own baseline and dominate in quite the same way as he did today.

I haven't yet seen the first three sets so have no idea of the pattern that took place there.

I have now seen Meddy's groundies start to look tatty under extreme pressure twice. Last year against Novak in the AO final and today versus Nadal. It's very marginal but there is a lot to be said for having cleaner, better, and more efficient technique, which both Novak and Rafa, in their own different ways, have above Meddy.

Copy all that. Bottom line to me right now, the 3 stand alone. To me 1st time ever in tennis history, there is no evolution of the game. It right now has peaked with those 3.

[arturohernandez]

Quite the change in the second set. Ended up Barty adjusted -- did she ever.

Barty got nervous. Understandably so. Collins tried to put the accelerator to the floor. It worked for a little while. Then she ran out of gas.

[arturohernandez]

The tactic when I walked into the room was Rafa, as soon as the angle became available, hooking his forehand and taking Meddy's off the court on his backhand wing. Once Meddy was off the court it was as good as over rally after rally. Rafa then hit into the open space and seized virtually all the rallies from thereon in. Now he can't do that to Novak in quite the same way because Novak is tighter to his baseline and Rafa can never establish himself inside his own baseline and dominate in quite the same way as he did today.

I haven't yet seen the first three sets so have no idea of the pattern that took place there.

I have now seen Meddy's groundies start to look tatty under extreme pressure twice. Last year against Novak in the AO final and today versus Nadal. It's very marginal but there is a lot to be said for having cleaner, better, and more efficient technique, which both Novak and Rafa, in their own different ways, have above Meddy.

Meddy was so close! I only watched the last two sets. Nadal seemed to be able to play his regular pattern. I thought Meddy would be able to do a better job of bothering Nadal with his backhand. But I was wrong.

There was a note during the match about Meddy being the first 6'6" player to win multiple slams. Cilic and Delpo were the other two. Nadal showed that even at 35 his mobility and what it did to create shots for him supersedes that of a tall player. It's too much of an ask for Meddy to move that much body around for 7 rounds.

But he fought till the end. He has a great attitude. Never down on himself and always working to win points.

He stayed toe to toe with Nadal for five sets. So did Shapo. The Nextgen is coming. A little like 2002-2005 all over again.

[johnyandell]

I am famous for not watching matches on TV. It may not have been beautiful, but the AO final was one of the most amazing I have seen. Stayed up to 6am. My wife says I am crazy. But she has said that before!

[arturohernandez]

I am famous for not watching matches on TV. It may not have been beautiful, but the AO final was one of the most amazing I have seen. Stayed up to 6am. My wife says I am crazy. But she has said that before!

We are two hours ahead so I got to sleep all night and just be groggy during the day. I had to go warm up my daughter for tournament right afterward. She asked me why I was so nervous. I was just pumped up. It would have been nice to play myself a little bit longer.

Did you go play tennis after watching all that inspiring play?

[jimlosaltos]

Meddy was so close! I only watched the last two sets. Nadal seemed to be able to play his regular pattern. I thought Meddy would be able to do a better job of bothering Nadal with his backhand. But I was wrong.

There was a note during the match about Meddy being the first 6'6" player to win multiple slams. Cilic and Delpo were the other two. Nadal showed that even at 35 his mobility and what it did to create shots for him supersedes that of a tall player. It's too much of an ask for Meddy to move that much body around for 7 rounds.

But he fought till the end. He has a great attitude. Never down on himself and always working to win points.

He stayed toe to toe with Nadal for five sets. So did Shapo. The Nextgen is coming. A little like 2002-2005 all over again.

All true. But if you only watched the first 3 sets instead of the last 2 you might have a different feeling about Meddy's ability to control play.

So close to winning in 3 sets, so painfully close. From breaking to 3-2 was it in the first set, Medvedev was ahead for over 3 1/2 hours. Only to lose.

Kudos to Rafa doing a near mirror image of Fed's 2017 Aussie vs Rafa. Both 35, both coming off leg surgery, both off the tour for 6 months. Both came from behind to win.

[arturohernandez]

All true. But if you only watched the first 3 sets instead of the last 2 you might have a different feeling about Meddy's ability to control play.

So close to winning in 3 sets, so painfully close. From breaking to 3-2 was it in the first set, Medvedev was ahead for over 3 1/2 hours. Only to lose.

Kudos to Rafa doing a near mirror image of Fed's 2017 Aussie vs Rafa. Both 35, both coming off leg surgery, both off the tour for 6 months. Both came from behind to win.

I'll go back and rewatch the first three sets. I get the sense that Nadal was on the ropes over and over again for the whole AO. The problem is winning in 5 sets. It is just a whole other beast and requires even more for a final.

I still think Meddy will be a transitional champion. FAA and Shapo are rising quickly. Rublev is in the mix and Alcaraz is coming.

Tennis is still a game of movement. It's not basketball. And the short guys have it more than the tall guys. Short in this case is Steph Curry height. Shorter than 6 foot and it is tough to scale to the top without a bigger serve. Taller than 6'4" and it is too tough to run. Medvedev weighs the same as Nadal. At some point the low blow punches started landing and Meddy's legs gave out.

Nadal was playing with a losing hand. He seems to be the best at being an underdog. Very interesting mentality. Served him well in this tournament.

It is so hard to not like Nadal. As much as I wanted Fed to be the one with the record. I would much rather see Nadal hold the record than Djokovic.

We will see how long it lasts.

[johnyandell]

Arturo, nope went to sleep.

[stotty]

The FO will be interesting. We all know who's favourite. It looks like Novak might get a pass in as he's, supposedly, had Covid. Novak is the only threat to Nadal at the FO and must be miffed that Rafa has just won the tournament Novak has owned for 9 years, the AO. I wouldn't put it past Novak to win the FO this year. He will be highly motivated.

When they finally retire, I am going to really miss all this drama.