Rafael Nadal Improves... and Beats Federer... AGAIN
Spaniard, Rafael Nadal, collected his sixth Grand Slam title and first Australian Open title on the hard courts in Melbourne by beating Roger Federer 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2 for the third straight time in a Grand Slam final (the other two wins were in the 2008 French Open and Wimbledon finals). Nadal, long hailed as one of the greatest clay court players ever, has definitely improved his game on faster surfaces. It showed in the past year as he won the Wimbledon title, Olympic Gold Medal and now in Australia. Rafa has added speed
and variety to his first serve, greatly improved his backhand and flattened out his forehand at times. Even during the 2009 Australian Open, Rafa was seen on the practice courts serving buckets of balls. Roger Federer possesses incredible natural talent, but he clearly needs to improve if he wants to beat Nadal once in a big match let alone on a consistent basis. Federer needs to alter his strategy a bit, e.g. punish Nadal’s second serve more. However, Roger also needs to work on aspects of his game that Nadal exploits such as returning the wide lefty serve in the ad court or playing high balls to his backhand. Federer also needs to come to the net more and volley better than he did in the Australian Open final against Nadal. Nadal may now “be in Federer’s head at times” and one can debate whether Federer has lost matches in the past year or so because of poor execution, bad strategic choices or sometimes because the other guy has simply played very well. Regardless, it is clear that Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have all improved their games and Federer now must do the same to stay competitive.
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