2011’s first Grand Slam event is visible on the horizon. While some degree of uncertainty surrounds the women’s field due to the absence of the WTA’s best player, Serena Williams, the men’s field seems once again to boil down to two very familiar foes.

Obviously I’m talking about Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

We’ve heard the same rhetoric over and over again. Obviously, these are two great Champions. Obviously, we’d love to see them contest yet another classic Final.

However, as I read some fan articles and comments posted on Bleacher Report, I’m struck by the fact that some people have a serious misconception about the matchup between Roger and Rafa. I’d like to get into a bit of detail about the match and dispel some of the common myths surrounding these two players.

First of all, television commentary can be very useful in offering a very general, bird’s eye view of the matchup between Federer and Nadal. The key word being “general ”.

A commentator’s job is to help the viewer feel like they are invested in a given match. They look to provide a bit of insight into why a given match is unfolding the way it is. This is a very remedial explanation. It’s designed to highlight some of the big themes, but not go into too much detail, thus risking confusion or boredom on the part of the viewer.

Why do I bring this up? Well, much has been made about Rafael Nadal’s recent hard court Grand Slam success.

Nadal used a more aggressive style to put players who had give him problems in the past on the defensive, and capture his second hard court Grand Slam at the 2010 U.S. Open.
Chris McGrath/Getty Images

A commentator may make a much generalized statement about the fact that Nadal is flattening out his shots, thus making him a more effective hard court player.

In hearing that statement, it’s not difficult for a tennis fan to attempt to connect the dots and say something to the effect of, “Since Rafa’s lefty topspin is the major reason why he beats Federer so often, using a flatter ball will help Federer handle his game better, causing him to gain the upper hand in the rivalry.”

After Rafa’s only claim to dominance over Federer is on account of his heavy, lefty forehand. Wrong. This is a seemingly logical leap to make, yet it’s a gross mistake to jump to such a conclusion. Allow me to explain.

First of all, let’s understand that Rafael Nadal still uses heavy topspin on every surface he plays on. Nadal did not wake up one morning and decide to throw out his entire game in favor of hitting a flat ball, like Juan Martin Del Potro or Andre Agassi. That’s a grave misunderstanding of what commentators are saying. Nadal’s shots are still the heaviest on tour, and will still kick up very high off most ATP’s court surfaces.

The elements Nadal has added to his game, which make him far more dangerous on faster surfaces, are depth of shot and the ability to recognize and capitalize on openings ceded to him by his opponents.

On hard courts, Nadal’s Achilles heel was his tendency to hit heavily top spun strokes which had very high net clearance, but also landed shallow in the court. Over the past three years, Nadal has worked hard on hitting his heavy forehand deeper in the court.

A flatter and more aggressive two handed backhand allowed Nadal to bully rival Roger Federer around the court of their decisive fifth set of the 2009 Australian Open Final. The match was played on a hard court surface.
Scott Barbour/Getty Images

The difference is very visible. Take a look at a routine Nadal forehand from say 2006 or 2007. You will notice that many of his shots land at or around the service box. The ball does indeed kick up, but because it’s so shallow in the court, a good ball striking opponent had the opportunity and took the ball on the rise from around the baseline or even inside the court. The lack of shot depth has been Nadal’s undoing in the past.

If we carefully examine Nadal’s historic title run at this past U.S. Open, we notice where his forehands are landing in the court. The new Nadal forehand is landing several feet past the service line. This means that the ball will explode off of the court even closer to the baseline, which is where his opponent would normally want to return his shots from.

Even the very good, flat hitters out there are forced to make contact with the ball further back than they would generally like to. This deeper contact point only allows them to stay neutral in the point, whereas before they’d be looking to rob Nadal of time to set up his big swings, but spitting back a very fast very angled reply.

Barring a truly magical shot here or there, the opponent is basically reduced to hitting a neutral ball back to Nadal. In turn, Nadal has his normal time to set up. When given that time to set, Nadal will take control of the point from any player in the world.

The only way to beat Rafael Nadal is to take his time away and to disrupt his rhythm. He simply will not be beaten in any other way.

Much has been made of Nikolay Davdenko's recent success against Nadal. Davydenko’s success has been predicated by the depth of the Nadal ground strokes. This year’s Semifinal encounter at Doha was practically a white wash for Davydenko. Most likely a combination of Davydenko recognizing and taking hit opportunities, and Nadal’s battle with the flu.

If we examine the pair’s previous nine matchups, the deciding factor has always been court positioning and the depth of Nadal’s shots.

Take the first set of the 2010 Doha Final. Nadal won it easily, 6-0. He hit the ball deep in the court, used his customary topspin and cruised. However, as the match went on Nadal began to throw in some short balls.

Davydenko owns very good timing and is a smart player. He immediately recognized the opportunity and stepped up into the court to take full advantage. As soon as he was able to wrestle control away from Nadal, he never looked back. On account of the hard court surface, Davydenko stopped and planted on a dime, and subsequently was able to control the vast majority of the rallies. As a result, Davydenko came back to win in three sets.

There are several players who can trouble Nadal, IF he allows them to. The match is on the racquet of the World’s number one.

At times during one week events, Nadal has reverted back to dropping the ball short. I believe that he does have to fight against himself, and his tendency to want to go back to the security blanket of his past style of play.

Julian Finney/Getty Images

However, he has shown over the past year that he is both willing and able to raise the level of his game at the Grand Slams. A man doesn’t win three consecutive Majors, with a good look at winning a fourth, without understanding this concept. That is to say that the regulation, cross court forehand that he hits in Toronto, is not the same regulation cross court forehand he hits at Flushing Meadows.

The man has a distinct ability to heighten his awareness and concentration in more significant matches. That’s a fact.

This idea that a more aggressive style of play will somehow hurt him in his matches against Roger Federer is a ridiculous claim. The Nadal lefty forehand is still a heavy shot and it still is racing into the Federer one handed backhand. The Nadal forehand will beat the Federer backhand seven out of ten times. We’ve seen that enough over the years.

The only difference is that now, the Nadal forehand is landing deeper and forcing Federer to take more chances to even stay neutral in the point. Federer will once again be forced to walk a tight rope. He will have to hit spectacular shot after shot to beat Nadal.

In account that he is Roger Federer, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest pure shot makers in the history of the game, he will always have that chance. But to ask a man to do it over a long period of time is a big ask.

When a commentator or pundit talks about Nadal’s hitting flatter strokes, he means that Nadal is recognizing openings more readily and is comfortable pulling the trigger and flattening a deserving ball for a winner, or a very forceful shot which will almost always lead to him winning the point outright with the following shot.

It does not mean that Nadal is no longer looping the ball to Roger, believe me he is.

The two shots that most tennis experts point to as being the flatter shot, which has catapulted Nadal to the dominant number one ranked player, are the Nadal forehand down the line and the Nadal cross court backhand.

Rafa is the best in the world at executing these two shots. The big forehand down the line is a back breaker. It’s so difficult to defend because Rafa’s variety is so good at keeping opponents off balance. He gives you a good dose of the heavy, deep spin a good three or four times in the row, barely giving you a chance to hit a neutral shot back. He takes your legs away by forcing you to sprint side to side, retrieving heavy shots.

After he’s forced you to expend extensive amounts of energy to stay in the point, boom! He flattens out a forehand up the line. A wicked shot and one that I believe puts him on a different plane from everyone else on tour. If Nadal is hitting that shot well, there is no known answer for his game.

The Nadal running two handed backhand cross court is amongst the most powerful and devastating shots in the game. Because Nadal is actually a right handed person in everyday life, he has the ability to accelerate through the strike zone off of the backhand side like no one else on the ATP tour, and hit a hard flat shot when most players would only be able to throw up a defensive lob or slice.

The pace he is capable of creating with his backhand is unmatched. Perhaps Robin Soderling, or Tomas Berdych come close, but even those two huge hitters can’t quite get the same mustard on the backhand that we see from Nadal. 

It used to be commonly known that Nadal simply used his backhand to stay in a point. It was neither a good nor bad shot, but was certainly targeted by most opponents. He preferred to do all of his damage from the forehand side.

This is no longer the case. The Nadal backhand is now capable of changing the pace (with the one-handed slice), rolling it heavily over the net as a regular rally shot, or exploding through the court for a flat winner. It’s just one more headache for opponents to have to deal with. Nadal has become lethal off both wings, an adjustment that Federer too is implementing into his game.

However, simply put, Nadal is better off on the backhand side than Federer. His backhand is a bigger shot, a heavier shot and handles the pace much better.

When people talk about Nadal’s “new look” game and how he’s flattening out his shots they are talking about his adding an extra dimension to his game, a new wrinkle if you will.

The new wrinkle is retrofitted onto his base game, which is a heavy topspin based, clay court game. Nadal’s new game will not hurt him against Roger Federer, after all, why would he go away from a game plan for Federer which has already worked so often and on so many big occasions.

If anything, the prospect of watching a ball fly by him will put Federer on edge. If Roger does beat Nadal, it will not be because Nadal decided to flatten out his forehand at times. It will be either because Federer played the match of his life and stayed at a level we haven’t seen for an unprecedented period of time, or because something happens to Nadal, physically before or during the match.

I hope this can give some context around the words of pundits such as John McEnroe and Justin Gimelstob mean when they talk about Nadal’s “flattening out” of his strokes.

It’s an allusion to his new found ability to end points out right on faster surfaces by forcing the action himself and hitting winning shots rather than forcing opponent’s errors and attempting to grind them into submission. The latter is a much tougher way to earn a living on a quick surface.