Thought of the Day: Dissecting Rafael Nadal's Gameplan

I have spent the day watching and re-watching the finals of the BNP Paribas Open between Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray as well as their previous match in Rotterdam. Two things have struck me and are now exceedingly apparent.

First, Murray definitely entered the finals with a game plan. That plan was to keep the ball in play as long as possible in hopes of forcing Nadal to go for more winners.

Second, and this could be a result of windy conditions at Indian Wells, Rafael Nadal came into both matches with completely different game plans.

In Rotterdam, Rafa seemed intent on going for winners and keeping the rallies short. At Indian Wells, Rafa kept the ball in play as long as possible, almost like a clay court match.

Now, as stated before, this could be a result of the wind. However, I am willing to bet that Rafa looked over tape of Rotterdam and then watched the Murray/Federer semi-final and decided to treat the match as if he were playing on clay.

I come to this conclusion for two reasons.

First, if you watch the first few games of the BNP Paribas final, the wind is not that great of a factor. In those games, Rafa moves Andy all over the court but shies away from going for outright winners.

Contrast this with Rotterdam, and we see Rafa trying to paint lines and completely bowl Andy over.

Second, it was very apparent in the Federer/Murray semi-final that Andy was not attempting to throw winners past Roger. Instead he was trying to make Roger beat himself by going for more winners.

Andy is a classic counter-puncher and plays Roger’s ego against him by daring Roger to go for winners.

I think that Rafa sees this and used it to his advantage. Besides, we all know that in the past Rafa was just content with rallying with you all day, so there is no way on Earth that someone could out-rally him.

This has been my thought for the day. Cheers!