Kevin Mitchell's match report
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Despite how well Zverev played, how unimpeachable his serve was and how well he pummelled his his forehand, which is often one of his biggest weaknesses, this will be tough to swallow for Nadal. He was off the boil from very early on and played easily his worst match since his struggles in the clay season. He hit 3 forehand winners and 13 errors from that wing alone, which is unacceptable for him.
Even if the abs held up, that preparation was not ideal and it seems to have cost him. The good news for the Spaniard is that he has two matches to correct things and we’ll see if he can play himself into the event. Thanks for joining and goodbye.
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Zverev in his post-match interview:
It’s obviously great. Everybody probably knows how much I was struggling the whole season. This means so much, playing here again after winning my biggest title so far in my career here last year. This means everything to me and I was looking forward to this match. Thanks a lot for all the support, everybody who came out. This atmosphere is the reason why the goal at the beginning of the season to make London. Playing here, playing in front of you all guys, playing at the O2 is something we don’t have the whole year. This is so special, thank you very much.
[On why he was serving so big] Carrots, spinach, whatever was coming my way, whatever mum and everybody was giving me. That’s what I was doing this week, listening to my parents, I guess.
Obviously, just coming back here to practice Thursday, Friday and the rest of the days was amazing. Just being out here, being in the stadium was something that I wanted to do. This year again, it was a huge goal of mine, especially the way the season went. It was not always a lot of ups, so I hope I can play my best tennis this week and we’ll see how it goes.
Alexander Zverev defeats Rafael Nadal 6-2 6-4
Alexander Zverev completes an incredible performance with yet another dominant hold. Zverev served incredibly well, losing just 4 points on his first serve throughout the match. His forehand has been absolutely horrific at times this year, yet he blasted 12 startling forehand winners in that second set alone. What a performance.
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Second set: Rafael Nadal 2-6 4-5* Alexander Zverev: Another hold for Nadal, sealed with a great inside out angled forehand at 30-30 and then a big serve to hold. His level has certainly risen a little in set two and Zverev’s serve was certainly shaky in the previous game, but surely not?
Second set: Rafael Nadal 2-6 *3-5 Alexander Zverev: Well, Zverev’s first serve did completely go off the boil and his second serve looked incredibly vulnerable. So, what did he do? At 30-30 he came up with a missile of an inside out forehand winner. At 40-30, he bettered it with an obscene running 105mph forehand at full stretch. Breathtaking.
Second set: Rafael Nadal 2-6 3-4* Alexander Zverev: That must have felt good. Nadal pieces together a much better service game, replete with first serves and easy point. Zverev still made his presence felt, slamming a forehand return winner on Nadal’s first game point, but he also gave Nadal a nice reprieve by stopping the point to incorrectly challenge Nadal’s swinging wide serve at 40-30.
Good work from Nadal, but will Zverev’s incredible serving abate?
Grinding hard...
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 11, 2019
A little beauty from @RafaelNadal!#NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/9S0JHDmyRQ
Second set: Rafael Nadal 2-6 *2-4 Alexander Zverev: That was rude. After all of that effort from Nadal, Zverev slams down two big first serves and holds with a huge forehand crosscourt winner at 15. The pressure was off Nadal’s shoulders for what felt like 3 seconds. Now he must hold again.
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Second set: Rafael Nadal 2-6 2-3* Alexander Zverev: Nadal survives, saving a break point, but it was neither easy or pretty. Nadal’s forehand is still vacillating between landing laughably short and spraying errors, he seems slow and Zverev continues to crush forehands. But from break point down, Nadal found three big first serves in a row, sealing the hold with an ace. His game is falling apart but still he fights.
Second set: Rafael Nadal 2-6 1-3* Alexander Zverev: Zverev has become a little more tentative in the rallies since he opened the set with two double faults, but he is still essentially unplayable on his serve. 8/8 first serve points won in the second set. He holds with a 141mph serve down the T. Easy.
Second set: Rafael Nadal 2-6 1-2* Alexander Zverev: Finally, Nadal breaks Zverev’s run of six games in a row with a good hold to 15. A big fistpump after a great combination of forehands at 15-15 and a loud “vamos” after an unreturned serve at 30-15. Nadal has been a shadow of himself today but he is still Rafael Nadal, which means he is still in this.
Second set: Rafael Nadal 2-6 *0-2 Alexander Zverev: Zverev, who loves a double fault, opened with two double faults out of nowhere. But three first serves in a row bring three points in a row for the German and a game point. Zverev netted a backhand on the first game point, but he slammed down his seventh ace before sealing the hold with a really neat drop volley.
Nadal is 0/3 so far at the net, Zverev is making solid volleys. It’s hard to underline how absurd this all is.
Second set: Rafael Nadal 2-6 0-1* Alexander Zverev: Nadal’s day just went from bad to worse. He looked good at 30-15, but then he approached the net and ducked out the way of a Zverev forehand, which hawkeye says just clipped the line. Zverev brought up break point with a punishing backhand down the line which just clipped the net and forced a Nadal error. Zverev broke by pounding some forehands and slipping into the net to finish with a volley winner.
Zverev is aboslutely crushing the ball here and Nadal has absolutely nothing so far.
That sublime forehand down the line earlier.
Crushed it 💥@AlexZverev #NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/g5O7tqmao4
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 11, 2019
First set: Rafael Nadal 2-6 Alexander Zverev
Nadal struggled badly and looked a shadow of himself in truth, but what a flawless set of tennis from Sascha Zverev, sealed with yet another incredible service game. He lost 4 points on serve throughout. You don’t do that against Rafael Nadal.
First set: Rafael Nadal 2-5* Alexander Zverev: Zverev breaks again with a game that included an incredible, whistling running forehand down the line winner and then a booming forehand crosscourt at deuce.
But Nadal is also looking extremely off right now. After generating game point with a very good crosscourt forehand, he got into a muddle at the net and handed Zverev an easy passing shot. At break point down, Nadal sprayed a very bad forehand wide.
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First set: Rafael Nadal *2-4 Alexander Zverev: Zverev tears through another service game with more booming deliveries. He is in an incredible service rhythm right now, with 93% of first serves in and 86% of points behind it.
That said, most of his first serves are coming in over 140mph and although he serves big, it’s not usually that big. Nadal has rarely dipped under 120mph. I’m guessing that speed gun is a bit cooked.
First set: Rafael Nadal 2-3* Alexander Zverev: Zverev breaks Nadal’s serve to love and what a return game it was! Zverev opened with a brilliant defensive low slice that tripped Nadal up, then forced a Nadal forehand error with a bruising backhand crosscourt. On the first break point, Nadal sent an easy forehand straight into the net. That was not at all good from the Spaniard, but Zverev has come to play.
First set: Rafael Nadal *2-2 Alexander Zverev: While Nadal’s service game has already contained some long exchanges, Zverev’s two holds have just been a shower of aces and unreturned serves. Another couple of serves above 140mph. Absurd serving.
First set: Rafael Nadal 2-1* Alexander Zverev: Nadal comes through his first test with aplomb. Some great long exchanges, with a Zverev backhand skidding off the line and forcing an error, then Nadal doing almost exactly the same on the following point. Nadal has made it clear that he is going to target the Zverev forehand and the German is looking to take on his weaker wing as much as possible. Zverev saved game point at 40-30 with a huge forehand, but then two wayward forehands hand Nadal another hold.
First set: Rafael Nadal *1-1 Alexander Zverev: If that was impressive serving from Nadal, that was an absolutely outrageous hold from Zverev. He crushed one at 144mph and held with a 143mph ace down the T. One of his missed first serves registered at 147mph. Wow.
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First set: Rafael Nadal 1-0* Alexander Zverev: If there were any questions about Nadal’s abdominal muscles, the 126mph first serve Nadal opened with should help to ease many minds. A solid hold by Nadal with some great serving. Zverev closed the game by dumping a forehand into the net.
The players are out on court. Sascha Zverev won the toss and chose to receive. Let’s see how this one goes.
In case anyone forgot, here is the match point that sealed the biggest win of Zverev’s career last year.
The champion is back.#NittoATPFinals | @AlexZverev pic.twitter.com/itqaL0mdVN
— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 11, 2019
Doubles done.
Sensational from start to finish 🙌
— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 11, 2019
🇫🇷 @p2hugz & @nmahut 🇫🇷 defeat top seeds Cabal/Farah 6-3, 7-5 to start their #NittoATPFinals campaign 👏
🎥: @TennisTV pic.twitter.com/RnvRJaJUPi
So, who will win? The head-to-head suggests that Nadal enjoys this match-up greatly, and it is difficult to bet against Nadal considering how well he has played. He has now won 30 of his last 31 matches (the ATP doesn’t count walkovers), including the French Open, US Open and two Masters 1000 events.
However, despite the head to head, Zverev theoretically seems to match up very nicely against Nadal. His height and supreme backhand mitigate most of the effects of Nadal’s heavy topspin and swinging lefty serve. Indeed, Zverev has actually acquitted himself pretty well in their meetings, with both of their meetings on hard court going to a deciding set. He really should have won their last meeting when he led by a break in the final set of last year’s Rome final. Having the ability to defeat Nadal is only half of the battle.
There will be no better opportunity to face Nadal than on these fast indoor hardcourts as he tentatively attempts to recover from injury. Then again, this is Rafael Nadal. Even at his worst, a battle with the 19 time grand slam champion is a horrible prospect for all.
Preamble
Hello! Welcome to day two of our coverage from the ATP finals at the O2 Arena in London. Earlier today, Stefanos Tsitsipas finally made his mark on his bitter rivalry with Daniil Medvedev, winning 7-6(5) 6-4 to score his first win in six tries.
Now, we turn to the one question that dominated the build-up to this tournament: will Rafael Nadal be ready? After a small abdominal tear forced him out of the semi-finals in Paris a couple of weeks ago, Nadal didn’t start serving again until late last week. He has improved with each passing day in practice this week and, by all accounts, he looked comfortable in his final session earlier today.
If Nadal is healthy, he arrives in London as the player of the year so far, a fact confirmed by his return to the top of the rankings this week. He will certainly take strength from how well he has fared in previous battles against Zverev. He holds a 5-0 record against the German, including two wins on hard courts.
This has been a tough, tough year for Zverev, but his legal dispute with his agent has finally been contained and he has played very well in the final months of this year. The fact that the 22 year-old has made it to London after such a turbulent year speaks volumes of his ability. The defending champion will not relinquish his title without a fight.
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