CAMELOT FANTASIES

I have to pretty much agree with you General.

Spartan Stan put only 38% of his first serves in and still dominated the first set (prior to MTO/injury).   Why? How?  Because Stan won 100% of those, and he also won 56% of his second serves, and won 36% of his return points.   Nadal was hanging in there on his first serve, but only won 1 of his second serves in the first set (17%), including 2 double faults.  He won only 26% of his return points, far below his usual tour leading 38-39%. Nadal had 6 winners and 7 UE's, while Stan had 12 winners and 8 UE's. 

Stan was hitting hard off both wings when it mattered and Nadal usually had no answer.  Stan was playing fairly far back, but showed a lot of strength and good angles.  Seeing him well back, Nadal tried to drop shot 2 or 3 times, but they were not good drop shots and he got burned.

The match was pretty sad after Nadal's MTO/injury when he was down 2-0, as Nadal couldn't move well and Stan's level dropped dramatically seeing an injured player/friend on the other side.\

Not sure why he got injured.  He looked fantastic against Federer a couple of days ago.  Maybe because he didn't get enough rest in the offseason, and not enough intense training?  He played in all of those exhibitions on hard courts.  Not sure it was a good idea in retrospect.

Now the worry is getting his back in shape for the clay season.  He certainly doesn't want a repeat of 2009 where he got hurt early on the hard courts, and then never recovered completely and got beaten at RG and missed Wimbledon.   He pretty much must win at Roland Garros or his confidence might go downhill.  But who can beat him at Roland Garros? He is so tough on the clay over 5 sets.

Respectfully,
masterclass