schwefelgezwerg
Newbie
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2014
- Messages
- 20
I think it's because his opponents all knew he is vulnerable on grass after his failures in 2012 and 2013, as well as his recent humiliation in Halle. They all came out with the intention of hitting him off the court, like Rosol did in 2012. It is hard to keep up the requisite level in a best-of-five match, though; the errors start to outnumber the winners if Nadal finds his rhythm and starts reading their game. There is also a small element of luck in the tighter matches. Rosol would have gone up 2-0 if not for a dead netcord going against him right at the end of the second set tiebreak. He was demoralised after that, I think, and all of the momentum went with Nadal. Kukushkin just ran out of steam after winning the first set. Same with Klizan. I don't think either of those two genuinely believed they could take three sets from him; the same mental block prevents Ferrer from giving him a real match at the French Open.
Kyrgios' main asset today was his serve. He kept the percentage high enough to shut Nadal out of almost all his service games. That was enough to win him two tiebreak sets, and then finally take advantage of one loose service game from Nadal. He probably would've lost the match if his first serve percentages had gone down by 10%.
