Rafael Nadal is doing everything much better than the past - Wilander
In an interview to Eurosport Mats Wilander commented on Rafael Nadal's dominant win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Australian Open semifinals. The Swede praised the Spaniard's performance. "We were hoping that it was not going to be straight forward. The second set, 6-4 Nadal, that was the match that Tsitsipas wanted to play, he had a chance, but it wasn't the case because Nadal came up playing well from the beginning", said Wilander. "Tsitsipas raised his level and played a good second set, very solid, a lot of variety, and then in the third set, I mean, that's probably the best set I have ever seen by Nadal on hard court. He is serving much better, he has a high first serve percentage. And we talk about his serve and forehand, but the backhand is a shot that he improved a lot. He steps in on the court, he takes it early and it's a shot that everybody is surprised by it seems. Because he has never done it before. All that he is doing is so much better right now than I have ever seen before. And I am talking about ball-striking, not fighting spirit.'
On Tsitsipas's campaign, Wilander added: 'I think he looked back to the draw, and he says: "Oh, 6-2 6-4 6-0 is average looking at Nadal's wins in the tournament". He has earned confidence, he has earned a lot of fans, he needs to improve his serve, his one-handed backhand. He has played an unbelievable tournament, and because he is so all around as a player, he did well against different styles of opponents, different temperatures, different conditions and he is 20 years old. We will definitely see improvements for him and for sure he will contend Grand Slam titles again."
ALSO READ: Rafael Nadal: Worse players than David Ferrer won a Grand Slam title
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2DBGkO4
No comments