Cameron Norrie of Great Britain stunned Rafael Nadal of Spain 3-6 6-3 6-4 at the United Cup tennis in Sydney on Saturday to give his team a 1-0 lead. The 27-year-old Norrie took more than two hours to defeat the 22-time Grand Slam champion.
The loss came as a blow for the 36-year-old Nadal, who is all set to defend his Australian Open title in January. We will now take a look at two keys to the match:
#1. Nadal won the first set as Norrie’s tactic of rushing the net backfired:
Nadal was marginally the better player in the first set. Norrie often tried to shorten the points by frequently moving to the net, but Nadal took advantage of that and came up with well-placed passes to take the Brit by surprise. Nadal, however, was a bit passive in his approach and did not hit his forehand with enough power for the most part.
Instead, he tried to impart more top spin and play his shots higher and deeper. Still, there was the occasional cannonball hit, like the forehand down-the-line winner that gave Norrie no chance. Nadal got the decisive break and managed to win the first set convincingly.
#2 Nadal continued to be passive to allow Norrie dictate terms with his forehand:
Norrie did not shy away from his aggressive approach and continued to come to the net in the last two sets as well. Moreover, Nadal did not exert himself fully and kept playing his shots with less power than usual. It allowed Norrie to use his forehand as a destructive weapon in response and the Brit pushed Nadal to his back foot with his formidable groundstrokes.
Nadal came to the net on a few occasions and also ended a few points with volleys, but it was not enough to put the Brit under pressure. Nadal also played a few drop shots at times, including once on the match point, but Norrie was usually able chase the ball down.
The Brit got a break each in the last two sets to bounce back in style. Norrie also wasted a lot of break point opportunities in the match, otherwise he would have been able to register a more comfortable win.
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