Madrid: Davydenko gets his wish
Photo by DOMINIQUE FAGET/ AFP/ GettyImages
Rafa started his battle with blue by taking on #54 Nikolay Davydenko today in Madrid. Davydenko is one of the few active players on the tour to have lead his head to head against Rafa, but he’s not quite the player he was a few years ago. In his presser after his first round match, Davydenko said he hoped Rafa would finish him off quickly. Being the ever accommodating gent that he is, Rafa granted that wish by breaking early and often. Couple that with excellent serving and aggressive play and this was a quick kill. Rafa’s through 6-2, 6-2.
Stats:
| Nadal | Davydenko | |
|---|---|---|
| Statistics on Serve | ||
| Aces | 6 | 0 |
| Double Faults | 0 | 5 |
| 1st Serve % | 71% | 55% |
| 1st Serve Points Won | 24/30 (80%) | 16/28 (57%) |
| 2nd Serve Points Won | 9/13 (69%) | 7/23 (30%) |
| Break Points Saved | 0/0 (%) | 5/9 (56%) |
| Service Games Played | 8 | 8 |
| Statistics on Return | ||
| 1st Return Points Won | 12/28 (43%) | 6/30 (20%) |
| Second Return Points Won | 16/23 (70%) | 4/13 (31%) |
| Break Points Won | 4/9 (44%) | 0/0 (%) |
| Return Games Played | 8 | 8 |
| Statistics on Points | ||
| Total Service Points Won | 33/43 (77%) | 23/51 (45%) |
| Total Return Points Won | 28/51 (55%) | 10/43 (23%) |
| Total Points Won | 61/94 (65%) | 33/94 (35%) |
| Other Stats | ||
| Winners | 19 | 7 |
| Unforced errors | 12 | 25 |
| Net Approaches | 7/9 (78%) | 7/9 (78%) |
Loading ...
Rafa served a master class today! Was that clinical or what?! Vamos baby!
I just love statistics like this plus a quick match, great work Rafa. Looks like his next opponent is having a longish match, good.
Woohoo! Vamos Campeon!
A nice win from The Nadal!
Brilliant! Bring on the rest. Vamos Rafa!!!
Glad that Rafa seemed to be comfortable (relatively) on the blue clay. From this match and all the training photos, he seems to be mentally comfortable too at this point of the season. Very happy about that.
A bit sorry for Davy. When in Miami watching him play against Isner in March, I was about the only person cheering for his fantastic play in the first set (which he won 6:1). The audience just fell dead silent whenever he won a point; it was embarrassing (though forgivable given that Isner was on home ground). I left after the first set and didn’t see how the match was turned around, or Davy’s eventual defeat.
Was a bit worried about this match given the history with Davydenko and the fact the court seems to be clay in name only (it reportedly plays as fast as some hard courts, only slipperier!). Thankfully, Rafa rose to the occasion and erased any memory of his past losses to Davydenko (especially the one in Qatar last year, where Rafa was in a great shape to win but got sick with that virus that caused him dearly at the beginning of 2011).
All in all, a great match for Rafa and a reassuring one.
The virus ‘cost’ him dearly, not ’caused’!
Only saw a couple of games so looking forward to watching the match later. Sounds like Rafa played a good match. Onwards and upwards.
Vamos!
Apparently, Rafa has decided to treat the blue clay as a grass court. First, he asked to play with grass soles (which I’m pretty sure he wasn’t allowed, since it would tear up the court), and then he played as aggressively as if he were playing at Wimbledon. I liked both his game and his demeanor today. He looked confident and comfortable!
Btw. it’s funny that the only two players to have won 4 or more straight matches against Rafa, both have the initials “ND”. Maybe Roger should consider a name change ;)
ND! haha..that was funny!
I was thinking the same thing…in the past few weeks Rafa has halted a 7-match win streak against him and a 4-match win streak against him. But I hadn’t noticed the initials streak!
The first “him” meaning Djokovic and the second “him” meaning Davydenko, obviously.
There I was RACING home from work to see my boy play..Only to read these glowing reviews!!!
Disapointed?? NOT!!! Will patiently wait until the match hits YouTube – then I can rewind as much as I like!
Loving the stats
Rafa meant business today on this blue clay that looks weird, to say the least. It must be disappointing to dislike a tournament that takes place in your own country, but he seems to be dealing with the altitude/blue clay/models pretending to be ball girls pretty well, at least for the time being. Hope it continues this way!
So happy for Rafa today. Great start to Madrid with a commanding performance on the Smurf surface. He was wielding a wand today lol
Vamos Rafa, Our Champ
Great win Rafa. Now, try to relax and watch the final of Europa League because tomorrow it’s another day to the office…..
Nice and comfortable win for Rafa. Happy that he seemed to adapt to the court conditions, even though he afterwards said, that he didn´t feel comfortable on the blue clay. Glad he is still in his peach coloured shirt, it has allready given him so many great wins, so why chance that? :)
Looking forward to futher matches, hopefully he can continue his succesive stride.
Many thanks for this very nice homepage, it is always a joy to visit it:)
I liked the tennis that Rafa played today. It’s the type of tennis that I enjoy watching him play: confident and effective. After watching several matches, it seems to me that Rafa is among the players which are most successful at controlling the new playing conditions. I’m not surprised and I’m not impressed by that. He did exactly what I was expecting him to do, what I have often seen him do, ie, react with intelligence to challenging situations. Loved the FHs down-the-line.
he looked great ! confident, powerful, dangerous! he is the Rafa we know!
great movement, aggressive game, deep shots, good serve, clever gameplan! our guy has shown some good tennis!
l am sorry for Davydenko, he was not at his level but either way he could not answer to what RrrrraFa showed today!
This is truely amazing! I was worried how will he do at his first match on blue “clay”, especially because he wasn’t happy with the blue thing. There was NO need to worry! Rafa seems as he is doing great!
VAMOOOOOOOOOOS!
Missed the match as I was at work but taped it so can watch later. Sounds like the boy done good though :)
Hope this losing head to head is on the way to being over. Out of interest, who are the other active players with a winning head to head against Rafa? I know there is Mayer but that’s where my brain dies
Great serving really, if he keeps serving like this no one can stand on his way. Vamoss…
He playd good!…but something still bothers me…not his game,not his t-shirts,not his hair…something that I don’t want to repeat!!!
That was a good match and I enjoyed it so much. Rafa has adapted to the blue clay so well.. Vamos Rafa ! Best of luck against Verdasco..Stay healthy and happy !
*
It was great to see Rafa play! He played great and aggressive. Me likes an aggressive Rafa!
Somehow the blue court is very distracting. My eyes tend to zone in on parts of the court where there appears to be different shades of blue.
Hope Rafa continues his good play and not get disturbed by that darn blue clay court. Vamos!
So Manolo Santana said they were working on the courts until 4 am this morning … it’s good to hear they are trying. Did I hear that Carlos Moya was acting as Ass. TD? That may convince me to like this tournament just a little bit more ;)
Rafa looked great today … and I actually thought Davydenko played pretty well (not perhaps his very top level but no chopped liver). Vamos!
Great play from Rafa! He’s a champ and can get used to adverse conditions, but that doesn’t give tourneys the right to make conditions adverse! The blue court looks ugly, and that’s from my mum who had no idea what’s going on. Though a similar hue it doesn’t look fresh like the AO’s.
Anyway, let’s have a good run this week so Rafa can stay positive, happy and most importantly healthy. Vamos Rafa!
Good win and great attacking tennis from our Rafa. 19 winners to 12 unforced errors – great stats and as someone said before this is the Rafa we love to see! Vamous & God bless.