French Open 2021: Men's Fourth Round Analysis
Some brief analyses including Rafael Nadal's latest victory over Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic's peculiar match against Lorenzo Musetti and Diego Schwartzman's thriller against Jan-Lennard Struff.
Content de te revoir!
Have you been keeping up with the French Open?
We’ve lost some big names since we last spoke - Roger pulled out after accidentally winning too many matches and Serena was blasted off court by big-serving Elena Rybakina.
Other superstars march on, however, undeterred by their peers falling to the wayside. Today’s analyses will cover some of these victories:
Rafael Nadal’s dominant win over Jannik Sinner.
Novak Djokovic’s slight scare against Lorenzo Musetti.
Diego Schwartzman’s enthralling battle against Jan-Lennard Struff1.
Without further ado… En garde2!
French Open Round of 16: Rafael Nadal defeats Jannik Sinner 7-5 6-3 6-0
A lot of people were pretty excited about this match.
A lot of people were therefore left feeling a bit deflated.
Though Sinner had been beaten in straight sets in their two previous meetings, he had kept periods of both matches incredibly tight.
At this year’s Roland Garros, well… So many things weren’t going Sinner’s way.
So many.
Let’s take a look at some of the areas where Nadal trounced the young Italian.
Slight Change In Sinner’s Serve Not Enough
I reviewed Sinner’s match against Nadal last time they played in Rome and I came to this conclusion:
“Until his groundstrokes can out-Nadal Nadal (which could happen one day), Sinner should be looking to his serve for assistance - for now, it may be full of potential but there is still a lot of work to be done before it fulfils its promise.”
In Rome, Sinner’s serve could have been better.
He hit an ace or forced a return error with his serve on 10 occasions and won a serve +1 point seven times, essentially winning 17 of his 78 service points as a result of his serve. This was enough to complement his baseline game, which could keep up with Nadal, but ultimately wasn’t quite enough to overthrow the King of Clay.
In Paris, Sinner won 17 of his 76 service points through an ace, forced error or serve +1. Sinner’s serve was therefore arguably more effective in isolation in Paris than it was in Rome.
Sinner’s first serve was particularly noteworthy. He was winning more points in one or two shots despite it being 13km/h slower than it was in Rome. He had the right tactical intentions, often going for an angled slice serve in the deuce court rather than a flat serve that could easily be returned by Nadal.
Okay, so a tactical adjustment gave Sinner a slightly better serve - why on earth did he only win 42% of his first serve points3?
Nadal Was In Full Flow
The serve wasn’t better enough as the chasm in the pair’s groundstroke quality widened from their previous match.
Well, bar the first eight games.
Nadal may have got the early break but his forehand hadn’t arrived yet. He was erratic, hitting 17 forehand unforced errors in the first set alone, and was tentative on the backhand side by his standards.
This allowed Sinner to conduct proceedings.
As Nadal said in his post-match interview:
“I played a little bit too defensive for a few games so [I gave] him the chance to go inside the court and play with his best shot.”
I can’t give you a sound bite I’m afraid but the turning point was audible. At 5-3, Nadal literally roared to life, his grunts probably reaching their highest decibel level up to that point.
From there, it was one-way traffic.
In Rome, the two players were willing to trade blows cross-court, Sinner’s backhand to Rafa’s forehand, until one player could step things up.
In Paris, Nadal stepped things up in this pattern of play ruthlessly.
If Sinner sat back in this rally pattern, Rafa let rip down the line.
If Sinner hit a huge backhand cross-court, Nadal counterpunched the shit outta that thing.
If Sinner went down the line himself, either Nadal ran around that ball like the wind or his backhand was waiting to kill the ball.
It all added up to this - in sets 2 and 3, in rallies that lasted five shots or more on Sinner’s serve, Nadal won 15 points to Sinner’s three.
When Sinner’s serve was neutralised, Nadal won the vast majority of points.
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again!
If Sinner is giving himself a chance against Nadal, his serve still needs work. That serve could have been a lifeboat. There was progress made since their last meeting but nowhere enough to stop Nadal.
Where Sinner could hang with Nadal in the past, Nadal looked way too good today to allow the same to happen. It didn’t matter what Sinner threw at him from the baseline, Nadal had the answers.
This is the kind of match where some net skills might have come in handy. Sinner was taking an absolute battering from the back of the court - it would have been good to see him successfully shorten his service points with some moves forward à la. Stefanos Tsitsipas. Unfortunately, work will need to be done to have this option available to him (8 of 17 net points won).
Whatever the case, Nadal reminded us why there is a statue of him just outside of the court. He was in devastating form and is the heavy favourite for the title if he continues to play close to this level.
Vamos!
French Open Round of 16: Novak Djokovic defeats Lorenzo Musetti 6-7 (7) 6-7 (2) 6-1 6-0 4-0 ret.
Another member of the Big three versus another Italian 19-year old.
Novak Djokovic and Lorenzo Musetti’s first meeting will not be forgotten any time soon.
Unsurprisingly given the scoreline, this bizarre match was a tale of two halves. Let me talk you through them.
The First Two Sets: The Spice of Life
Musetti pipped Djokovic in two consecutive tiebreaks.
How did Musetti increase his perfect career tiebreak record to 8-0?
Variety!
Here are a few of the tricks Musetti used to befuddle Djokovic.
Slice or stunner: Musetti can cut the ball to ribbons with his backhand slice or he can shoot the ball accurately down the line. The slice frequently messed with Djokovic’s backhand (Djokovic hit double the unforced errors of Musetti on the backhand in the first two sets, 20 to 10) and the backhand was a brilliant surprise tactic when Djokovic was expecting another slice to float back. The backhand is potentially the stronger of Musetti’s two wing in terms of reliability!
Versatile forehand: Musetti had various settings on his forehand, too. Sometimes he would straight-up slow ball Djokovic, asking him to generate pace from his own forehand, with decent results. Other times, he would completely flatten out the forehand at the drop of a hat. He even had the ability to hit cheeky chip returns on this wing, a shot that really screwed Djokovic up.
Drop shots: The youngster has used this as the crux of his game in previous matches. Against Djokovic, it wasn’t quite as important but he still pulled it out 17 times in the first couple of sets.
Musetti Magic: The improvisational abilities of this kid are Federer-esque. Go watch his shot against Cecchinato about 43 seconds into this clip. Here’s an example of his abilities in this match.
All of these different facets, combined with some nerves from Djokovic, led to the first two sets being taken by Musetti in two hours and 17 minutes of exhausting tennis.
How exhausting you ask?
The Final Three Sets: Physicality Prevails
The world #1 didn’t lose his shit once throughout the match.
No racket throws, no swearing, no umpire berating, no line judge attacks. As the commentators questioned whether Djokovic should be boiling over to better his tennis, Novak remained ominously quiet.
I think Djokovic knew the match was his. The fittest player on tour would be on-court to make the comeback for whatever length of time it took.
Armed with a feeling of freedom, Djokovic’s forehand speed increased, getting the young man moving from side to side, his cross-court forehand looking particularly lethal. It was visibly obvious Musetti’s legs started to give as he failed to reach those forehands in the same amount of time as he had in the first set.
He began struggling to generate anywhere near the same amount of power in his groundstrokes and he could no longer track down drop shots with ease.
Musetti Ain’t Ready For The Slams
This match reminds me of Andy Murray’s only defeat from two sets up in his career to David Nalbandian at Wimbledon in 2005. The skills were there from start to finish but his body couldn’t keep up.
That’s the good news for Musetti. The talent is abundant and after he’s put the hours in at the gym, he should be a proper competitor at the Slams.
Djokovic dealt with the occasion perfectly. He didn’t panic and pushed the Italian to his breaking point. Did he know just how emphatically he was going to flip the dynamic of the match? After the second set, Novak looked like a man with with nothing to lose, clear-headed and calm in his dismantling of Musetti, perhaps certain of his inevitable victory.
The Italians will be back stronger than ever, I’ve no doubt about that.
In the meantime, Rafa and Novak are taking the game to new levels of physicality.
French Open Round of 16: Diego Schwartzman defeats Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (9) 6-4 7-5
This is a little bonus match for y’all as I couldn’t not cover it after watching it.
Schwartzman’s clay court groundstrokes are absolutely sublime and I’ve always been a fan of the über-aggressive net-rushings of Jan-Lennard Struff.
This cocktail of game styles resulted in some super dramatic tennis…
Channeling Ivan Lendl
Struff has found a lot of success lately due to his lethal trips to the net.
The 6,6’ giant doubled down on this tactic in his match against Schwartzman, approaching the net in 30% of the total points played.
In set 1, Struff won 66% of the approaches he made to the net as Schwartzman failed to find his range from the baseline. Struff raced out to a 5-1 40-15 lead, bombing his serve and picking off the response at the net.
Schwartzman was gifted the first set point but on the second he had to do all the work.
My point, however, is this. On the third set point, Schwartzman went for a relatively high percentage tactic that is sparingly used nowadays - he went straight at Struff instead of trying to pass him.
Recognising it worked the first time, Schwartzman goes for the same tactic again.
Not only does this tactic make Struff think twice at the net, it’s a high percentage play at close range. This tactic can be an incredibly effective one - it's odd more players don’t give themselves this fourth option4 when their opponent comes into the net.
The Match Extends And The Rallies Follow
Though the match went this way and that5, Schwartzman’s ability to repeatedly extend the rallies constantly increased.
The match started with almost two thirds of the points being finished in 0-4 shots. By the third set, less than half the rallies fell in this category. This was in large part due to how comfortably Schwartzman settled on return in the latter stages of the match.
The longer the rally went on, the more likely he was to win the point.
The control of the match shifted with Schwartzman as the match drew on.
As Schwartzman found his range on return and in response, Struff attempted to approach the net later in the rally in an effort to cut the point short. This tactic rarely worked due to the Argentinian’s speed around the court.
From the back of the court, Struff often had the firepower to force the issue but, over the long run, there was always going to be one winner.
No Sets Dropped
Jan-Lennard threw absolutely everything at Schwartzman, playing one of the highest quality matches of his career. With some insane footwork, some ridiculous returning and a little luck6, however, Schwartzman somehow found a way through in straight sets (had Struff squeaked through a set, I think Schwartzman still would have been safe given the rallies were growing increasingly longer as the match wore on. Nonetheless, well played Struffi).
For the second consecutive year, Diego Schwartzman is through to the quarterfinals of the French Open, this time without dropping a set.
For the second consecutive year, Diego Schwartzman faces Rafael Nadal.
Diego vs Goliath?
Where’s my popcorn?
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Yes, Diego Schwartzman isn’t really one of the game’s superstars but his match was dripping with quality… You’ll enjoy the analysis, I swear!
No. More. French. I’m really sorry.
This is Nadal’s sixth-best first serve return points won percentage in his French Open career. The other five matches?
Antonio Veic, 2011: 66.7%
Pablo Carreno Busta, 2017: 63.6%
Sebastian Korda, 2020: 60.9%
Nikoloz Basilashvili, 2017: 60.4%
Dominic Thiem, 2014: 60.0%
(Jannik Sinner, 2021: 58.0%)
The three other options are pass to the left, pass to the right or lob. I can’t think of any others… ?
Struff led 5-1 40-15, Schwartzman saved seven set points taking the first set in a tiebreaker. Twice, Struff led by a break in the second set but Schwartzman prevailed. Schwartzman led by 4-0 and a game point, before being brought back to 5-5, eventually winning the set 7-5.
Schwartzman took the first set on his third set point with a dead net-cord!