John Isner Exposes Chinks In Nadal’s Game

Rafael Nadal stood exposed as John Isner extended him to the first five setter at Roland Garros. Nadal ultimately prevailed 6-4 6-7 6-7 6-2 6-4 but not before he got the scare of his life. John Isner was supposed to go down in straight sets, at least in the eyes of Nadal’s fans.

Nadal wrapped up the first set in customary style making few unforced errors. But when the second set arrived, he looked jaded. He went up a break, but the body language showed a casual approach, if not complacency. It looked Nadal thought he would win in a canter whether he plays well or not. He surrendered the break, could not convert set points and went down in the tie breaker without much fight. He had hit less winners than Isner and made more unforced errors.

Nadal did not learn from the loss of tie breaker in the second set. Isner had found confidence. He was serving well, though not bombs. Nadal should not have let the set drift to another tie breaker, knowing that he was finding Isner serve unreturnable. But he was playing like a blue collared worker not like the defending champion. Isner was not playing that great himself, but Nadal was making Isner look much greater player than he is.

Isner was able to return Nadal serve without difficulty whereas Nadal made a monster of Isner serve. Isner is known to have a great serve but good returners have not been overawed by his serve. Nadal on the other hand stood reduced to the picture of a poor retuner. Although he controlled the unforced errors, Nadal’s prowess on big points failed him. On those crucial points, Isner did not play exceptionally well, but Nadal gifted him those points committing ground stroke errors. The spectators were stunned to find the ‘King of Clay’ down 1-2 and the possibility of an upset loomed large. Isner had the momentum and Nadal was down on confidence. But Nadal pulled himself back from the brink and started playing with the impeccable defence he is known for. He also added power to his ground strokes. In the fourth set he did not commit a single unforced error. With the gifts of unforced errors drying up, Isner found his reserves emptied. There was no game plan earlier too and now the serve too started faltering. There were two aces and two double faults. The fourth set was over within no time and the fight spilled into the final set.

Nadal got an early break but did not become complacent unlike in the second set. He did not lose his focus and after four hours, had a sigh of relief when Isner hit wide on the side lines. He won the final set 6-4 and now faces Pablo Andujar in the second round.