Rafael Nadal says that adjusting his strategy allowed him to get the upper hand in his fourth-round match with Kevin Anderson. The Spaniard was down 0-40 while serving at 5-5 in the first set, but managed to hold and then broke serve in the next game. He won in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4.
Nadal had had almost no impact against Anderson's big serving until the 6-5 game, which he attributed to a change in the way he was playing. "I changed completely my position on the return," said Nadal, who stood further back from the baseline to give himself more time.
"I was able to have some good returns. One very good one, but then the other ones, just put the ball inside the court and then try to let him think a little bit more than what he was doing until that moment."
Nadal also admitted that he went for more on his deliveries. "0-40 was that forehand down the line, but then in the 15-40 and the 30-40, two good serves to the body," he said. Something that I was not serving very often since that moment, so I changed that. Then break point I changed the direction and serve probably the fastest serve for me this tournament, 205 [K.P.H.] ace in the middle, no? So just try to play with the right decision, right determination."
Nadal, who was taken to five sets in the second round, won the Australian Open in 2009.