When the serve goes, the rest of a player’s game often follows, and so it was with Rafa today. He lost the range on his backhand, smothering topspin drives into the net and floating routine slices long. The frustration showed more clearly than it usually does with him. He stared at his player’s box, hands on hips. He banged a ball into the net in anger. He screamed at himself. Longtime Rafa watchers may have wondered if we were finally going to see a racquet smash from him, but he stayed true to form and resisted. Things did get bad enough that Nadal’s coaches and family could be heard urging him on, much more loudly than they normally do.
“The serve creates an impact on the rest of the game,” Nadal said. “When you serve with no confidence, you are just focus on try to serve, not think about how you want to play the ball. You just think about what you have to do with the serve to put the ball in. Then you have problems continue and prepare the point the right way, no?”
For the first 14 games, Rublev took full advantage of his opponent’s surprising lapse. He pushed Rafa back with his forehand, and drilled it into the corners for winners. When he went up 6-2, 4-2, break point, the match looked all but over.
But Rafa wasn’t quite ready to let this one go. He saved that break point with a forehand winner, and, after much effort, he finally began to connect on his backhand. He broke with a running forehand pass for 4-4, then broke again for the set. After being all but out of it 20 minutes earlier, Rafa looked like a lock to pull off a comeback win.
Now it was Rublev’s turn to do something different. In the past, he might have slammed his racquet and torn his shirt in rage after blowing such a golden opportunity. Instead, he just kept playing, with no major show of frustration.
“If after the second set I would say something or if I would show emotions, for sure the third set will be over, will be 6-2 for him,” Rublev said. “So I’m happy that I could handle it.”