GOAT's so gracious.
As a Fed stan, I think that was Nadal's best win ever. He really was ready to throw in the towel in the third and then just gutted it out for three hours when Medvedev started falling apart. He kept it really simple to conserve energy and made smart adjustments to give himself a shot.
1.) Obviously, the drop shots. There's guys in this thread who would have hit better drop shots. That was utterly embarrassing on Medvedev's part. His general net play was stunningly awful. I have never seen a top player perform that poorly at the net. Nadal made him come to the net that it clearly got in Med's head.
2.) Daniil's forehand is transparent and one dimensional. He can smack it cross court but down the line poses no danger at all. There were so many points he could have gone down the line and at least made Rafa move if not outright win the point but he kept going back across the court time and time again. Nadal eventually realized it and just sat on the crosser while going after his forehand repeatedly.
3.) Started going for broke. Did the late Fed strategy of going for broke more often and getting quicker points to save a little gas throughout the match.
If you told me Vladimir Putin had Medvedev's loved ones tied up in a Siberian gulag because he had money on Nadal, I would believe it the way Med choked that match. The general lack of shot making ability on some relatively basic shots in relatively routine situations was mind blowing.
@malbaker86 and
@No1 have to be tickled pink after that comeback.
