Lob and Smash
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Ruthless Rafa and a NowGen battle: ATP Finals Day 1 key takeaways

By Brandon Daniels

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 15: Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates his victory over Andrey Rublev of Russia during Day 1 of the Nitto ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 Arena on November 15, 2020 in London, England.
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 15: Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates his victory over Andrey Rublev of Russia during Day 1 of the Nitto ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 Arena on November 15, 2020 in London, England. /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 15: Rafael Nadal of Spain shakes hands with Andrey Rublev of Russia after his victory in his round robin match against Andrey Rublev of Russia during their first round robin match on Day one of the Nitto ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 Arena on November 15, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 15: Rafael Nadal of Spain shakes hands with Andrey Rublev of Russia after his victory in his round robin match against Andrey Rublev of Russia during their first round robin match on Day one of the Nitto ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 Arena on November 15, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) /

Ruthless Rafa bursts out to a promising start

Whatever questions may have been raised after Nadal’s 6-4, 7-5 loss to Alexander Zverev in the Rolex Paris Masters semifinals need to be wiped out of the public’s minds. He burst out onto the scene in vintage Rafa fashion, demoralizing World No. 8 Andrey Rublev in a quick 6-3, 6-4 victory that took barely over an hour.

The French Open champion currently holds just two titles in 2020 to Rublev’s tour-leading five but the ATP Finals are a different animal. Rublev lost visibly lost and frustrated down the stretch as his opponent ripped through every morsel of his serve. Nadal won 55% of points off of Rublev’s second serve including 5-of-6 in the second set.

Despite his firepower, Rublev simply couldn’t keep up with Nadal’s efficiency. The first set started with five consecutive holds of serve with neither player getting to a break opportunity. At 3-2, however, Nadal was able to convert his second break chance of the following service game after holding at love, winning it with a Rublev unforced error. It was simply a microcosm of the match; Nadal was serving brilliantly and turned up his return game enough to gain the edge.

A deuce hold pushed the set to 5-2 for Nadal and a hold at love sealed the deal for the World No. 2. Nadal kept his aggression going and broke Rublev during the very first game of the second set (needing three chances to finally convert). From there, it was a back-and-forth game of holding serve that Nadal eventually finished off with a quick hold to take the final set 6-4.

Rublev struggled throughout the entire match on his second set, winning just 41% of points off of it (compared to 67% for Nadal on his own second serve). Rublev failed to even get to a break point opportunity and only came within a point of doing so twice in ten service games. Nadal finished off Rublev at 40-15 or better on eight of his ten service games. It was truly a dominating performance.

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