Federer versus Nadal: Three Overlooked Factors

What are the overlooked factors in the legendary 2008 Wimbledon final? Much has been written about the incredible rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and especially the 2008 Wimbledon final.  (Click Here to see John Yandell’s statistical and psychological analysis of this year’s final.) But in this article we’ll look at three other interesting factors that have been overlooked in other analyzes, Factors that shed new light on this historic match. These three factors are:  First, the relationship between the first serve and the ability to hit an immediate forehand.  Second, the position on the court from which both players hit most of their winners.  Third, the role of Nadal’s passing shots and how they influenced Federer’s attacking game To analyze the matches, we used the software program SportsCounts, developed by Bart Theelen.  It generates considerably more detailed statistics than the standard tour numbers.  These include what shot a player hits after a serve or a return, and where on the court each player is at the time each ball is struck.   Who won how many points when a forehand followed a first serve? The Serve and the Forehand The statistics showed that the first critical point in...