https://www.atptour.com/en/news/nadal-rome-2019-final-brain-game
Strong analysis and a well written article by Craig O’Shannessy.
An excerpt:
“Double Digit Rally Length
A secondary area of domination for Nadal was in longer rallies of double digits, where 31 lactic-acid inducing points occurred. Nadal won a dominant 71 per cent (23/31) of these points with superior defense out wide in the court with both forehands and backhands, constantly wearing Djokovic down in the longer exchanges.”
The fact that there were a lot of long rallies over 10 shots and that they were important to the match outcome undermines the theory that we should train primarily the First 4 Shots.
We should train all rally lengths!
Make sure your players have the physical and mental endurance to last 20 balls or more if necessary.
They have been doing that in Spain for decades now.
