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Old Lion
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain
For those who have not picked up on it there are 2 reasons I can see why Stan not only won this tourney but is light years ahead of where he was when he was younger. He was always a very strong hitter with a great serve and BH and was a decent vollyer. What he did not have was a decent FH and good conditioning. That is what he worked on over the last year. His FH is now somewhat a weapon, although still not to the degree of his BH. He also got in much better condition. He used to look dead in 4th and 5th sets at majors. Now he looks like he is still in the 2nd set.
Remember Stan never even beat Rafa in a set before this match. Its no surprise either as Nadal only had to keep the ball in play and wait for Stan to run out of gas on a point. Usually Rafa can still beat guys going to their BH but that is really not an option vs Stan so now that Stan has improved enough to withstand the physical and consistency portions of a match he becomes a very bad matchup for Rafa.
Unfortunately Stan waited until late in his career to make these changes otherwise he could have been a top 5 player most of his career and won a few GS events by now. Maybe he has enough to win a couple more. In his late 20s already he will not have the realistic opportunities for more than 2 or 3 years before time passes him by like it does everyone.
Good luck to him. I like what I see in his game these days.
Remember Stan never even beat Rafa in a set before this match. Its no surprise either as Nadal only had to keep the ball in play and wait for Stan to run out of gas on a point. Usually Rafa can still beat guys going to their BH but that is really not an option vs Stan so now that Stan has improved enough to withstand the physical and consistency portions of a match he becomes a very bad matchup for Rafa.
Unfortunately Stan waited until late in his career to make these changes otherwise he could have been a top 5 player most of his career and won a few GS events by now. Maybe he has enough to win a couple more. In his late 20s already he will not have the realistic opportunities for more than 2 or 3 years before time passes him by like it does everyone.
Good luck to him. I like what I see in his game these days.