Contrastive Study On Skills And Tactics Of Nadal And Thiem In Clay Court Match From The Perspective Of Long Rally Rounds

Purpose:Rafael Nadal,known as the "King of Clay",has had few defeats on clay in recent years.Dominic Thiem is one of the rising stars of the world men’s tennis,the only man to have beaten Nadal four times on clay since Nadal return to superior form in 2017.In the clay ground,there are more long rally rounds due to the ball has large emergence angle and slow velocity.For player’s physical ability,mobility and balance ability have higher requirements.Theoretically,long rally stalemate plays a vital role for the outcome,and different opinions exist in academia for the importance of the long rally stalemate.Therefore,it is of certain significance to study the long rally rounds of the world’s top men’s clay tennis players in their battle based on the logical importance of long rally shots on clay court matches.Methods:In this paper,by using the method of literature review,expert interview,video observation statistics,mathematical statistics,comparative analysis and logical analysis,the number of shots and the use of techniques and tactics of Nadal and Thiem in 12 matches on clay court were studied from the perspective of long ralley rounds.Results:1)The ratio of 0-4 shotss between Nadal and Thiem on clay was 54.80%,13.80%lower than the average;The percentage of stalemate rallies above 5 shots between Nadal and Thiem was 41.88%,10.48%higher than the average.2)The occurrence of Nadal and Thiem’s long rally rounds on clay court did not change regularly with the increase of the number of matches they played;In a single match,there is no regular change with the increase of the number of sets;During game point,there is a bigger chance that the long rally rounds appear when the score gap between two sides is small,and there is less chance that the long rally rounds appear when the score gap between two sides is big.3)In the clay court match between Nadal and Thiem,the percentage of winning points in long rally rounds deciding the match(set)was 30.00%,significantly higher than that in non-long rally rounds deciding the match(set)(16.67%).4)Nadal and Thiem in the clay-court match,the winning rate of return is generally higher than the winning rate of serve;When serving,both sides serve the ball to the opposite side’s backhand position in the highest proportion;Nadal had more tactics in the route ot his first serve in long rally rounds,Thiem barely used mid-way first serve.5)In the third shot of long rally rounds,Nadal and Thiem used the forehand and side forehand most.The percentage of their forehand use are 40.80%and 54.60%respectively,and the percentage of their side forehand attack use are 28.90%and 30.90%respectively in the third shot of long rally rounds.Nadal mainly attacked the backhand of Thiem(50.60%),and auxiliary attacked Thiem’s forehand(29.90%)while Thiem mainly attacked the backhand of Nadal(57.40%)in the third shot of long rally rounds.In the fourth shot of long rally rounds,Thiem strongly prefer to protect his backhand position;Nadal and Thiem used oblique line more than straight line in the third and fourth shot of long rally rounds overall.The utilization rate between Nadal and Thiem of straight line in the third shot was higher,57.10%and 48.60%,respectively.Thiem hits the ball deeper in the third and fourth shots in long rally rounds.6)In the stalemate stage of long rally rounds,Nadal used the forward slash and backstroke slash for both direct scoring and pressure on the opponent.The forward straight line is mainly used for direct scoring and the backstroke slash is mainly used for pressure on the opponent,both of which have good scoring effect;In the stalemate stage of long rally rounds,Thiem scored the most efficient points used the lateral forward and diagonal strokes,followed by the forward and backstroke diagonal strokes,while the forward and backstroke straight lines scored the least efficient points.Conclusions:1)In the course of a basic unit competition process,if the two opponents play equal or greater than 6 shots,the basic unit competition process is called a long rally round.2)In the battles of the world’s top men’s tennis players on clay court,long rally rounds are a small percentage of the total points.The percentage of "winning and losing players’ scoring rate in non-long rally rounds is basically the same,but the winning players’ scoring rate in long rally rounds is significantly higher than that of the losing players" is relatively high.Long rally rounds are crucial for winning.3)Both Nadal and Thiem tend to be baseline stalkers on clay,and both of them tend to attack the backhand position.Nadal has a stronger backhand.Thiem has a weaker backhand and uses a sideway forehand to protect his backhand position.Nadal had diverse offensive means in long rally rounds,while he got the overall stronger scoring ability.Thiem’s scoring ability is relatively weak in the long rally rounds,and his use of techniques and tactics is biased to the traditional clay court playing style.He relies on his superior physical strength and mobile ability to contend with Nadal in their long rally rounds,but the stability of techniques and tactics is relatively poor and the playing method is relatively simple,so he does not gain the upper hand in the match with Nadal.