Rafael Nadal vs Ivan Dodig - US Open 2013: 3rd Round: Highlights

Well, that is a play, Kevin, that I don't... He talked about the big first serve. He's going to have to crank that up. Increase Dodig's chances of being competitive. He's got some pop on it. He increased that up to 120. That was the perfect Nadal point, and that's why he's unhappy right now. He had it. He had Dodig right where he wanted him. Well, certainly up at the net, and you see him work his way in this time. Had to dig up a tough volley. Didn't do enough with it, and then... Now, Jimmy, viewing audience is sitting home slack-jawed, chins on the ground, going, Are you kidding me? Rafael Nadal is nervous in the third-round match. Open series, which there's an opportunity for bonus money at the end if you're finishing the top three. Yeah, Nadal is in position. Dodig gets a short ball, hits it pretty big, comes in, and part one of four on second serve points. High from Nadal. Good, tough serve out wide, and this side not quite so easy a pattern to figure out. And the break for Nadal. Pushes himself into the lead early to try to consolidate the break. I mean, he's the right way to play Nadal. Here's an example of it. He crushed this backhand, came in behind it, but Nadal is seeing the court beautifully, and Dodig went down reasonably hard there. Good serve and volley point. Yeah, Nadal is... I've never seen Nadal through two matches, and now the start of this third one. Yikes, that's not the place you want to be if he's put away. Yeah, in this instance, another sort of bad volley, sitting it up midcourt. You want to guess wrong. Saw a moment ago that Rafael Nadal has become the first player since 2003 to win Montreal and Cincinnati back-to-back years. That's a considerable feat, as Allison Hughes has been asked by Dodig, I believe, to call for an on-court trainer, and definitely it can happen. I'm not going to disagree with you. I don't know 100%, but I'd say there's a pretty good sense. Let's just put it in perspective when we come back, and here comes the trainer for Yvonne Dodig. 105, 102, 103 type range. There's an ace. He has been serving pretty solid. Dodig. Dodig once again visited by a trainer to check on his body to see if it's holding up under the duress that is Rafael Nadal. Games ago, but he has been issued a medical timeout. That's strange to me, because he got evaluated on the last changeover when the trainer came out and didn't do anything. Comes back for the next changeover and takes a medical timeout and is getting taped. Do you know enough? I know enough that the tape isn't going to hold it together. Dodig going to try to get back out there. He's formally number one, and back on his way to number one. It would take a bit of a miracle for anyone else to finish number one this year with the stretch that Nadal's had here recently. He's overly happy with this challenge only because he's fine with it now, but it's supposed to be pretty immediate. Great stuff from Dodig. He guessed right. Just jams him right at the body of Dodig at 122 miles per hour, and that seals the deal on set number one. Hard court match in a while. He's playing that down. That's new. What you're seeing from Nadal, he stepped up to force Dodig where you saw him, and then he was able to finish the point off there, but he used what was possible to find his backhand. Again, he'll go to great lengths to continue hitting forehands, and eventually he's going to get you in this position where he's got you. Finally, here's to win on hard court or to save a knee. Either way, he's a better player because of it right now. Once he gets a forehand, Nadal forgets finding it again. And you see how far behind the baseline Dodig had to be just to run down that first shot. Seasons. But one thing that Nadal does every time, 99.9% of the time, let me rephrase that, is if he's running for a drop shot and he gets below the net on his backhand side, he chips it down the line. A little bit more. He sees Dodig go back, so he steps up close to the baseline and then boom. And Nadal with a break. May have a second challenge from Dodig. He takes a long walk. They give a second look. Teen consecutive points on serve. And now make it 21 of his last 23 service points. His name is set number one. And we're not getting almost point by point. I mean, it's just remarkably similar. But that time he did go cross court. He actually starts heading away from the court, almost by the dunk. He's going to be tough. Down after the bounce. That's on a slower court. But on a fast court, you can have a ball. Zip up the bag. You can't let a defensive lob. Ball right here. He comes in now. There's only two possibilities when Nadal takes the racket back that way. And that's lob or a slow low chip. You have to take lob away. Yes. Falling away. And that was really, I mean, serving it up. Awesome. They're not going to beat him from the baseline. Serve out wide in the deuce. Volley cross court. Nadal passes you on the shot, which he nearly did. That's not confidence inducing. Last meeting in Montreal two years ago. Nadal picks up his second ace. And another to back it up. And another turn winner. We spoke about this, didn't we, Uncle? Well, you know what? This is a new, working on this return in Montreal. Pretty close to the baseline. And he hit it pretty sharply. But if you do that and the opponent gets it back in a hurry, what happened, that rally to Nadal. Goes down the line. You're right. The trend continues for Nadal. And this time it works. A second break. That pads his lead. And he has a two set to none advantage. Seeking a spot in the round of 16. So you're saying the tennis equivalent. You get a look here. Nadal is going to know where this overhead goes. It's going to be an angle. But it doesn't matter. There's certain shots you just can't get to. And that's one of them. Unless you're in about the fifth row. Napping. And then began the onslaught. And just dominate 2013. Awesome stop from Doding. Beautiful slice backhand. And then this forehand on the run that also had to find the line. Had to play that type. Love that play. Don't know. I'm going to say it every time. Don't know why. A better short forehand right here. It's the second time he's had that on a fairly important point too. Love 15. Looks like he knew it pretty early in his approach. Great defensive lob. Already starting to get some questions coming in, Jimmy. It hasn't happened in either of his two matches. He's not broken here. As we continue our coverage from the 2013 U.S. Open, day six of the final major. Really for a lower-ranked player, lower-ranked meaning even nine in the world to do it. That was the problem for Murray, if you remember, that he had to beat two of them. Right. And the crowd oohs and aahs as Doding just ups the ante. He had it five years younger than Federer. Not too good. And you'll have to think about that for a moment. From the fourth round. Through his first three rounds without dropping a set and never really tested. Okay, one thing you can learn if you move in, that forces him to sort of hit that little push down the line. And he just is dialed in. Yeah, he's dialed in right now. I mean, who can beat him at the French? He might win 17 Frenches in the end of the day. Might just play that one tournament for the rest of his life. Rare miss in this third set for Nadal. Devising the plan to beat Nadal. We've touched on it a little bit here. Great move from Doding. Forget that. Oh, come on. Here. And he found a spot that somehow got over Nadal's head. Nadal turns around and flicks an angle. We're going to risk for 5-3 and force Rafa to serve it out. Late call. Yeah, he's going to challenge. Barring broadcaster's jinx and this being bad. Nope. He'll get it. Conceded. Conceded on Nadal. Nice. Did Rafa concede that point? It looked like he gave it to him. No need to challenge. And it wasn't a Coach Arias book. Keep your serves at 80, 73%. That's not even making the serve. That's winning the points at that percentage. That means you've done pretty well. And that's it. They'll have a challenge. Doding says, why not? He'll get one more look at the serve that was unreturnable by Rafael Nadal. But they both seem to believe that the challenge will not overturn the call. And it does not. Rafael Nadal improves to 2-1 lifetime versus Yvonne Doding. But more importantly, he's reached the fourth round at the U.S. Open with a straight sets victory. Still undefeated on hard court. Nadal playing brilliantly. I mean, the best I've ever seen him play. He's taking the ball earlier with the forehand and ripping it. We'll see what happens if he gets tight. If someone can make him nervous. We saw one moment in this match where he got a little nervous and you could see the different trajectory of the ball.