David Goffin and Belgium’s run in ATP Cup may have come to an end but his 6-4 7-6 victory against Rafael Nadal to take the tie to a decisive doubles was pure class.
I’ve always like Goffin and since Roland Garros last year he has found some great form.
After his run at Roland Garros his win/loss for the year was 14/14. Since then he went onto finish the season winning 22 and losing 13 matches. This good run of form saw him make the Cincinnati final and took his ranking from 33 to top 15 and in the race to London which he narrowly missed out on, 43 to top 11.
His start to the season has been very good. Wins against Albot, Dimitrov and Nadal have put him in a good step for the Australian Open.
You could look at his win against Nadal and turn around and say it doesn’t mean anything now as Belgium’s run in the competition came to an end but it was too good a performance to just shelve and forget.
If anything, this is a lesson in using your opponents pace to your strength. David said in his post match press conference he has a good backhand and forehand and just had to use Rafa’s pace to redirect the ball.
It didn’t matter that he was on the run because he continued to send the ball back with interest time and time again.
Even stretching for the ball he got enough on it and trusted his ability whether it was forehand or backhand.
There was never a rush, even when he got into that strong two handed backhand position he remained composed and assured in what he was doing.
I’d recommend watching it back, I don’t think highlights do it justice. He was a menace from the beginning until the end even when he lost the break lead he had in the second he never panicked!
I hope he continues to do big things this year. I maybe jumping the gun but I think he will be in London in November.
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