- Rafa got off to a better start. These two players were pretty evenly matched in the second and third sets, but the first set was already in the books. When the 3rd set ended, Rafa had a finish line in sight right as Nole was trying to regroup.
- Missed break point opportunities hurt Nole badly. 6 opponents managed to break Rafa 1 time and Nole tripled that in one match. Still, Novak had a chance to go up a double break early in the 3rd set, had 3 opportunities to go up a break and serve for the 3rd set, and had chances to open the 4th set with a break of serve.
- A plan B. Nadal made his move in the 3rd set when he stepped further back into the court and played more conservatively. He was not able to beat Nole by trying to stand toe-to-toe close to the baseline, but Rafa moved back and used consistency and scrambling to draw errors and get the 3rd set back on serve.
- The strangle hold mentality. Rafa played Houdini to escape triple break point at 4-4 in the 3rd set, but he also went for the jugular in the 4th set not allowing Nole to ever fully regroup.
- Rafa plays well even when he is playing badly. His topspin gives him such a margin for error and he fights/scrambles so well that players feel pressure to go for a little extra and take a few more risks than they would under normal circumstances. Therefore, Rafa heightens anxiety from the outset of the match even if he is not playing his A game and dictating.
Tennis Abides: Dan Martin on Tennis and Life 
nole’s error count was a huge factor too imo. he made so many dumb misses in set one, and then again to surrender the lead and ultimately the match in set 3. it was disheartening. for him and his fans. he looked devastated at the end and in his presser. hopefully he regroups for next year. thanks for the recap dan.
p.s. very true about “plan b”… nole needs to learn from rafa on that. he needs to not get frustrated and instead adjust.
Djokovic seemed to get demoralized when he blew the third. As good as rafa is watching the match it seemed like djokovic was the more gamely hard court player but rafa was the better fighter
I agree – fight makes a huge difference and many top players have a lot of fight but Rafa has a super tanker