How Nadal sent teenager Auger-Aliassime to clay-court school in Madrid

Felix Auger-Aliassime’s most common expression on a tennis court is to show no expression at all. For an 18-year-old, the Canadian is remarkably self-controlled; he doesn’t waste energy fist-pumping or exhorting himself when things are going well, or writhing in agony when things aren’t.

But on Wednesday in Madrid, Auger-Aliassime couldn’t help allowing one expression to cross his face on a few occasions. It was one of perplexity. After missing a shot—usually a forehand sent long for no obvious reason—he would stare toward his coach, narrow his eyes, shrug his shoulders, and shake his head back and forth a few times.

This is a look we’ve seen for close to 15 years when players face a certain opponent on a certain surface—namely, Rafael Nadal on clay. Now it was Auger-Aliassime’s turn to wonder what the heck was going wrong against Rafa. At first glance, Nadal’s shots may not have appeared all that intimidating. They landed short and bounced into FAA’s strike zone. Yes, they were on the high side, and yes, they came in with a lot of spin, but they still gave Auger-Aliassime time to move up and take a rip—which was exactly what he looking for. FAA trained on clay as a kid in Montreal, so he knows how to work a point on this surface.

Yet in the end, Auger-Aliassime suffered the same fate as virtually everyone who has ever faced Nadal on clay. After staying with the Spaniard through seven games, he eventually lost 6-3, 6-3. FAA didn’t break Nadal or challenge him on his serve, and he spent most of the second set chasing balls rather than dictating rallies.

During his time on court, though, Auger-Aliassime did remind us of one important aspect of why Nadal is so tough to play on clay. With his defensive skills, Rafa forces you to commit as early as possible, take the ball on the rise, and drill risky shots into the corners, often more than once per point. On the one hand, Nadal lets you get your cuts in, and if you can keep drilling those risky shots perfectly, you can win points. On the other hand, he forces you to maintain a precarious balance: Taking the ball early is the only way you can win, but it can also lead you to rush your shots and overhit them.

Auger-Aliassime understood this, and he started the match by successfully pressing Nadal. He’s fast enough to run around his backhand and hit forehands, and he’s tall enough, at 6’4, to take Nadal’s shots on the rise. As the games progressed, though, Auger-Aliassime lost the balance, and began to rush. The forehands that were finding the corners early began to sail past the baseline. The dam finally broke at 3-4 in the first set, when FAA, up 40-15, missed four straight forehands and was broken. We were watching a new ATP generation face Nadal today, but the story was the same as it has always been.

As for Rafa himself, once he had the break, he relaxed and shifted into a higher, more confident gear. He stopped hitting short, stopped giving Auger-Aliassime so many offensive opportunities, and punctuated points with winners of his own—his crosscourt backhand was especially good. Nadal also made a solid percentage of first serves, and perhaps exposed a weakness in Auger-Aliassime’s game: his return. FAA often left it high and spinning ineffectively, particularly from the backhand side.

What should Auger-Aliassime have learned from Rafa today? That hitting one great shot against him, especially on dirt, isn’t enough. What should the rest of us have learned from Rafa today? That he can still shift gears mid-match, and he can still make his opponents wonder what the heck just went wrong.