Rafael Nadal defeated Gael Monfils 7-5, 5-7, 6-0 to win a ninth title at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, dominating the shorter exchanges much more than the extended rallies.

Nadal is widely known as the King of Clay, where longer, grueling rallies dominate the European clay court landscape. But his win over Monfils in Monte-Carlo today was much more about attacking first, and accepting the trophy later. Nadal won 57 per cent of rallies in the zero-to-four shot range; 59 per cent in the five-to-nine shot rally length and just 47 per cent of rallies nine shots or longer. Nadal won the battle of zero-to-four shots 45-34, laying the foundation for a ninth title in the Principality.

The best clay court player of the past decade did not dominate the long exchanges. He actually lost the battle of rallies of nine shots or longer, 26-29. That’s just fine for the 2016 Rafael Nadal. Overall, the Spaniard dominated the shot exchanges up to nine shots, where around 90 per cent of points are played, and he was quite OK with Monfils wining the rest.

Court Position

There is an illusion that Nadal plays much deeper in the court than his opponents, regularly making contact with the ball closer to the back fence than the baseline. It’s simply not true.

In the final against Monfils, Nadal felt the magnetism of the baseline better than his French opponent, making contact inside the baseline 18 per cent of the time, compared to nine per cent for Monfils. Nadal hit 53 per cent of his shots within two meters of the baseline, compared to Monfils’ 45 per cent, which enabled the Spaniard to open the court better with superior depth and direction.

A major factor in the final was balls hit very deep in the court, effectively forcing the opponent to make contact more than two meters behind the baseline. You would think Nadal would be the player backing up the most, but he made contact closer to the baseline than Monfils. A major factor in matches like this is court position, because the farther you can push your opponent back, the less he can hurt you.

Forehands vs. Backhands

When Rafa was “Rafa” just a few years ago, he was hitting as many forehands as possible to push the opponent back, and then opening the court with better baseline geometry. This final was another example of the inner workings of the Spanish clay-court master. Overall, Nadal hit forehands 57 per cent of the time compared to 51 per cent for Monfils. In a game of inches, these are the metrics that separate good from great.

Nadal’s spin, on both forehands and backhands, was greater than Monfils, helping the Spaniard commit fewer unforced errors (36 to 51) and push the Frenchman back. Nadal’s average forehand topspin rate (rpm) was a massive 3288rpm, considerably more than Monfils’ 2765 rpm. Nadal also put more work on his backhand, averaging 2583rpm to the Frenchman’s 2136rpm. Monfils hit his forehand harder, averaging 127kph to Nadal’s 121kph, but ultimately the Spaniard landed his forehand inside the lines a lot more.

Return Depth

Monfils won the battle of deep returns, hitting 33 per cent of his returns closer to the baseline than the service line, compared to Nadal’s 19 per cent. But it was the strategy and execution that followed that proved to be the difference for the Spaniard.

Avoiding the Middle

Both players were quick to stretch the opponent out wide, avoiding going down the middle of the court against an opponent who was not going to miss. Nadal hit only 5 per cent of his shots down the middle of the court, targeting Monfils’ backhand 66 per cent of the time and forehand 29 per cent of the time. Monfils hit only 10 per cent of his shots down the middle of the court, focusing 51 per cent of his groundstrokes to Nadal’s backhand and 39 per cent to Nadal’s forehand.

Nine Titles

Nadal’s ninth title in Monte-Carlo was built much more on suffocating defense than anything else. He made Wawrinka snap a racquet over his leg after four games. He also dominated Andy Murray and Monfils in deciding sets. If you simply can’t put a ball away, it makes for a very tough day at the office. The king of clay just put his crown back on his head.

The championship of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Sunday matches No. 5/eight-time champion Rafael Nadal against No. 13 seed Gael Monfils, who is the first Frenchman to reach the final here since Cedric Pioline won the title in 2000 (d. Hrbaty). Nadal is trying to capture his ninth Monte-Carlo crown and 28^th ATP Masters 1000 title in his 100^th career final.

Watch Final Live On TennisTV

Nadal has an 11-2 career head-to-head record against Monfils, including 4-0 on clay (8-0 in sets). They first met here in the first round in 2005 and the Spaniard won 63 62 en route to his first of eight straight Monte-Carlo titles. Nadal also has won their two previous final meetings (’10 Tokyo, ’14 Doha). Their last meeting came in the semi-finals of Stuttgart last June and Nadal won 63 64 en route to the title.

Nadal is appearing in final for the 10^th time (8-1) since 2005 and he’s looking to capture his first title here since 2012 (d. Djokovic). He has a tournament-best 57-4 career record and he won eight straight titles from 2005 to 2012. His 46-match Monte-Carlo winning streak came to an end in the 2013 final (l. to Djokovic). The 29-year-old Spaniard is the sixth player in the Open Era to reach at least 100 career ATP World Tour level singles finals (67-32). This is his 42^nd final in an ATP Masters 1000 event (27-14) and his last Masters 1000 title came in Madrid in 2014 (d. Nishikori). He is second behind Novak Djokovic, who owns 28 ATP Masters 1000 titles. Nadal is appearing in his 56^th career clay court final (47-8 mark) and he’s trying to win an ATP World Tour European clay court title for the 13^th straight year (since 2004). His last title came in Hamburg on Aug. 2, 2015 (d. Fognini).

Monfils is the first double-digit seed to reach the Monte-Carlo final since No. 11 Nadal won the title in 2005. The last player outside the Top 10 to win an ATP Masters 1000 title was countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who was No. 15 when he captured the Toronto title in 2014. The 29-year-old Frenchman is making his third final showing in an ATP Masters 1000 event, having reached back-to-back finals in Paris-Bercy in 2009 (l. to Djokovic) and 2010 (l. to Soderling). Monfils has not dropped a set in five matches, holding serve 37 of 43 games, while leading the tournament in return games won (24 of 42, 57%). Monfils is trying to earn his sixth ATP World Tour title in 24^th final (5-18). He is 1-8 vs. Top 10 opponents in finals with his lone win over (9) Gasquet in 2014 Montpellier. He will break the Top 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings if he wins the title.The last time he was in the Top 10 came on Nov. 7, 2011.

WHAT’S AT STAKE:     

Winner              € 717,315 and 1,000 Emirates ATP Rankings points

Runner-up         € 351,715 and 600 Emirates ATP Rankings points  

FINALS HISTORY:       

Nadal is bidding for a 28^th ATP Masters 1000 title (27-14) and 68^th career title (67-32 in finals)
Monfils is bidding for a 1^st ATP Masters 1000 title (0-2) and 6^th career title (5-18 in finals) 

ATP MASTERS 1000 TITLE LEADERS: Nadal is trying to win his 28^th career ATP Masters 1000 title and equal Novak Djokovic.  

NADAL IN MONTE-CARLO FINALS: This is the fifth time since 2008 Nadal came into Monte-Carlo without an ATP World Tour title for the season. In the previous four times (2008, 2010-11-12), he left Monte-Carlo with the title.