Rafa Nadal opens up on 'moonball' tactic at the Bastad Open after leaving fans puzzled

Whoever said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks may have been surprised at the tactic used by tennis legend Rafael Nadal during his latest win at the Bastad Open. The 38-year-old continued his comeback by beating Mariano Navo 6-7(2) 7-5 7-5 in Sweden, but only after turning to an unusual tactic to help turn the tide.

After struggling to breakdown the world No.32 early on, Nadal took to lobbing high balls back at his opponent from the baseline, in an apparent bid to slow down the play of the Argentinian.

The strategy is known as ‘moonball’, a ploy rarely seen from the likes of Nadal who is renowned for having one of the most formidable forehands of his generation.

But after fighting back from a set down to make the semi-finals, Nadal insisted that adapting his game in the heat of the moment was nothing new. And he explained why he turned to the baffling tactic, which he persisted with for much of the contest.

"I do what I normally, during all my tennis career, I was able to adapt about what I need in every single moment,” he explained. “I have been a player, I never had only one way to play tennis, I had different ones.

"And at some moments, that worked well, because I was not able to open the court the proper way against his forehand with my backhand. I started the match playing really badly from my backhand, then I improved."

The traditional windy conditions in Bastad seemed to aid Nadal, with his accurate high balls swirling in the wind and making it difficult for Navo to judge the flight. And Nadal also pointed to the conditions as another factor in his tactical with.

“It's true that when the ball was going fast he played at a very high rhythm,” he added. “So especially when the wind was helping, from the right side of the umpire, that shot worked. Because it's very difficult to come in, and you have to go very, very far, and it's difficult to hit a good ball from there."

The 22-time Grand Slam Champion will now face Croatian Duje Ajdukovic in today’s semi final. The Spaniard has not won the tournament since beating Tomas Berdych in his sole final appearance back in 2005.

But he appears to be gathering momentum ahead of what is sure to be a final appearance at the Olympics in Paris this month. Nadal beat Leo Borg and Cameron Norrie en route to the last eight, and proved his fitness in the four-hour battle with Nova, where he kept his composure after blowing a 5-2 lead in the deciding set.

Afterwards, he admitted: “I was not focused all the time, as you saw at 3-0 (second set) and 5-2. I lost for some moments the concentration, but I was able to hold physically until the end. That is so important for me. Let’s see how I am tomorrow, but today I am alive and I am in the semi-finals.”