Rafael Nadal vs Alexander Zverev: 3 reasons why Nadal won the Davis Cup rubber comfortably

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal faced off against World No. 4 Alexander Zverev in a crucial Davis Cup tie today. Had Nadal lost the rubber, Spain would have been eliminated.

The Spaniard put on a dominant display in front of his home fans and set a marker for the upcoming clay season.

Here are three reasons why he was able to win easily:

#3 Too many unforced errors from Alexander Zverev

Alexander Zverev started the match poorly and was immediately punished by Nadal who broke the German in his first service game. With Zverev's backhand not hitting the right spots, he was taken to the cleaners in the first set by a rampaging Nadal.

The second set started similarly to the first with Nadal wresting control by breaking the German. After a brief altercation over a line call which pumped Zverev up, he broke Nadal's serve only to be broken again in the fifth game of the second set. Nadal, who was standing deep, negated the powerful serve of Zverev and put pressure on his service games which helped him build a two-set lead.

This was also seen in the third set and the German was again broken by Nadal whose shot selection was of the highest quality. In total, Nadal was able to break Zverev's serve six times in the two hours and 16 minutes match. The German had a poor outing with 57 unforced errors and in no way looked like he was going to upset the King of Clay.

#2 Rafael Nadal's forehand was on fire:

Rafael Nadal's forehand is one of the best shots in tennis history. It was on full display against Zverev and he hardly put a foot wrong. From the beginning of the first set, Nadal was able to move Zverev around the court with his powerful forehand. On numerous occasions, he opened up the court with his forehand and punished Zverev.

When Nadal's forehand clicks it just becomes impossible for the opponent to attack. While Zverev can be criticized for offering some short balls to Nadal's forehand, his forehand was just too good and helped him win the crucial encounter to help Spain tie things up.

#1 Rafael Nadal's experience:

Rafael Nadal is regarded as the greatest clay-court player to play the game. The 20-year-old Alexander Zverev, who was playing his fourth match against Nadal, did not have a proper game plan. Nadal used two tactics to dismantle the German's game. One being standing deep during the German's serve so that he could get additional time to react. It also helped him return a higher percentage of Zverev's serve and put pressure on him from the first point.

The second tactic was to move Zverev around the court. When the German was standing too far at the back of the court, he used the drop shot effectively to win a lot of points. At the end of the day, Nadal's experience helped him and his team secure a win. Nadal's victory set the record for the longest Davis Cup winning streak in combined singles and doubles rubbers at 23 matches in a row.