"You can see Rafa's face; he was surprised that the ball came back in the corner" - David Goffin recalls ridiculous banana forehand against Rafael Nadal
In a series conducted by Tennis TV where players recall their best shots on tour, David Goffin had an interesting answer involving Rafael Nadal. He reckons the best shot he has played in his career came in the 2017 ATP Finals against Rafael Nadal, where he pulled off a ridiculous running banana forehand in the second set.
The Belgian recalled how the cameras later zoomed in on the Spaniard to showcase his disbelief, which Goffin considered to be the icing on the cake after his moment of magic.
David Goffin remarked that it was satisfying to hit such a shot against a player like Nadal, who has a reputation for being a banana-shot expert.
"[My best shot came] at the 2017 ATP Finals against Rafael Nadal. It is funny because most of the time Rafa made a lot of bananas, passing shot bananas," Goffin said. "And I made one, I wouldn't say lucky, but really controlled, nice banana (shot) against him."
David Goffin further added that just seeing the incredulous reaction from the 21-time Grand Slam champion was enough for him to mark it down as his best shot.
"What is funny is that when you see it in slow motion, you can see Rafa's face. He was like surprised that the ball came back in the corner, like on the line," Goffin said. "So, that's the shot I like."
The shot came in the second set of the match, a set that Nadal went on to win. However, Goffin won the first and third sets to score an upset over the top seed. Nadal subsequently pulled out of the tournament following the loss, citing a knee injury.
The current World No. 68 progressed as far as the finals, defeating Roger Federer in the semifinals. In the process, he became only the fifth player in history to beat both Federer and Nadal in the same tournament. In the final, however, he fell to Grigor Dimitrov to hand the Bulgarian the year-end championship on his debut. Incidentally, neither Goffin nor Dimitrov have featured in the tournament since.
Rafael Nadal has lost to David Goffin only twice in his career so far
Rafael Nadal and David Goffin have squared off against each other on six occasions, and the Spaniard has lost only twice. The first loss came in the 2017 ATP Finals while the most recent defeat came at the 2020 ATP Cup. Despite his loss, Spain won the tie against Belgium.
(2018, 2021)
(2019)
(2019)
Since 2017, only 3 men have taken a set off Nadal in Roland Garros :
D. Schwartzman 🇦🇷 (2018, 2021)
D. Thiem 🇦🇹 (2019)
D. Goffin 🇧🇪 (2019)
That’s it. 😅
#RolandGarros https://t.co/sdZZ6w8YeH
Interestingly or perhaps expectantly, both wins came on hardcourts for the Belgian. Meanwhile, the 21-time Grand Slam champion has won all four of their encounters on clay. The World No. 4 has lost only one set on clay to Goffin, which happened in their meeting at the French Open in 2019.