Although he survived Wednesday's encounter, Rafael Nadal must take more risks and stand much closer to the baseline to successfully dictate rallies if he is to go deep into this year's US Open.  The times he did this against Alun Jones in his second round match, he was rewarded but they were far too few in the first three sets.
Instead, what we saw was a Nadal who was often three or four metres behind the baseline, feeling that if he stayed back he would develop the rhythm on his stroke technique that deserted him throughout.

However, Jones's tactics of refusing to take a backward step from the baseline and constantly taking his first opportunity in each relevant point to drive the ball hard down the line to Nadal's forehand, prevented the Spaniard from setting up his usual camp in the backhand corner and toying with opponents with his off-forehand that usually yields such success.

Though risky (Jones made many errors) these brave and clever tactics paid dividends that many higher-ranked, better technique exponents than Jones could easily exploit to send the world No 2 packing in the early rounds, particularly while the Spaniard struggles to regain form on the fast, hard court surface. 

Granted, not every hard court player is prepared to take the risk of knowing they will make a few more errors in favour of keeping the rallies short, but any potential opponent who saw this particular match must go away pleased by the amount of success Jones's  tactics had against Nadal, constantly preventing the Spaniard from gaining and maintaining any rhythm in his service games. Not to mention turning a match into a contest that would never have been one otherwise.

Even though Nadal won, credit for the match must go to true, try hard journeyman Jones for giving the Spaniard a lot to think about while he tries to rest what appears to be troublesome muscle and tendon problems in his legs.