Changes aimed at self-preservation have crystallised here in Melbourne. Nadal 2.0 is spending much less time on court, using fewer shots and, most of all, is hitting with a faster and more aggressive serve. Nadal's late-career evolution. Credit:Eddie Jim The last time Nadal made the final in Melbourne – the 2017 classic in which he was upended by the second coming of Roger Federer – his road to the last match was laborious: It took 18 hours and 56 minutes over six matches. This year, the New Nadal has been on court for a mere 12 hours, 11 minutes. To put that in perspective, that's little more than double the time he took in his ultra-marathon 2012 Australian Open final (five hours, 53 minutes) agasint Novak Djokovic. It's arguable that Nadal has spent much less time on court – the equivalent of two or even three matches – because of a) the level of opposition, and b) the outlandish level that he's reached.

Certainly, Stefanos Tsitsipas found Nadal 2.0 to be "a different dimension of tennis completely". The Greek had a memorable description of one of Rafa's great gifts. Nadal, he said, "just has a talent to make you play bad". Loading But Tsitsipas also summed up the difference between the Old Nadal and his vintage version: "His aggression and his serve." Again, go back two years and compare the 30-year-old Rafa with this one. At the 2017 Australian Open, Nadal's first serve averaged 179km/h. This year, he's increased the velocity to 189. Second serve? Less dramatic, but still a significant increase in speed and power: from 152 to 158km/h. The heavier serve is the cornerstone of this more efficient Nadal, who hitherto played a much more taxing game – with longer rallies, abrupt changes of direction and a highly physical method – than Federer in particular.

Nadal 1.0 averaged 4.41 shots per point here in 2017. Under the coaching of fellow Majorcan Carlos Moya, Reinvented Rafa has averaged 3.93. If that doesn't sound like much, consider the effect over six or seven matches. No answers: Stefanos Tsitsipas. Credit:AAP After making moussaka of Tsitsipas on Thursday, Nadal took umbrage at the suggestion that he had not been aggressive in the past. "I am aggressive because I am playing well, no? Is nothing new that I am aggressive." The Spaniard's explanation was that he had always wanted to play with aggression, but that his heavier serve had made it possible for him to finish points more quickly. "That's why I'm able to create more winners on the first ball." The numbers also show he's serving with greater precision – read, closer to the lines.

Without descending into obsessive trainspotting details, Nadal's serve has enabled him to run around and hit forehands with greater frequency (69 per cent in the 2017 Open, compared with 74 per cent this campaign).

In the Tsitsipas slaughter, Nadal won 44 points of fewer than four shots, to the Greek's 33. The youngster's only hope was to win these rapid exchanges, yet he was clearly beaten on the quickies and smashed in the longer points that Nadal has always owned. The accusation that Nadal has often carried throughout his career – that he plays a passive clay brand, waiting for errors, trading heavy shots from the back without variety or enterprise – no longer holds. In many ways, Rafa is replicating what Federer did in 2017, when he changed to a bigger racquet, took a more aggressive stance (standing further up the court) and reduced his schedule. Nadal is defeated by Roger Federer in the 2017 Australian Open final. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Nadal has already cut back on the number of matches – he hadn't played events for nearly four months before Melbourne – helped by an ATP rule that gives players some exemptions for missing tournaments when they've been on tour for 12 years.