As soon as I woke up for the early morning viewing of the mend finals in Rome only to discover that there was a rain delay I got a feeling that Rafael Nadal fans worldwide would not be rejoicing. Novak Djokovic may have looked a little weary at times in his semi final and may have taken a nasty tumble but the more time there was for him to recover between the two matches the worse it was for Nadal.
In theory the heavier conditions should have favoured Nadal but the Spaniard’s clay court game has been plagued by short balls this season, while Djokovic has consistently demonstrated devastating depth, angle and touch over the last few weeks on the dirt. So, with the Gods seemingly smiling on him, Novak Djokovic beat Rafa Nadal 6-4, 6-4 for the fourth time in a row, the second on clay in as many weeks.
The King of Clay has been dethroned.
OK so maybe I’m
getting ahead of myself. Djokovic has had one truly amazing season. He has now won seven consecutive tournaments, beating Nadal four times in the process. Novak has won every tournament he has entered in 2011. He is playing phenomenal tennis. Novak Djokovic deserves the ranking that goes with being the best player in the world because right now world number one Rafael Nadal has no answsers, not even on clay.
What will be most interesting is Roland Garros. Novak has made no secret that his goals are to be number one and to win Wimbledon, however, I’m sure he’s going to come out firing to try and beat Nadal in his beloved Paris.
Maybe Novak’s legs will run out of gas (surely it’s got to happen soon) and maybe Nadal’s fever will get the best of him but it seems right now that D
jokovic is the only player in the world who has worked out a winning formula for beating the left handed, heavy spin hitting, Armani clad Spaniard.
Novak has a long way to go to really dethrone Nadal as King of Clay. Nadal has won Roland Garros five times in six year, Monte Carlo seven consecutive times and has won numerous other clay court tournaments such as Barcelona and Rome multiple times. Over almost a decade it is Nadal’s name that has stood, second to none, as the undisputed champion on clay.
It seems Novak has arrived and is prepared to step up and give Nadal a run for his money. In beating Nadal twice now on clay, and comprehensively, it shows just how dominant Rafa has been and just how incredible his clay court achievements have been.
There is now a measly 405 points separating the two players.
“He is the king of clay and he is the best player ever to play on this surface. I have won against him twice in the last eight days which I think is incredible, an incredible achievement for me, and he has given me a lot of confidence for the French Open. This is only a couple of tournaments this year and he has since been dominant on this surface for so many, many years.” – Novak Djokovic
“I have been doing everything that I can so I cannot ask myself more. I am trying and I am doing very well, but one player is doing better than me. The champion in my opinion is not only be able to win every week; it is when they are able to wait at the right moments and I am waiting at every week, trying to find solutions, and we will see what is going on next time… I wish him all the best and I have to wait my moment to win another time.
I am not disappointed with my performance, my level. He is doing amazing things. He is very tough mentally and physically, every week. He played very well but this week was very positive for me. I finished better than I started, which is not what happened in Madrid.”- Rafael Nadal
One thing is sure whatever Nadal’s stating, Djokovic has bang a real nail in his head, also casting quite a large shadow over his confidence. Those two losses on the red dirt are hard BLOWS, and don’t let’s forget in straight sets offering a outplayed EMPEROR OF PUSHING, oops! Yeah,t will be interesting how ‘humble’ Nadal will be able to hunt this demon down. Tennis is in large parts truly one wicked mind game. In former years Nadal always was able to neutralize some poor form showing in the last & first quarter of the year thanks to his dominance on clay and tank self-belief, celebrating his clay supremacy. Yet, now just on week away form the French Open, having gotten a nasty nemesis called Djokovic on his nerves, four finals lost in a row, even on his master surface – leaving scars – in succession!! Yes,there’s a ‘ugly’ writing on the wall… says hardship might be far from over. Roland Garros has always been Nadal’s key event to define his powers & reign. Without that self-reassuring title he would have been able to conquer two other Grand Slams in 2010. So, lets see – in those interesting times – how the ‘dirt devil’ is going to fight the flood of ‘Djoko-Evil’, ha. All pressure, from within as from public opinions, will call Nadal’s name. He must declare ‘war’ at the Serb and ‘good Rafael’ is doomed to adjust his tactics & executions with great efficiency, because he MUST get this win under his belt – somehow, howsoever – for the sake of his ‘tennis-kingdom’. If he can’t do it and catch that ‘bloody’ RG-trophy, I’m dare to claim ‘the Spanish Armada’ is set to sink. Then Djokovic will be symbolize just the beginning. In tennis land like in Serengeti beta-predator will love to see the alpha-player fragile & insecure, ‘huntable’ vulnerable, to prey at his disadvantage. And next to (Jack-in-the-box)Novak sits Murray, already gritting his teeth. And believe me whatever nice words they all may say just to please ‘tennis political correctness, dumb blogs & of course their big-cash-sponsors’ in front of reporters, behind close doors there’s no REAL friendship(remember the nail) left, ha, when your ‘good buddy” stabs you four times straight in your tennis-heart. So I’m looking forward to watch drama, blood on dirt and all tards(NAD,FED, DJO) raging over wins & losses & meanings… Chao! Ashino W. Sushanti