So much is on the line today. Nadal is playing his fifth consecutive Grand Slam final and hunting for his seventh Roland Garros crown in an attempt to over take Bjorn Borg in the history books. Djokovic is looking to defeat the King of Clay on his home turf and in doing so complete a career Grand Slam and a Novak Slam – holding all four Slams at the same time (but not in one calender year).
Nadal has been in top form leading into the final, repeatedly bageling opponents, and consistently winning in straight sets. Physically Nadal should have the advantage after Novak was pushed to five sets twice but as we saw in Australia, Novak has a knack for recovering and rising to the occasion against Rafa.
Before meeting Rafa in the Australian finals Novak had all sorts of breathing and physical issues that he recovered from and didn’t seem to restrict him in their almost 6 hour battle to the death which the Serbian came out on top of. Rafa was ultimately also outplayed by the depth of Novak’s returns that took time away from him, giving Nole a very effective offensive position to work from. Novak’s improved service returns and phenomenal forehand will continue to trouble Nadal, particularly if he gives up too much court.
The issue with Novak’s seven consecutive wins over Nadal, including in the last three consecutive Slams, is that there is now doubt in everyone’s mind that the Spaniard can overcome the new and improved Serb.
The pressure to make the history books lays more heavily on the shoulders of Novak. He is fighting for his spot in history whereas Nadal is just looking to build on the entry written under his name – much the same way Federer is as he winds down his career.
Nadal has already proven himself in Paris time and time again and to win a seventh crown would be the icing on the cake.
Both Nadal and Federer have had chances to hold all four Slams at the same time but something has always stopped them from crossing that barrier. What makes Rod Laver so great is that he did it in a calender year. Twice.
No matter the outcome of this match Rod’s record is more impressive than Novak’s would be even if he thumped Nadal which I doubt he will.
Rafa will be desperate to claim a win over Novak that wasn’t impacted on by the death of Nole’s grandfather like his win in Monte Carlo.
Ultimately I think Nadal will come out on top in four. It is incredibly hard to call, mostly because of what Novak achieved last year, but I’m backing the Spaniard to restore order once and for all in their rivalry.
Your writing is poor so is the knowledge of tennis, so that’s why no one else commented. Novak dominated Nadal in 2011 by exploiting Nadal’s weaker side — his backhand — and controlling court position to take time away from Nadal. While last year Nadal’s backhand almost always hit crosscourt and he seemed to lack faith in his ability to rip a backhand up the line, this year he will not be so predictable. Nadal has expanded his repertoire of shots on the backhand side, with a noticeably improved backhand down the line, a heavier, more penetrating slice, and an accurate topspin angle that he places just past the service line to run his opponent wide of the sideline. ALL OF THESE SHOTS are designed to increase the chances that he can play a forehand, which has become the most lethal ground stroke in men’s tennis.
The key to the match will be Nole’s ability to win the battle of court positioning. If Novak can impose his game on Nadal, taking the ball early and pushing Rafa off the baseline with his penetrating ground strokes, then he will force Nadal to cover a lot of ground. We are looking for Djokovic to go wide to Nadal’s forehand, which will expose the Nadal backhand. Nadal hits way fewer forehand winners when pulled wide than when he gets to run around his backhand and use his favorite winner, the inside-out forehand.
We weren’t talking about reasons why Novak has beaten Rafa in the past. This was about an opinion about who would come out on top in the match.
Nobody is debating that the way Novak returned serve, punished Nadal when he ran around his backhand, and exposed the backhand was beyond impressive and continues to be impressive.
If you think this article was supposed to be an assessment of why Novak’s record against Rafa was so impressive over the last 18 months then you are mistaken.
All we’re saying is that: Nadal’s been in the better form this tournament so far, both will be desperate to win for different reasons, Nadal knows he needs to prove he can beat Nole when he’s not emotionally traumatised, that Nole still has the means to beat Rafa if he gives up too much court, and that we think Rafa’s going to walk away with the win. That’s it.