Come Sunday , Djokovic and Nadal will face off for the 4th consecutive grand slam final , and without a shadow of a doubt , this one promises to be a cracker.
Nadal has been in imperious form , yet to drop a set (in fact , he is yet to drop a set on the red clay) is going to be the obvious favourite going into the match but we all know that there's only 1 man capable of stopping Rafa on this surface.
Djokovic level of play has been decent , but still far from the form he produced in 2011 when he beat Nadal back to back in Madrid and Rome. Tennis of that caliber is highly unlikely to be seen again from the world no.1 , but if he wants to have a chance in beating Nadal , he has to produce that kind of tennis.
Key to Djokovic winning the match:
1) Serve
2) Defense- with great depth
3) Getting of to a good start
4) Backhand up the line
5) Short forehand angle to Rafa's BH followed by the forehand down the line.
6) Keeping the rallies short ( he wouldn't want another one of those 36 shot rallies especially against Nadal)
7) Converting high percentage of break point chances
Key to Nadal winning the match:
1) Running around the BH to rip a forehand cross court
2) Serve
3) Defense ( which is going to be impeccable as always on this surface)
4) Play aggressive ( He wouldn't want to do too much defending against Nole)
The pick : Nadal in 4 sets
( I don't really know why I'm giving Novak a set , but because their rivalry has been dominated by Novak in the recent past , I'm almost forced into saying that he'll win a set. Plus , there's going to be far too much pressure on Novak and its almost impossible for him to play his best under that kind of pressure)
Nadal has been in imperious form , yet to drop a set (in fact , he is yet to drop a set on the red clay) is going to be the obvious favourite going into the match but we all know that there's only 1 man capable of stopping Rafa on this surface.
Djokovic level of play has been decent , but still far from the form he produced in 2011 when he beat Nadal back to back in Madrid and Rome. Tennis of that caliber is highly unlikely to be seen again from the world no.1 , but if he wants to have a chance in beating Nadal , he has to produce that kind of tennis.
Key to Djokovic winning the match:
1) Serve
2) Defense- with great depth
3) Getting of to a good start
4) Backhand up the line
5) Short forehand angle to Rafa's BH followed by the forehand down the line.
6) Keeping the rallies short ( he wouldn't want another one of those 36 shot rallies especially against Nadal)
7) Converting high percentage of break point chances
Key to Nadal winning the match:
1) Running around the BH to rip a forehand cross court
2) Serve
3) Defense ( which is going to be impeccable as always on this surface)
4) Play aggressive ( He wouldn't want to do too much defending against Nole)
The pick : Nadal in 4 sets
( I don't really know why I'm giving Novak a set , but because their rivalry has been dominated by Novak in the recent past , I'm almost forced into saying that he'll win a set. Plus , there's going to be far too much pressure on Novak and its almost impossible for him to play his best under that kind of pressure)
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