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The Nadal-Djokovic Rivalry



               It was a five setter, an epic tennis match in which both men trying their best to outwit, outlast and outplayed their opponent. A grand slam tennis match between Nadal and Djokovic doesn’t disappoint all tennis fans. A battle not just only of skills; it is also a physical and mental battle that pushes both guys to the limit. The most impressive part was that even thought they were playing for more than 4 hours, both men were still able to hit beautiful shots and angled winners down the lines. Eventually, Nadal came on top this time beating Djokovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7, 9-7 in 4 hours and 37 minutes.

               When the match was unfolding, I have a sudden thought that the process of the match developed almost identical as the final of the 2012 Australia Open. Djokovic won that match 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 in 5 hours 53 minutes. At that time, Djokovic was serving for the match in the 4th set only to get broken by Nadal and eventually losing the tiebreak. Nadal was up a break early on in the 5th set and just when all things looks to be in Rafa’s favor, Djokovic raised to the occasion and win 4 straight game to beat Nadal. The difference of last night’s match was that both man have switched their position. It was Nadal that was leading for most part of the game and Djokovic doing the catch up.

               With this victory, Nadal has a 20-15 lead over Djokovic in terms of the head to head record. Looking at the head to head before last night’s match, what is interesting the fact that the past 10 meetings between these two men, Djokovic in fact has a 7-3 lead over Nadal and all the 3 victories by Rafa came from clay court events. In terms of all time head to head on hard court events, Djokovic has a 11-5 advantage over Nadal. While Nadal has a small 2-1 lead in grass court events, Nadal has an overwhelming 12-3 lead over Djokovic on clay.

               In 2013, Djokovic had an inconsistent year since his renaissance year back in 2011. He managed to defend his grand slam title at Australia Open early on the year. He then went on to capture titles at Dubai and most impressively, defeating 8-times winner Nadal to win at Monte Carlo. But, the shocking defeats against Haas at Miami, Del Porto at Indian Wells, Dimitrov at Madrid and Berdych at Rome prove that he has been struggling with consistency for the past 5 months.

               While for Nadal, after 7 months away from tennis because of an injury, he is back on track to win titles and getting that world no1 status back. His 37-2 win record of the year before the French Open secures him 6 titles at Sao Paolo, Acapulco, Indian Wells, Barcelona, Madrid and Rome. But apart from Indian Wells, all the other tournaments that he has played are clay court events. So, it’s interesting to see whether Nadal will be able to translate the incredible form on the clay into next month’s Wimbledon and other hard court events.

               Another thing is that this match reminds me of how Nadal dethroned Federer at Wimbledon back in 2008. In 2006, when Nadal first met Federer in the final, Nadal lost in 4 sets. The next year, Nadal came back stronger but still failed to wrest the title away, losing in 5 sets. Then came 2008, when Nadal finally managed to defeat Federer at the grass court in 5 sets, in what was described as one of the best tennis matches in the history. The way Nadal dethroned Federer looks similar to what Djokovic is trying to do right now at Rolland Garros. Last year, Djokovic lost to Nadal in 4 sets in the final. This year, he lost in 5 sets in the semis. So, what will happen next year? Only time will tell.

               I think Djokovic will eventually complete the career slam like what Federer and Nadal did. The French Open is the only remaining grand slam title missing from Djokovic’s trophy cabinet. He has the skills, the game plan, the fitness, the strong mentality on court and his incredible fighting spirit. We just don’t know when it will come. Don’t forget Federer waited till 29 years of age to finally win at Rolland Garros to complete his career slam in 2009 after Nadal suffered his only French Open defeat in the early rounds till dated.

*I hope that both men stays on form, so that all tennis fans can have a rematch at Wimbledon next month. 


Zhe Xu
8th June 2013

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