Djokovic Defeats Nadal At Indian Wells - World Order Changeth

Novak Djokovic is the new star. He has usurped Rafael Nadal’s superiority in the ground strokes which was evident in his victory over Nadal in the finals of the Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open tournament on Sunday. It was a tough three setter with Djokovic prevailing 4-6 6-3 6-2. He joined band of the select who have defeated both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the same tournament twice. Djokovic is undefeated in 2011 with 18 match victories. He has already overtaken Roger Federer as number two in the ATP rankings.

It was a day when the two contestants met playing good tennis through out the tournament. Both play from the baseline and it was expected that each point would go through many shots from the baseline in the rally. It did happen that way with Djokovic coming out on top more often than not. Slowly but surely, the aggression of Djokovic started inducing unforced errors from the racquet of Nadal. Djokovic was able to sustain his aggression for a longer time in a rally without committing any unforced error or giving a short ball in the hitting zone. Even a great defender like Nadal was often blitzkrieged by the ferocity of the shots and their precision.

In the first set, Djokovic played ball on both the flanks of the opponent and lost. He immediately changed his game plan and went for the back hand of Nadal most of the time. Nadal can hit the ball with good pace from the back hand but this day his limitation in the versatility or the lack of it in the back hand stood exposed. So far, most of the players used to go to the forehand corner of Nadal at an acute angle to extract a winner, but now they can know that it is also the back hand that is equally vulnerable if one is able to stay in a rally for more than 6-7 shots. It was Andy Murray who exposed the back hand weakness on return of serve of Nadal at the 2010 Australian Open, but on this day, Djokovic has given sight into another  aspect of  the back hand weakness. Nadal’s first serve deserted him in the second and the third sets. It is very difficult for a player to win serving at 25%. All talk about the refurbished serve of Nadal vanished in thin air. Nadal could not find any weakness in Djokovic’s back hand and there appears to be none these days since he plays with equal aggression from both the flanks. It would not be long when people start talking about Djokovic’s down the line back hand being one of the best in the game today.

The body language and the face expression of Rafael Nadal at 1-4 in the final set showed that he had resigned to his fate and thereafter he just went through his last rites acknowledging the superiority of  the opponent. As for Djokovic, it is nice to see that he has overcome his stamina and health problems and it would not be long when they start speaking about his court coverage and speed in the same vein as they do about Rafael Nadal. This may have to pass a five setter test though.

All eyes are now on Miami which starts on March, the twenty third.