John Isner Exposes Chinks In Nadal’s Game

Rafael Nadal stood exposed as John Isner extended him to the first five setter at Roland Garros. Nadal ultimately prevailed 6-4 6-7 6-7 6-2 6-4 but not before he got the scare of his life. John Isner was supposed to go down in straight sets, at least in the eyes of Nadal’s fans.

Nadal wrapped up the first set in customary style making few unforced errors. But when the second set arrived, he looked jaded. He went up a break, but the body language showed a casual approach, if not complacency. It looked Nadal thought he would win in a canter whether he plays well or not. He surrendered the break, could not convert set points and went down in the tie breaker without much fight. He had hit less winners than Isner and made more unforced errors.

Nadal did not learn from the loss of tie breaker in the second set. Isner had found confidence. He was serving well, though not bombs. Nadal should not have let the set drift to another tie breaker, knowing that he was finding Isner serve unreturnable. But he was playing like a blue collared worker not like the defending champion. Isner was not playing that great himself, but Nadal was making Isner look much greater player than he is.

Isner was able to return Nadal serve without difficulty whereas Nadal made a monster of Isner serve. Isner is known to have a great serve but good returners have not been overawed by his serve. Nadal on the other hand stood reduced to the picture of a poor retuner. Although he controlled the unforced errors, Nadal’s prowess on big points failed him. On those crucial points, Isner did not play exceptionally well, but Nadal gifted him those points committing ground stroke errors. The spectators were stunned to find the ‘King of Clay’ down 1-2 and the possibility of an upset loomed large. Isner had the momentum and Nadal was down on confidence. But Nadal pulled himself back from the brink and started playing with the impeccable defence he is known for. He also added power to his ground strokes. In the fourth set he did not commit a single unforced error. With the gifts of unforced errors drying up, Isner found his reserves emptied. There was no game plan earlier too and now the serve too started faltering. There were two aces and two double faults. The fourth set was over within no time and the fight spilled into the final set.

Nadal got an early break but did not become complacent unlike in the second set. He did not lose his focus and after four hours, had a sigh of relief when Isner hit wide on the side lines. He won the final set 6-4 and now faces Pablo Andujar in the second round.

Djokovic Reigns Supreme In Rome, Nadal Left Licking Wounds

Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal in the fourth final of the year too that was played on Sunday, the fifteenth May at Internazionali BNL D’Italia at Rome. For the second time in succession, the victory came in straight sets, the scoreline reading 6-4 6-4.

The combination of precision and power is more for Djokovic recently than Nadal. He is having the best control over his aggression. Djokovic does not make unforced errors while making deep shots as much as other players do. He is able to stay longer in the long rallies and able to induce errors from the opponents racquet. His speed of service and ground strokes has increased over the last one year. His movement is faster. He is hitting with gay abandon and the ball is finding the inside of the court on most of the occasions. With such a constant barrage of hard shots, the opponents are crumbling. He is taking risks with confidence and is able to expose flat footedness of even the best movers. Other top players pull trigger whenever they are in good position, but Djokovic appears to pull trigger on three - four consecutive shots. His defence has become impeccable.

The audience was chanting Nole Nole and it appeared to be having some effect on Djokovic game too. It is the power on his ground strokes which has made even Federer’s game anachronistic. Only Nadal appears to be having some capability of meeting his power, that too barely. Djokovic has the power of the players like Soderling, Del Potro on his ground strokes and the consistency of Nadal.

Djokovic is hitting winners like never before. The winners come at such speed and angle that Nadal was left stranded even in the middle of the court.

Nadal’s top spun forehand shots coming with higher net clearance were giving more time to Djokovic to return the ball. Djokovic was consistent even with a lower net clearance and since the ball was hit with such power, it was consistently landing deep in Nadal’s court inducing a shorter reply which was banged by Djokovic on the other corner of the court. With the low net clearance, Djokovic was able to create acute angles even from the middle of the court. Nadal was moving from side to side whereas Djokovic was made to move just a few steps in either direction. He was always in a position to hit the winner. Djokovic played all shots better than Nadal whether forehand or backhand or return of serve.

Nadal’s confidence was slowly but surely destroyed by Djokovic. All his winning shots were returned by Djokovic but when Djokovic suddenly turned defence into offence, Nadal could not return the winners.

All the evidence is there to suggest that Djokovic is playing like number one player of the world and he will attain that position this year. Both the players were playing similar type of game which abounded in long baseline rallies with Djokovic coming on top more often than not. On some points when Nadal varied the pace, he was able to induce errors from Djokovic racquet. It appears that Djokovic is invincible in power hitting from the baseline and there is no point in locking horns with him in that. Djokovic has become so familiar with the stock forehand cross court of Nadal that he was not even moving from that side, anticipating the return correctly. Rafael Nadal was moving from side to side whereas he was not able to move Djokovic likewise. Nadal’s shots were falling in the middle of Djokovic court making shot making easier for Djokovic.

Djokovic has surely emerged as Nadal’s nemesis. Nadal’s game has become rather predictable for him. No other player seems to be a match for him. He is looking almost invincible this year. His unbeaten saga in 2011 continues.