The
top two players will vie for the trophy at the last Grand Slam event of the
year when they meet on Monday at Flushing Meadows in the U.S. Open, 2011. Novak
Djokovic is favoured to prevail over Rafael Nadal yet again.
Djokovic
has become so familiar with Nadal’s game that he was there where the ball was
supposed to come, and the ball did come there. Nadal has found it difficult to
add surprise element in his game. On his part, Djokovic shots are landing a
yard from the baseline, forcing Nadal to go on the defensive all the time.
Nadal is finding it difficult to score comfortably even when it is his service
game. Djokovic shots land inches from the lines and with such speed that even a
good mover like Nadal finds it difficult to regroup to run to the other side.
The angle is so acute that he is taken far out of the court.
The
court positioning is all familiar. Nadal is yards behind the baseline and
Djokovic is just at the baseline. Nadal is forced to play short when he is not
able to place his entire body weight behind the shot. The ball is hit from so
much behind the baseline that Djokovic has ample time to read it and reach it.
The ball has lot of top spin and therefore, the parabolic trajectory has more length
to be covered giving extra fraction of second to Djokovic. On the return, the
ball comes back with greater speed bursting off the court like a canon ball. It
is all power hitting with Djokovic excelling Nadal in the baseline exchanges. Nadal
tends to move to the deuce court side of the midpoint and tends to convert
backhand into forehand. This gives open space to the opponent in the ad court
corner. Many hard hitters have scored winners on this side, though on a few
occasions, Nadal is able to hit spectacular down the line forehand shot on the
run.
Nadal
gets taste of his own medicine when Djokovic runs down every winner and returns
it with greater strength. This is what Nadal used to do to others. His movement
is fluid whereas that of Nadal is spontaneous. It comes from greater
anticipation. Nadal is also a very good mover, but his speed is good in long
steps. The short step adjustment to an incoming shot is better for
Djokovic. Secondly, familiarity with
Nadal’s stock shots makes court positioning easier for Djokovic. The cross
court forehand to the backhand of the opponent has succeeded against single
fisted backhanders like Federer, but it is not devastating against double
fisted backhanders.
Djokovic
now plays with lot of buffer. He has capacity to get out of break points with
good one-two-three combination of shots. This was a typical Federer preserve in
his prime. After a good serve, advance to the middle of the court and whack the
return to the other side of court at an acute angle. Nadal was seen running
from side to side and capitulating ultimately to the wide shot. Djokovic is now
taking the ball on the rise as Federer or Agassi used to do. This further takes
time away from Nadal. Nadal too plays angles or aggressive shot, but he waits
for the short ball. Djokovic, on the other hand, can hit such aggressive shot
from any position in the court.
If
Nadal plays above his capacity and Djokovic plays below his, Nadal will
triumph. His motivation will be immense and his intensity will be very high.
But what home work the team has done to counter Djokovic superiority will be
seen only on the court. It does not appear to be cake walk for either of them.
Nadal will do his best to turn the tide. It remains to be seen what toll the
five setter against Federer has taken on Djokovic.
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