In a repeat of last year’s final,
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will clash for the title on Sunday, the 21st
April. Djokovic rolled over Fabio Fognini 6-2 6-1 whereas Nadal fought a
spirited late challenge from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to pip him in the second set
tie break 7-3 after having been up 5-1 at one time. Nadal is feeling nerves in
this tournament and was also tight against Grigor Dimitrov in the
quarter-finals where he was extended to three sets. Djokovic too was extended
to three sets in the second and third rounds but has peaked well to play his
usual impregnable tennis. Nadal leads the head to head meetings 19-14 but is
3-7 since Djokovic came in version 2.0 in 2011.
Having played single fisted
backhanders in Grigor Dimitrov and Philipp Kohlshreiber in quarterfinals and
pre-quarterfinals, Nadal is playing his predictable game of forehand crosscourt
from the back of the court. This is the one which led to a series of defeats
against Djokovic in 2011 and will continue to be so unless he changes to a
balanced attack on both the flanks. The predictable serve to the T from the
deuce court will have to change to about 30-40 percent wide serves too. Nadal
is yet to develop high kicking wide serve from the deuce court and his wide
serve from ad court poses problems only to the single fisted backhanders.
Djokovic has the best backhand in the business and if Dimitrov was not troubled
by the wide serves, there is little reason to expect that Djokovic would be.
Nadal must be aware of that and perhaps we would see more balls from Nadal to
the forehand than so far in this tournament.
Djokovic will continue to exploit
the backhand of Nadal and try to take advantage of the short returns. Djokovic
has better attack than his peers and if he comes with a determination to chase
down every ball, he would be equally good in defence. If the conditions are not
warm enough to provide extra kick to the high spin balls form Nadal’s forehand,
Djokovic can have upper hand in the rallies. Nadal is not playing an aggressive
brand of tennis. Otherwise too, in their match up, Djokovic is the one who goes
for the kill first. Nadal chases all balls of Djokovic and returns them in a
defensive fashion. If these returns are not deep, Djokovic will smother them
for winners. One is bound to see the famous return of serves to the feet of the
opponent from Djokovic. One-two combination will be seen more from Djokovic
side since he possesses a better serve. Nadal is putting in a high percentage
of first serves to compensate for lack of bite on his first serve.
Nadal is the king of clay, but law
of averages will catch up with him eventually. Djokovic lost at the same stage
last year. It is his turn to win. Nadal can defy the law of averages if he
returns to the brand of aggressive tennis taking aggressive position up in the
middle of court behind his wide serve. It is a fifty-fifty position with
whoever plays better on the day, taking away the honours.
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