Final burst
Nadal will have to play close to perfect tennis to down Djokovic
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal renew the “greatest rivalry” in modern tennis today
● It will be flashback time at the Australian Open today, as Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal line up for a reprise of the longest final in grand slam history.
Djokovic and Nadal have faced off 52 times on the men’s tour, more than any other pair of players. Oddly enough, only one of those meetings has taken place here at Melbourne Park. But it was certainly a night to remember.
In 2012, Djokovic survived a 4hr 50min showdown with Andy Murray in the semifinals, and then came back to edge a 5hr 53min war with Nadal.
“I think Nadal has historically throughout my life and career been the greatest rival that I ever played against on all the surfaces,” said Djokovic.
“Some matches that we had against each other were a great turning point in my career. I feel they have made me rethink my game.
“Those kind of encounters have also made me the player I am today, without a doubt.
“These are the kind of matches that you live for, finals of slams, playing the greatest rivals at their best. What more can you ask for? This is where you want to be.”
And for a 14-time grand slam champion, the brilliance of Djokovic can be hard to unpick. Compared to the obvious beauty of Roger Federer and the animalistic brutality of Nadal, Djokovic’s excellence is more subtle. The slow-burning psychological thriller to his more blockbuster rivals.
No weaknesses
Where Federer and Nadal like to attack and shatter their opponent’s defences, Djokovic’s default is to position himself as a “human backboard” — to borrow John McEnroe’s phrase — and ask whoever he’s facing to find a way past him.
Some can manage it, but to get a sense of how difficult a task that is, imagine you are one of Nadal’s coaches, Carlos Moya, advising his player ahead of today’s Australian Open final.
What weaknesses do you instruct Nadal to try and exploit against a player who doesn’t have any?
“His game does not have a weakness,” Djokovic’s former coach and Eurosport analyst Boris Becker told The Telegraph. “He’s got a good serve, the return is maybe the best in the world. The volley is fine, the backhand slice is good.
“There isn’t a clear strategy to play him, like saying I’ll hit to the forehand. That’s not the case. You know in a best of five set match against Novak it will take four or five hours. And very few players have the determination, stamina and quality to go head to head with him.”
With no weaknesses to exploit, it becomes a question of playing to your strengths. The problem is that very few have weapons that aren’t blunted by Djokovic’s extraordinary defence.
There has surely never been anyone better at negating his opponent’s strengths than Djokovic, who seems to concoct a bespoke Kryptonite for pretty much whoever he’s playing.
Milos Raonic, the world No 17, is a useful paradigm for this. Raonic, one of the most effective servers in the game, is used to banging down ace after ace against most opponents.
Djokovic’s anticipation is such that this doesn’t happen when the pair meet. Consequently, Raonic has lost all nine of his matches against Djokovic.
So even before we get to Djokovic’s weapons, his opponent’s are already dealing with a player with no major weakness and a boa-constrictor-like ability to suck the life out of whoever he is playing.
Djokovic’s major assets are not as sexy as say the Federer groundstrokes, the Nadal forehand or the Stan Wawrinka backhand. Instead, Djokovic can call upon “the greatest return in the history of tennis” — McEnroe again — formidable resilience, and peerless movement and elasticity.
There is also no-one better than Djokovic at hanging tough mentally and grinding out wins. He is the master at winning ugly and toughing out the awkward away wins.
Today then, Nadal faces the equivalent of storming a fortress that is guarded on all sides. This is especially the case in Melbourne where the Rod Laver Arena has become Djokovic’s personal Fort Knox.
For it not to become seven titles today, Nadal will have to play close to perfect tennis.
That is the genius of Djokovic. — © The Daily Telegraph, London