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Djokovic Domination of Rafa At Sony Open Could Change Rivalry
76 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
On the second point of the match, Rafa Nadal already began his trademark grunting. Novak Djokovic’s first grunt came on the second point of the fourth game.
Clearly, both players felt an extreme urgency to establish early control of the court and match.
Djokovic got the first break to go up 4-2. His pinpoint accurate shots to both sides of the court, forcing Rafa to change grips and alternate forehands and backhands, as well as mixed spins and speeds, seemed to force Rafa to miss more than usual.
Djokovic closed out the first set and immediately broke again to go up 2-0 in the second. His onslaught of consistency, defense, volley and baseline winners, with some free points on serve kept Nadal off balance. It was odd to see Nadal not even try to return about ten of Djokovic’s clean winners.
Unlike their other matches, this time Djokovic never had a lapse and was able to finish Rafa without much adversity or distress, the final scoreline was an efficient 63 63.
But it was a hard fought win, as Nadal, despite showing frustration with numerous negative head shakes and near misses, fought desperately until the final point, exhorting himself on despite being in the losing position. The deathblow came after a long rally on a spectacular winner by Djokovic off a Nadal drop shot. Djokovic then dropped flat on his back – Rafa style – before getting up after two seconds to embrace his arch rival at the net.
It was a masterpiece victory for Djokovic, one of the finest performance of his career. There was a different, business-like, ruthless certainty about Djokovic this time, perhaps inspired by Wawrinka’s masterful Melbourne win over Rafa. Djokovic was focused throughout, like a Serbian assassin. Nadal nailed plenty of his signature line winners off the full run which momentarily stunned Djokovic but he got right back to the task at hand and didn’t let Nadal’s magic offset his belief or gameplan.
After the match Djokovic said to his rival, almost slightly mockingly: “It’s always a pleasure and challenge to play against you.”
Later at his press conference, Djokovic was ecstatic: “Winning Indian Wells was special because I struggled in my matches. I still managed to win the tournament against Roger. It was a great confidence boost to me that I carried on this week…The best performance of the tournamnent (Miami) came at the right moment. I didn’t have any letdowns the whole match. I did everything right. I’m thrilled with my performance.”
Rafa made no excuses and praised his conqueror. “He was better than me in everything. I feel that I didn’t move so well as I normally do. I feel like he was having too much success with every shot, he was able to find the right spot, I was in negative positions to early in the point…He has better returns than my one, a better serve than my one. When he’s better he’s better.”
Rafa was asked if his back was any problem at all and he said “No, no. Thank you very much.”
Christopher Clarey asked the most interesting question of the press conference: “Rafa, you say you like challenges. Are you glad that Novak exists?”
Rafa’s reply: “No. I like challenges but I’m not stupid.” (Press room erupts in laughter.)
Minutes later when Djokovic came in, Clarey asked Nole the same question, also adding that he just asked Rafa this question. Djokovic smiled and asked to know what Rafa said, then answered, “I’m going to answer differently. Rafa is definitely the biggest rivalry I have in my career. I enjoy every single match we play, hopefully we can have many more. I think the big challenges I had in my career changed me in a positive way. Roger and Rafa made me understand what I have to do on the court.”
After seeing this match, it appears the Super Version of Djokovic who beat Rafa in seven finals in a row, has re-emerged. And that does not spell good news for the Nadal camp.
Djokovic is "thrilled with my performance"
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« Previous 1 2Scoop Malinowski · April 3, 2014 at 8:30 am
Fantastic post Gans, you are a tennis scholar.
Abe Froman · April 3, 2014 at 9:09 am
place your bets ! place your bets !!….dont be all chicken mcnuggets (scoop’s term) on this site !!! LOL….rafa over djoko in paris (if djoko makes it to the final)…and that’s the bottom line..
Abe Froman · April 3, 2014 at 9:16 am
btw, again, very sharp observatioins, commentary, pontification on the nuances of these greats by all of the contributers on this site however, it is what it is….speculation ! no one knows for certain what the greats are thinking or planning. logically though, i’d expect rafa to bounce back and take djoko out of the zone, again..
CS3 · April 3, 2014 at 9:20 am
Rafa is better than Novak & every player in history on clay & is the best of the Big 4 era when in TOP FORM which?he has proven over & over… His mental strength advantage will display itself again… Novak is a machine when he’s on but his shakiness & tendency to fall apart/get rattled is something that will always plague him especially in the biggest matches… Great player but he goes down as #3 in the era of Roger & Rafa bottom line… The number of Grand Slams is what tells the story as well as the H2H in Grand Slam matches which Rafa owns by a WIDE margin!
CS3 · April 3, 2014 at 9:30 am
I also agree with Abe in the sense that it’s no guarantee Novak even reaches the Final at the French Open… All it takes is 1 disappointing loss & his confidence will get shaken & he’ll have a letdown… That is the pattern of Djokovic’s career… He is a STREAK based kind of Great Player who inevitably will have a dip & go into somewhat of a funk… That figures to continue… There are also patterns with Rafa who puts together AMAZING YEARS where he is too much for EVERY PLAYER which he follows by having a drop off often resulting in some kind of injury… All about patterns!
Abe Froman · April 3, 2014 at 9:40 am
roger on that there CS3 !…..patterns are convincing however we’re smart enough to know that past performance is no guarantee of future results….the x-factor and that’s what makes it exicting !!
Scoop Malinowski · April 3, 2014 at 1:01 pm
Even Federer is lurking with a chance to overtake Djokovic and Rafa, you can never count out Roger, especially with the strong year he is having so far. It’s possible Roger can solve the Rafa puzzle — who knows maybe he’ll learn something from the SOny Open final.
CS3 · April 3, 2014 at 2:03 pm
Anything is truly possible with the World’s Top 3 players & if & when Murray gets back to his TOP FORM, he’s capable of seriously challenging these guys as well which he’s shown… Stan the Man has peaked I believe but can’t be discounted as a VERY SERIOUS THREAT who has the offensive firepower to overwhelm any player if he’s in “WOWRINKA” mode… Young guys like: Dimitriv, Gulbis, Dologopolov & Raonic among others are lurking & can’t be discounted either because they have each shown in 2014 that they are not that far away from being legitimate Grand Slam & Masters 1000 series title contenders… Just have to see how the year unfolds… I do expect Rafa to step up his game like he always does on the clay but he’s not the usual shoe in to dominate this year as he has been annually… Chances are pretty high that Rafa will do very well in the upcoming part of the season on the surface that he’s THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME on: past, present or in the future… Wouldn’t be a surprise if the year’s remaining 3 Grand Slams are split between: Rafa, Novak & Federer in no particular order & it shouldn’t be a shock after Melbourne if someone expected breaks through & wins their first ever Slam… The gap isn’t nearly as wide anymore… Sit back & enjoy what promises to be some GREAT TENNIS!
Andrew Miller · April 3, 2014 at 11:36 pm
No Nadal “decline” yet but I think players sense an opening. Whether or not they take it is up to them.
Harold · April 4, 2014 at 9:10 am
Good call on Stan W, having a career changing moment. Cannot win matches anymore. Down a set and 2 breaks to Kazakstan in DC.
His career moment is turning into a Kafelnikov moment. Big win, followed by major slump.
Great job winning a Major, but he is a one and done
Scoop Malinowski · April 4, 2014 at 9:32 am
Can see Stan being a Buster Douglas, shocks the world with a monumental win against an all time great to finally become a world champion, then never coming close to showing that magical form again. Can see ONE major being sufficient for Stan to be satisified with.
Abe Froman · April 4, 2014 at 9:48 am
expected more from stan but a one-slam wonder title should suffice…..he was playing out of his gord and was lucky to win that aussie….who else is recently a “one-r” ?….johansson, moya, costa, ferrero, gaudio, krajcek, roddick….(IMO, roddick should have lost in the SF against nalbandian – who was cheated on line calls…home court advantage, anyone ?)….also, interesting to see that most break trus happend at RG…
Abe Froman · April 4, 2014 at 9:50 am
of course and almost forgot….the juiced up and roid raging…..senor korda !…..”here’s johnny !!” LOL
CS3 · April 4, 2014 at 10:30 am
Even Michael Chang & Andres Gomez had their 1 career Grand Slam title at Roland Garros… Stan Wawrinka & Peter Korda had their’s at the Aussie Open while guys like Pat Cash & Goran had their’s at Wimbledon… Tennis has a long list of 1 time Grand Slam Champions which is still an accomplishment to be proud of & it just makes the All Time Greats who have 6 or more Slams that more impressive!
Scoop Malinowski · April 4, 2014 at 11:34 am
With Rafa Djokovic and Federer around ( not to forget Delpo Berd Murray Ferrer), it’s almost miraculous for any other player outside of these names to win a major. The ‘one slam wonder’ term is a lousy one and it’s inappropriate to use in this most challenging era of tennis.
Scoop Malinowski · April 4, 2014 at 11:38 am
I don’t like the term one slam sonder CS3, there are many great players who never got to major F or SF. Nobody ever got a freebie major. They all had to earn every single point of every match they played for two weeks. One slam wonder implies that there was luck involved or it was like some kind of freebie or fluke. This is belittling and innaccurate.
CS3 · April 4, 2014 at 12:01 pm
It is a disparaging term Scoop… I made to sure to say that being a 1 time Grand Slam Champion is still an accomplishment to be very proud of because it is… Any player who wins 1 or 2 Grand Slams goes down in the history books & deservedly so… The same applies to Golf as there are numerous players on the PGA tour past & present who have “only” won a single Major… Better have WON or ONE than to have never at all… Any player who wins a Grand Slam on the ATP/WTA tour & a Major on the PGA/LPGA tour proved over the course of 2 weeks or 4 rounds that they were the very best in the world during that particular tournament!
Abe Froman · April 4, 2014 at 12:10 pm
also, there’s no shame in stan capitulating and taking a step back after the toura win of his life….likewise with murray. more or less, their respective tennis destinys have been realized..
Abe Froman · April 4, 2014 at 12:19 pm
on the flip side – how about players who go through their ATP careers without a single tourna win (250 level +)….i.e., starace, sela, benneteau….poor benny – approximately….0-7 in finals…yikes !! that’s gotta keep him up on a few nights, no ?…..lastly, i’d be a ‘one slam wonder’ anyday of the week rather than a ‘no slam wonder’ LOL
CS3 · April 4, 2014 at 1:43 pm
Guys like: Yannick Noah, Roddick, Wawrinka & Del Potro have at least had their moment of Grand Slam glory unlike the majority of pros who go through their career unable to win 1, which includes some of the very best players in history… Buster Douglas & Hasim Rahman may have been 1 fight wonders in Heavyweight World Title Boxing history but they shook up the world none the less… Easier to land 1 big shot in Boxing to win a World Title than it is to win 7 matches in a Grand Slam to EARN 1 of Tennis’s Biggest Prizes!
Scoop Malinowski · April 4, 2014 at 7:00 pm
CS3 Buster Douglas and Hasim Rahman were both doing very well in their famous fights with Tyson and Lewis, respectively, it’s not like they landed lucky punches. Lewis was fading and Rahman was getting stronger because he acclimated to South Africa altitude by going there a month before the fight while Lewis arrived just a week before and I was told jogged a mile the week of the fight and had to stop because he couldn’t breathe. Douglas was pure genius and poetry in motion the night he beat up Tyson, he would have given any HWT champ of history problems the way he boxed so beautifully. Buster was a great fighter with so much talent and he put it all together in Tokyo vs. Tyson. Just like in tennis there are no lucky punches or shots in boxing.
CS3 · April 4, 2014 at 9:19 pm
I was talking about guys who had 1 great fight & then they came back to reality after winning what used to be The Biggest Title in sports… Both Douglas & Rahman performed well in their history making performances credit to them… Both Tyson & Lennox overlooked them in those fights which made their upsets a lot more possible…Each guy was content with winning the title & subsequently earning a career payday which resulted in an early round KO defeat in their 1st title defense… Had Buster Douglas & The Rock maintained consistency, they each could have been ELITE World Heavyweight Champions… Both guys had a strong jab & pop… There are certain athletes who get satisfied after they accomplish their dream, NO SHAME IN THAT & it doesn’t erase the greatness they achieved even if it was brief… That was my point Scoop!
CS3 · April 4, 2014 at 9:33 pm
The Buster Douglas who fought “Iron Mike” on February 10, 1990 in Tokyo would have been a nightmare for any fighter in history that night… He kept Mike on the outside peppering him & swelling him up with the jab while picking him apart with solid shots essentially wearing Tyson down… Totally different fighter than the guy who got stopped in the later rounds in his first title shot opportunity against former IBF Heavyweight World Champ, Tony “TNT” Tucker, a few years prior to the biggest upset arguably ever in sports… A focused & determined Hasim Rahman was a Boxer-Puncher who posed real issues for any Heavyweight during a much stronger era & if he had been more focused, he would have reigned a lot longer IMO… Always great to discuss Boxing & use it as a comparison with Tennis because the sports are so similar in many ways with staying on tol & remaining hungry after reaching the top & winning the big prize being a prime example!
Scoop Malinowski · April 5, 2014 at 9:51 am
Boxing compares with tennis more than any other sport and vice versa CS3. Many tennis players are boxing fans and boxing champs are tennis fans. I can’t think of a closer analogy than Buster and Stan, the parallels are uncanny.
CS3 · April 5, 2014 at 12:29 pm
Makes a lot of sense why many fighters & tennis players would be big fans & appreciators of the other sport… They both are the ultimate individual sports that truly test what someone is made of both physically & emotionally… BATTLE describes both Boxing & Tennis… Proud to call them 2 of my 3 Biggest Sports PASSIONS!
Scoop Malinowski · April 5, 2014 at 5:08 pm
Nicely said CS3, these two sports never fail to fascinate inspire and intrigue. They bring out the best in mankind physically and mentally.