socallefty
G.O.A.T.
There always has been two versions of prime Djokovic particularly in Bestof5 Slams
Aggressive Baseliner who hits way more winners than opponent -2011-2012AO, 2015-1H2016
Counterpuncher who is relentless and waits for opponent‘s errors - 2012-2014, 2H2018-2020
I‘ve always believed that when Djokovic plays aggressively, he is virtually unbeatable as witnessed by him winning 4/5 Slams in his 13-month 2011 streak and 5/6 Slams in 2015-2016. It seems that now that he is older, he can’t play like that on a daily basis and he picks and chooses his spots to do so - like in the 2019AO final against Nadal. Otherwise, he played fairly passively by his own standards to win the finals of 2018W, 2018USO, 2019W and 2020 USO while losing in 6 Slam finals in similar fashion in 2012-2015 to Nadal, Murray and Wawrinka.
Today against Tsitsipas, Djokovic played conservatively again as Tsitsipas was the aggressor during baseline rallies. When Tsitsipas made errors on break points in Sets 1, 2 and 5, Novak won - he lost sets 3 and 4 when Stefanos outhit him without making errors on the big points. Tsitsipas also ran out of steam in the fifth set just like Novak outlasted Thiem in the 2020AO final. Djokovic was great with drop shots today and that is the only risk he took to end points consistently as otherwise he was content to wait for Tsitsipas to make errors.
Novak usually knows that he has to outhit Nadal to beat him and he can do that on hard/grass and sometimes in BestOf3 on clay. He also beat him with that style against an out-of-form Nadal at RG in 2015 while losing to him prior to that many times in SFs and Finals. The question is which version of Novak has a better chance to beat Nadal on Sunday in the FO final? Usually, I would say that the more aggressive version of Djokovic is the better version (BOAT?) of him and he should try that to beat Nadal. On the other hand, these conditions are so slow and heavy that I don’t see him outhitting Nadal so easily from the baseline and big-serving is not effective either this year - Sinner hit huge for two sets and couldn’t finish the job playing that style. Also, I don’t see dropshots working as well to end points against Nadal as he moves great on clay and has very good touch and finesse close to the net unlike Tsitsipas.
Should Djokovic play defensively as a counterpuncher and try to outlast Nadal on Sunday? If they both play defensively, Nadal can’t outhit him either and we might have a 6-hour knockdown-dragout final like the 2012AO. Does Djokovic trust his fitness to play like that and beat a 12-time RG winner? Novak has found an extra gear in the latter stages of every match so far this year and can he trust himself to do that in the final? Is Nadal fit enough to outlast Djokovic in a defensive struggle with a lot of long points? I don’t know the answer, but am eagerly awaiting what will play out in less than 48 hours.
Aggressive Baseliner who hits way more winners than opponent -2011-2012AO, 2015-1H2016
Counterpuncher who is relentless and waits for opponent‘s errors - 2012-2014, 2H2018-2020
I‘ve always believed that when Djokovic plays aggressively, he is virtually unbeatable as witnessed by him winning 4/5 Slams in his 13-month 2011 streak and 5/6 Slams in 2015-2016. It seems that now that he is older, he can’t play like that on a daily basis and he picks and chooses his spots to do so - like in the 2019AO final against Nadal. Otherwise, he played fairly passively by his own standards to win the finals of 2018W, 2018USO, 2019W and 2020 USO while losing in 6 Slam finals in similar fashion in 2012-2015 to Nadal, Murray and Wawrinka.
Today against Tsitsipas, Djokovic played conservatively again as Tsitsipas was the aggressor during baseline rallies. When Tsitsipas made errors on break points in Sets 1, 2 and 5, Novak won - he lost sets 3 and 4 when Stefanos outhit him without making errors on the big points. Tsitsipas also ran out of steam in the fifth set just like Novak outlasted Thiem in the 2020AO final. Djokovic was great with drop shots today and that is the only risk he took to end points consistently as otherwise he was content to wait for Tsitsipas to make errors.
Novak usually knows that he has to outhit Nadal to beat him and he can do that on hard/grass and sometimes in BestOf3 on clay. He also beat him with that style against an out-of-form Nadal at RG in 2015 while losing to him prior to that many times in SFs and Finals. The question is which version of Novak has a better chance to beat Nadal on Sunday in the FO final? Usually, I would say that the more aggressive version of Djokovic is the better version (BOAT?) of him and he should try that to beat Nadal. On the other hand, these conditions are so slow and heavy that I don’t see him outhitting Nadal so easily from the baseline and big-serving is not effective either this year - Sinner hit huge for two sets and couldn’t finish the job playing that style. Also, I don’t see dropshots working as well to end points against Nadal as he moves great on clay and has very good touch and finesse close to the net unlike Tsitsipas.
Should Djokovic play defensively as a counterpuncher and try to outlast Nadal on Sunday? If they both play defensively, Nadal can’t outhit him either and we might have a 6-hour knockdown-dragout final like the 2012AO. Does Djokovic trust his fitness to play like that and beat a 12-time RG winner? Novak has found an extra gear in the latter stages of every match so far this year and can he trust himself to do that in the final? Is Nadal fit enough to outlast Djokovic in a defensive struggle with a lot of long points? I don’t know the answer, but am eagerly awaiting what will play out in less than 48 hours.
