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The last few days I've been watching the paths of Nadal and Djokovic during their incredible runs through to the AO wins. 09 and 12, as different as the matches are, almost seem to have the exact same script.
Nadal and Djokovic showed incredible will power in both their respective wins, but which edges out the other?
Nadal V Verdasco 09, for me is one of the greatest hard court matches I have ever seen. That match showed pretty much every shot in the book, and had two extremes colliding ferociously in an immaculate display of extreme offense V extreme defense. I often say that if the AO had the roof on, that would have been the match to blow it right off. Sure, it was Verdasco's one and only great run, but he was playing blinding tennis at times. With an incredible winners to unforced ratio, outstanding shotmaking, jaw dropping rallies and becoming at that point the longest match in AO history, it won't be forgotten anytime soon.
Nadal with a day less to rest, then faces Federer, whom he has a mental and match up advantage over, having beaten him in the last two slam finals they played. The first four sets take over, where the Verdasco match finishes. Again, for me, this match along with Rome 06, and Wimbledon 07, had the best shotmaking in a Fedal epic. Wonderful rallies, Nadal's backhand was on fire, even though Federer's serve wasn't, he stayed with him going into the fifth. However I think the big let down here was that fifth set, with all the momentum on his side, Roger vanishes and the fifth set becomes a non-event. A disapointing end as it did not go right down to the wire, but a great show of will and guts from Nadal.
Three years later.
I watch some of the rallies of the Murray V Djokovic semi final, and can't believe how they managed to keep that brutal intensity for the best part of five hours. There was a slight dip in the set, but that match had some of the most punishing, unrelenting rallies, point after point after point I've seen. Murray was in full form, every shot was working, and he was being very aggressive, stretching Novak all over the court. That match ended 7-5 in the fifth, just like the Nadal v Verdasco match, different in style of course, but brutal in its intensity nonetheless.
Novak comes back to play his favorable match up, and the guy he beat in the last two slams, Rafa. Again, very similiar to what Rafa experience in 09, just that he is now on the other side of the net. The match started slow, but picked up, and both men pushing each other with heavy blows. A match full of momentum shifts, and a war of attrition. It goes onto being the longest match in AO history, nearly six hours, and Djokovic edges Nadal out right at the end, denying a player who was playing with a determination that probably no other player on that night could have denied. Nearly 11 hours on court between the two matches, and he stands victorious.
Nadal has now seen it from both ends.
Question is, which of the two feats was greater, if in fact it was.
Nadal and Djokovic showed incredible will power in both their respective wins, but which edges out the other?
Nadal V Verdasco 09, for me is one of the greatest hard court matches I have ever seen. That match showed pretty much every shot in the book, and had two extremes colliding ferociously in an immaculate display of extreme offense V extreme defense. I often say that if the AO had the roof on, that would have been the match to blow it right off. Sure, it was Verdasco's one and only great run, but he was playing blinding tennis at times. With an incredible winners to unforced ratio, outstanding shotmaking, jaw dropping rallies and becoming at that point the longest match in AO history, it won't be forgotten anytime soon.
Nadal with a day less to rest, then faces Federer, whom he has a mental and match up advantage over, having beaten him in the last two slam finals they played. The first four sets take over, where the Verdasco match finishes. Again, for me, this match along with Rome 06, and Wimbledon 07, had the best shotmaking in a Fedal epic. Wonderful rallies, Nadal's backhand was on fire, even though Federer's serve wasn't, he stayed with him going into the fifth. However I think the big let down here was that fifth set, with all the momentum on his side, Roger vanishes and the fifth set becomes a non-event. A disapointing end as it did not go right down to the wire, but a great show of will and guts from Nadal.
Three years later.
I watch some of the rallies of the Murray V Djokovic semi final, and can't believe how they managed to keep that brutal intensity for the best part of five hours. There was a slight dip in the set, but that match had some of the most punishing, unrelenting rallies, point after point after point I've seen. Murray was in full form, every shot was working, and he was being very aggressive, stretching Novak all over the court. That match ended 7-5 in the fifth, just like the Nadal v Verdasco match, different in style of course, but brutal in its intensity nonetheless.
Novak comes back to play his favorable match up, and the guy he beat in the last two slams, Rafa. Again, very similiar to what Rafa experience in 09, just that he is now on the other side of the net. The match started slow, but picked up, and both men pushing each other with heavy blows. A match full of momentum shifts, and a war of attrition. It goes onto being the longest match in AO history, nearly six hours, and Djokovic edges Nadal out right at the end, denying a player who was playing with a determination that probably no other player on that night could have denied. Nearly 11 hours on court between the two matches, and he stands victorious.
Nadal has now seen it from both ends.
Question is, which of the two feats was greater, if in fact it was.
.... that's just at this time. It might switch some other day. They're close ......
